Black Deer Festival 2024

Black Deer, Festival, Eridge Park, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

June 14 - 16, 2024.

Festival of Americana

I was kindly given two press tickets for myself and my 16-year-old daughter - as always I aim to give you an honest review

After falling in love with Black Deer Festival on our first trip there back in 2019, I was extremely excited to be heading back - albeit just for the day on the Sunday. Black Deer is set in Eridge Park (which is Britain's oldest Deer Park) close to Tunbridge Wells on the Kent and East Sussex border. It is billed as a Festival of Americana - anybody who knows me well, will know that a have a penchant for all things western - I own a pretty impressive collection of cowboy boots!

The festival runs yearly in June from a Friday to Sunday with the option to camp over the full weekend. If you just fancy going for a day, then day tickets are also available to buy. Americana incorporates roots style music - expect to hear blues, country, folk, bluegrass and rock whilst you're there. The site also has a few traditional fairground rides; cooking demonstrations on the Live Fire stage which included a chilli eating competition; a young folk area for kids; plenty of food stalls; bars; axe throwing; classic cars; a fire pit; a mechanical bull and an array of traders selling all sorts from vintage clothing to festival wear.

The weather on Saturday had been pretty appalling with torrential downpours for most of the day - so I was pretty smug that I had chosen to go on the Sunday. We live around 30 miles from the site - and got dropped off at 11:00am (this is the time that the festival opens for non-campers). There is a drop-off point - then once you have collected your wristbands, it is a downhill stroll through to the main gates where you will have your bags checked.

As the rain had been pretty bad, I was very impressed that the site wasn't as muddy as expected - the team had obviously done a great job, there was straw thrown down in particularly squelchy areas and everywhere was very clean, including the toilets. I felt that everything was walkable and well sectioned - the area is fairly small compared to other festivals that I have been to. There is a Main stage, the Ridge stage (inside a circus style tent), Supajam stage, Cafe Nero tent, Live Fire stage and Harley's Bar and Stage.

Headliners this year included Sheryl Crow; Joe Bonamassa and Rufus Wainwright. As we were there on the Sunday I was particularly looking forward to seeing Hermanos Gutiérrez, Fleetwood Bac and Rosanne Cash perform. Bear in mind that there were lots of amazing performers playing in different areas at the same time, I have only concentrated on a couple.

Fleetwood Bac were the first band that we watched perform around lunchtime on the main stage - this tribute act did an amazingly authentic performance and really got the crowd going - belting out some of Fleetwood Mac's greatest hits. This was followed by Rosanne Cash (daughter of Johnny Cash) and her husband John Leventhal - we caught her playing: "The Only Thing Worth Fighting For" - which I knew from hearing on True Detective. She really does have a very beautiful voice.

My daughter is 16 now, but we went to explore the Young Folk area anyway. There was a ping pong table, a free craft tent where you could play games, do some colouring-in, dress-up and make bracelets. There were also bookable activities there which included a small climbing wall, trampolines and the Woodland Tribe. We actually spent a fair bit of time chilling in the craft tent - colouring-in was very therapeutic!

Food wise, you could spend a fortune! There were lots of choices from barbecued meats, toasties and street food from all over the world - then there were bubble waffles, churros, mini pancakes and ice cream. You can expect to pay anything from £7 upwards for food. We had hotdogs with cheesy fries at lunchtime; then later in the afternoon we shared some loaded fries topped with butter chicken. I also bought us some churros to share. Overall, I spent around £35 on food for the day for the two of us. There are also lots of bar areas, you can get a reusable plastic cup for refills and there are cans of drink available - I didn't pay a huge amount of attention to the prices of drinks but an Aperol Spritz cost me £10 - which is probably pretty standard festival prices. There is drinking water available so you can refuel for free too.

The traditional style fairground rides included a ferris wheel, chair-o-plane, helter skelter and dodgems - these ranged from £4 - £5 per person. I didn't see how much the axe throwing cost but that looked very popular and I was very tempted to ride the mechanical bull but decided that doing that in a short dress probably wouldn't have been a great idea!

There were a few picnic benches dotted around the site - we took a seat by the Live Fire stage and watched some demonstrations and also enjoyed seeing some of the chilli eating contest.

What I love about Black Deer is that it is such a great mix of all ages there and everybody is super friendly and chatty. There were plenty of people who had travelled down by themselves and were just happily enjoying the atmosphere. As I have mentioned above, the site is very clean, no rubbish or overflowing bins - and I saw lots of staff walking around litter picking. The campsite area also looks really lovely - there is general camping, glamping and pre-pitched tents and an area for campervans.

We wandered around from stage to stage, just dipping in and out and seeing some great up-and-coming musicians. In the early evening we sat on the grass, soaking up golden hour and watched The Staves who are an indie folk duo.

One of my main reasons for choosing to head to Black Deer on the Sunday was to see

Hermanos Gutiérrez live. If you have not heard their music look them up! The two brothers are of Ecuadorian-Swiss decent. Their instrumental music is very atmospheric - think spaghetti western - Ennio Morricone style - road-tripping through the desert at sunset and you are there. We waited patiently at the front of the main stage and enjoyed an hour of beautiful music - in the front row - with an amazingly mesmerised, silent crowd behind us. It was awesome!

Unfortunately, after that it was time for us to head home as we had a train catch, so we missed out on Rufus Wainwright's performance. We left with the backdrop of a beautiful sunset over the park. We caught the shuttle bus from the drop-off area - this is a single decker bus which runs on a loop between Tunbridge Wells station and the festival site late into the evening - it cost us £6 each. Depending on where you are headed you will usually need to head back into London to get a connecting train. From Tunbridge Wells you can get to London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charring Cross. We managed to jump on our connecting train at London Bridge and made it back home for 11:30pm.

This is definitely a festival that I rave about to people - it is very child-friendly and laid-back. If you are going to a festival you really do need to save up over the year and budget wisely - I reckon I easily spent £100 in a day on food, drinks and rides, as there is way too much temptation. Early bird tickets for 2025 are going live soon and Black Deer Live are running a series of one-night shows across the UK this year - so stay tuned!