“Four twentysomethings from Orkney, Fara shook up the folk world across the UK with their first album, and number two is just as destabilising. As well as eight great instrumental tracks all composed by the band, Fara have set three poems to music here - the title comes from one of these - but actually the most poetic piece on this CD is Jeana Leslie's song, See It All. In addition to its beautiful melody and arrangement, it contains the heart-breaking lines: “I will be the one that you feel / When the wind blows kisses through your hair”. Edwin Muir's and George Mackay Brown's words don ..read more

Nancy Kerr and James Fagan are two of the brightest stars in the UK folk music firmament - and they’ve been patrons of Kimpton Folk Festival since 2017. Their album An Evening with Nancy Kerr & James Fagan was partly recorded in Kimpton Church and is universally acknowledged to be one of the finest folk recordings of recent times. When you first start listening to this album, you might actually think it isn’t a live album. Why? Because the sheer excellence and precision of the playing, the depth and quality of the singing, the perfect sound quality are what you’d expect from a studio album ..read more

The audience at this year’s Kimpton Folk Festival will be blown away by Fara.  They are undoubtedly among the most talented, dynamic and entertaining acts on the folk scene today. We’ve been wanting to book this Scottish quartet for a long time now.  We saw them perform a showcase set at a music industry conference way back in 2015 and knew that Kimpton would love them. The intervening years have seen them go from strength to strength, with their stunning blend of traditional and self-penned tunes and songs earning them international acclaim.   But all our attempt ..read more

: the activity of playing music in the street or another public place for voluntary donations. Busking is a craft older than recorded history. The folk tradition is virtually its conjoined twin; such is the bond between the troubadour and the oral recording of local histories. The grandparents of our current folk music movement all began in one form of busking or another. Innumerable recent well known musicians started with busking, especially in times pre-Spotify and Youtube; B.B. King, Ed Sheeran, Sheryl Crow and Tracy Chapman, to name but a few. More recently, busking is threatened by vario ..read more

The finale evening concert in the Memorial Hall at  Kimpton Folk Festival 2019 is going to be a rip-roaring, get-up-and-dance extravaganza featuring two of the most entertaining bands around - Sheelanagig and the Smith & Brewer band. However this very special concert comes with a health warning. Audience members are likely to be left breathless and exhausted…though undoubtedly screaming for more! Headliners ar Kimpton Folk Festival 2019 are the astounding Sheelanagig, who’ve been wowing audiences all around the world with their foot-stomping blend of Balkan folk mayhem. They’ll be of ..read more

June Rowlands talks about the Kimpton Folk Events Outreach programme fun at School Our Outreach Programme is a key part of what we, as a registered charity, do grow love of and participation in, the folk arts in our local community. We kicked it off last year right in the heart of the village with the children in the Kimpton Primary School. Our Trustees approved funding to hire a professional folk musician to conduct two folk days, with the whole school teaching Hertfordshire folk tales/songs and dances as well as some national favourites - familiar to so many of us from our own childhoods ..read more

What? A tremendous day of music and dance entertainment for all the family. A folk festival described by its patrons - the multi award-winning Nancy Kerr and James Fagan - as “the musical equivalent of a gourmet picnic. When? It’s on Saturday, July 6. Entertainment at multiple venues around the villages kicks off at noon and carries on until 11.30 at night. Who? Ticketed concerts in the Memorial Hall and in our beautiful village church feature Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, Jess and Richard Arrowsmith, Edgelarks, Alden, Patterson and Dashwood, Gilmore & Roberts, Sheelanagig, Ninebarrow, Sm ..read more

We’ve just added Spotify playlists of previous festivals and 2019, so you can enjoy the music before during and after the festival. Simply go to our playlist section on the website and select the Spotify playlist you wish to listen too. Enjoy the music - and come and see it live. Buy tickets to Churchfitters on 2nd of February 2019. and Buy tickets to the Kimpton Folk Festival 2019 And have a great 2019 ..read more

The music-loving village of Kimpton, still reeling from a night of musical mayhem from John Otway and Wild Willie Barrett, will be the venue for more brilliant but eccentric entertainment when the Churchfitters arrive on Saturday, February 2. Mike Harding has described the Churchfitters as 'totally brilliant and beautiful'.  Expect high-octane and often hilarious entertainment, featuring exquisite harmonies and startlingly original songs accompanied by foot-stompingly fast fiddle, mixed with infectious funk-rock bouzouki. Virtuoso musicians, Rosie Short, Chris Short and Boris Lebret ..read more

So you’ve decided. You’re going to Kimpton Folk Festival for the first time. You’ve visited kimptonfolk.uk, bought your tickets and Google-mapped ‘Kimpton’, so now you know where you are going, and who you are going to see. But what else can you expect? What’s this one-day festival actually like? Maybe it will go a bit like this. …………… You navigate various narrow lanes and arrive at Kimpton where you follow a ‘free parking’ sign, ending up in a large field. After a quick trip to the handily-placed port-a-loo, you’re given a free programme and then directed to the Festival Office. Afte ..read more