Weird and Wonderful Wood at Haughley is East's best festival

Weird and Wonderful Wood at Haughley Park was voted East Anglian Festival of the Year - as well as taking the Suffolk county crown - at an awards event.

Other county winners were Buckfest Music Festival (Cambridgeshire), CozFest (Essex) and Legends Of Rock Yarmageddon 10 (Norfolk).

The East Anglian Festival Network's (EAFN) annual East Anglian Festivals of the Year Awards poll ran for the first 10 days of 2023.

Thousands of festival goers from across Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire voted from a choice of more than 700 festivals, fairs and fun days for their best event of 2022.

Sarah Barker, who co-organises Weird and Wonderful Wood with Sue Taylor, expressed her delight at the win, which was announced on local BBC radio.

"We were jumping for joy in our kitchen last night when we heard the announcement. We have had so much support from the people who visited. We literally had thousands and thousands of emails from people saying what a wonderful time they had," she said.

The 2022 event at Haughley Park, held in May and featuring wood crafts, music and local food, attracted a record number of around 5k visitors on both days.

"There was a very great air of joy and excitement last year - it was fantastic," she said.

"Last year it was the the universe aligning I think because the weather was fantastic and it was probably one of the first events in Suffolk after lockdown and people were excited to be out and making things and enjoying lovely entertainment and fantastic food."

Sarah's mum, Tarby Davenport - who received an MBE last year for her services to the arts in the local area - founded the event in 1994 and ran it until last year when Sarah and Sue took over.

"We started off on the Thornham Estate in Thornham Magna. It was very small - with probably 200 visitors - but it's grown and grown and become more and more popular over the years," said Sarah.

It has a "fantastic" reputation for the artisans who attend and the local food stalls, she said. Free workshops at the event enable visitors to try their hand at a host of crafts.

"It's very family-orientated and very affordable for families. One of my mum's very strong feelings is it should be very affordable for families," she said. "It's just a very magical event."

EAFN founder Mike Wilson thanked the thousands of festival goers who voted and congratulated the winners. He said he was looking forward to presenting each with their microphone trophies, made at The Centre, a community training workshop in Bury St Edmunds.

"The awards are an annual thank you to the people that put on all these amazing events across our region. They provide so much fun, fulfilment and funds for our communities, charities and the local economy," he said.

This year's Weird and Wonderful Wood festival takes place on the weekend of May 13 and 14.