Latitude Festival celebrates 10th year at Henham Park in Suffolk

Henham Park, the ancestral home of the Earl of Stradbroke, offers a lake at the centre of the festival site

In July 2006 headliners Snow Patrol, Mogwai and Antony and the Johnsons arrived in Suffolk to perform in a field that until then was best known for its annual steam rally.

About 10,000 people attended the first Latitude Festival, and much of the time the crowds in the tents away from the main stage were sparse.

But thankfully Melvin Benn, who came up with the idea for the festival, had a long-term vision for Latitude and the resources to build on the "genteel" first year.

The first Latitude at Henham Park, near Southwold, had the mixture of music, arts and comedy on which the festival still prides itself - but the main difference was the main stage, known as the Obelisk Arena, was in a tent.

Details of the first festival were revealed in spring 2006 as the owner of Henham Park Hektor Rous (left) and promoter Melvin Benn showed reporters their plans for the site

Snow Patrol headlined Latitude's first Friday night in the Obelisk Arena tent, which was about the same size as the current "second stage" BBC 6 Music tent

This was due to be the case in 2007, but strong winds "ripped it apart" ahead of the festival, so it was taken down and the stage has been open-air ever since.

By 2008, Latitude had become one of the key names on the summer festival calendar, with Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Ros and Interpol the headliners.

But it was Joanna Newsom who was the stand-out artist for many festival-goers.

The American harpist was named a fourth headliner and opened the main stage on the Sunday - a slot so successful that it was offered the following year to Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke.

Radiohead's Thom Yorke gave a solo performance on Sunday lunchtime in 2009

A resurgent Tom Jones made a special appearance on the Thursday night of 2010's Latitude.

Jones' set in the woods was so popular that the area had to be closed off and a large number of fans turned away.

A bird's eye view of the festival site looking south towards the River Blyth estuary

Tom Jones was such a draw in 2010 that some fans had to be turned away

As a result he made a second unscheduled appearance on the main stage on Sunday in the lunchtime "special guest" slot.

Local-boy-made-good Ed Sheeran was on the bill in 2010, performing in the small poetry tent.

Ed Sheeran comes from just down the A12 in Framlingham and his star continued to rise with an appearance on the Obelisk stage.

Damon Albarn and Paul Simonon headlined in 2007 with their The Good, The Bad & The Queen project, while Albarn headlined again in 2014 on his own

Nick Cave has appeared with both Grinderman (2008) and then with his Bad Seeds (2009) on the main stage

A year later, however, he was on the main stage, having enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame.

Two months after that appearance Sheeran released his debut album + on a major label, and has since become a genuine worldwide superstar, recently selling out three nights at Wembley Stadium.

Classical musicians including violinist Nigel Kennedy and pianist Lang Lang have appeared as part of a programme that has also included theatre, poetry, literary readings and interviews and the biggest names in British comedy.

Dyed sheep have been a feature - and arguably the poster species - of Latitude since its inception

David Soul was at Latitude in 2010 to read the poetry of Pablo Neruda rather than sing his own hits or talk about Starsky & Hutch

BBC Introducing in Suffolk has picked bands to perform on stage and has also broadcast shows (The B Goodes are pictured) from the festival

Latitude has continued to add new elements to the festival, whether a sit-down restaurant, yoga or whirlpool baths.

This year, for the first time, festival-goers will have the chance to swim in Henham Park's lake.

Henham Park's manager Hektor Rous will be raising a pint of his Hektor's Pure bitter to the next 10 years.