Festival leaving stately home venue after a decade

The Greenbelt Festival has been at Boughton House since 2014

A long-running festival is to leave its stately home venue after more than a decade at the site, organisers have announced.

Greenbelt, the arts, faith and justice festival, has been held at Boughton House, near Kettering in Northamptonshire since 2014, but next year's event will be the last at the venue.

The festival was launched 51 years ago and has moved home seven times.

Greenbelt's managing director Derek Hill said: "Through careful stewardship since we moved to Boughton, we're now in a stronger financial position than most of the past 30 years. But we can't be complacent."

Jeremy Corbyn (left) was among those at this year's festival

He said the "the uplift in production costs means we are beginning to need to dip into our reserves most years".

Mr Hill added Boughton had been a "tremendous" home for 10 years but said his team had a responsibility to the "next generation of Greenbelters" so "it's time to move".

The festival's directors said they had not yet decided where the annual gathering would move to and were keeping their options open to the extent that they might not stage an event in 2027.

They said the cost of providing a "hefty" infrastructure at the rural location had become more expensive each year.

But they added Greenbelt's inclusive ethos and pay-what-you-can ticket policy meant they felt uneasy about passing costs on to audiences.

Creative director Paul Northup said he knew some regulars might have been shocked and saddened at the decision.

"Leaving somewhere you love will always involve a degree of heartache," he said.

"It's so tempting to stay at a site we've made our home over the last decade and to keep polishing and refining the festival we make there.

"But the long-term numbers tell us a different story - and Greenbelt has always been braver and more creative than that."

The first Greenbelt took place at Prospect Farm in Suffolk in 1974

This year's three-day bill of music, talks and performances attracted 11,500 people.

Independent politician Jeremy Corbyn and Silent Witness actress Liz Carr were on the line-up this summer, with past events attracting names including U2, Bob Geldof, Pussy Riot and former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Next year's festival will be held at Boughton House from 27 to 30 August.

Adjoa Andoh, who stars in TV series Bridgerton as Lady Danbury, was one of the guests at this year's festival