Escape To The Manor festival brings Makers, Morris and Xander to Northants

Taking place at a ‘secret location’ in Northamptonshire, tickets go on sale this week with the event also helping to raise money for different charities.

Joining the Reverend, Morris and Xander on the main stage will be Lost Colours, The Head Gardener, Santero, White Room, The Dandadda, Born Stranger, Catchment, Birdsworth, Tabou and Wilbur.

There will also be a BBC Introducing acoustic stage, curated by Lal Muttock, featuring some of the best music from across the county including Ginger Snaps, Drunken Mandem, Charlotte Carpenter, Diz Mack, Amaroum, Jono and the Uke Dealers, Jamie Benkert, Cousin Avi and Harry Pane with more to acts till to be announced.

DJ and producer Eddy Temple Morris spent 15 years at XFM, co-founded Ibiza Rocks and has been instrumental in the development of Secret Garden Party since its inception in 2004.

Talking about Escape To The Manor, he said: “It’s nice to be involved in something from the beginning, to give something life and watch it grow, like a child.

“Secondly, this is a fund-raiser for three very worthy charities - one of them is CALM, the mental health charity that deals with suicide.

“I'm the chair of their music board and have been involved in funds and awareness raising for the last nine years.

“Because we are dealing with the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK, it's a vital task to get awareness up and rural areas are especially difficult to reach.

“Those involved in farming are, like musicians, particularly at risk of depression, so doing something like this, which unites musicians, DJs and farmers is a golden opportunity to start something really profound.

“Lastly I love the ethos of the party. ‘We can be heroes, just for one day’ - Bowie is the perfect muse for this, and reflects the fact it's a party that champions new music, that helps nurture new talent and celebrates the mavericks of UK music."

Escape to the Manor will also be raising money for the MS Society and the Church of All Saints.

As well as live music, there will be arts and crafts, a games tent hosted by Game Face Live, local food and drink, yoga and an area for children.

David Maddox-Jones from Born Stranger and Escape To The Manor organiser said: “My friend Sam Smith approached me with the idea of the festival, knowing my involvement in the music industry.

“It’s the last year of Secret Garden Party and I got in touch with Eddy, we got chatting and he was really inspired by the idea.

“Eddy is one of those really genuine guys who is incredibly passionate about music and has put together a fantastic line up.

“I got to know him through my previous band Strangers and there’s genuine excitement about what this could be.

“There’s going to be no ‘downtime’ on the main stage with DJs between bands and we’ve decided to go out on a limb and book some really good up and coming acts.

“Eddy helped to give Revered and the Makers a break early on and I’d like to think we’re doing that again by putting faith in some acts we really believe in.

“We want people to come and have a fantastic time and leave thinking ‘this was something special’ and give people a change from the ‘normal’ festival experience.”

Escape To The Manor is on Saturday, September 16.

Organisers will be revealing the location in the coming weeks/months as they add to the line-up.

For more information, visit www.escapetothemanor.com