Kent's festivals set to draw large crowds this summer

Kent's festivals give many local bands the chance to shine

Festivals are becoming more and more popular on the summer to-do list. With more festivals attracting bigger and more diverse crowds, it is getting difficult to avoid them. Kent is no exception.

In fact, we have more festivals than most down in the sunny south-east. From farms to parks, hills to zoos, no large space of land is safe from festival fever.

Lounge on the Farm

Festivals come and go, but the great Kent festival stalwart Lounge on the Farm (LOTF) returns for another year, with an outstanding line-up.

LOTF manage the balance of local and international acts very well; over the weekend of 8 - 10 July you can see The Streets, Ellie Goulding and Everything Everything alongside Tunbridge Wells' Tom Williams & the Boat, Deal's Cocos Lovers and Canterbury's Zoo For You.

Hevy, Port Lympne and Hop Farm

If lounging on a farm in Canterbury isn't hardcore enough for you, try Hevy Music Festival at Port Lympne Animal Park, in Hythe, in August.

Here you can see the cream of the metal and hardcore crop, including Dillinger Escape Plan and Funeral For a Friend.

If big names and oast houses are your thing, then head to the Hop Farm Music Festival at the beginning of July. What must have been an incredibly expensive line-up to secure includes Prince, Eagles, Morrissey, Bryan Ferry, Brandon Flowers and Iggy & the Stooges.

Music on the Hill and Unfest

Tom Williams and the Boat played at the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend in Maidstone

Music on the Hill in Kings Hill (24 - 26 June) offers a similar deal but with profits going to Demelza Hospice Care for Children and The Children's Development Trust. Here you can see Katherine Jenkins, McFly and X-Factor's Stacey Solomon.

The highlight of the smaller local festivals scene is Unfest. At venues in and around the Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells, it is a great chance to check out loads of new Kent bands and artists.

Kent bands at other festivals

If you are braving counties outside of Kent for your festival fix, here are a few of our local names that will also have made the journey.

Tom Williams & the Boat are playing Camden Crawl and Bearded Theory Festival in Derbyshire, Two Wounded Birds are playing Camp Bestival (Dorset) and Bestival (Isle of Wight), Story Books are venturing all the way up to Inverness for Rockness and Beladrum, and Rod Azlan is appearing with Caspa at Glastonbury.

BBC Kent Introducing is broadcast every Sunday on BBC Radio Kent at 2000 BST.