Latitude Festival begins with headliner Lewis Capaldi

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Latitude fieldsImage source, Richard Haugh/BBC
Image caption,

Foals and the Manic Street Preachers will be among the acts to perform at the festival

People have begun arriving at one of the UK's biggest festivals following a week of record-breaking temperatures.

Latitude at Henham Park near Southwold, Suffolk, runs until Sunday with headliners Lewis Capaldi and Snow Patrol.

The festival also features comedy, arts, cooking and entertainment for children.

Organiser Melvin Benn said: "The arena has never looked better and the vibe is wonderful already."

Image caption,

Latitude campers arrived on Thursday to set up

Other acts set to perform include Foals, Groove Armada and the Manic Street Preachers, while Frankie Boyle, Russell Howard and Reginald D Hunter headline the comedy stage.

Temperatures in Suffolk hit 39C (104F) on Tuesday, but the forecast was significantly cooler for the weekend with a high of 26C (79F) on Sunday.

Organisers have asked festival-goers not to bring in anything that could start fires.

Mr Benn told BBC Look East "everybody is on full alert" for fires and he asked people to avoid using disposable barbeques.

Image source, Reuters
Image caption,

Lewis Capaldi is the headliner on the main Obelisk arena stage on Friday

About 40,000 people are expected to attend the festival each day, which ran last year as a government Covid-19 test event.

Mr Benn said: "We've had some time to get together this year. We only had days last year and people enjoyed it enormously."

Image caption,

Campers Lynne Mcintosh and Lauren Stratford set up their tent on Thursday

Lynne Mcintosh, who has travelled down from Aberdeen, said: "It's just a good family atmosphere, it's great for the children.

"There's no bedtime at Latitude for the children."

"Or for us," added her daughter Lauren Stratford, who has come from Barnsley.

Image source, Richard Haugh/BBC
Image caption,

The festival has a fairground, arts, crafts, theatre and several music stages

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