• TTDE - FolkEast - Main Stage
  • TTDA - First Light Festival - main stage

Festivals - 'Save the Dates'

There's a whole array of festivals on the coast throughout the year, so why not plan which ones float your boat with our great little 'save the date' reminder...

Choose between festivals of the arts, photographs, walking, sport, music, food and drink, or simply just to celebrate all that’s great about our lovely Suffolk towns!

Whether you’re planning days out with the family, short breaks or holidays on The Suffolk Coast, we’ve put together a helpful ‘save the date’ listing of what’s coming up this year so you don’t miss out on any fabulous fiestas!

For a full list of all the events taking place throughout 2024 visit our What's on page and get planning!

6 & 7 April 2024 & 6 & 7 July 2024 - Life Arts Mind, Body & Spirit Festival

Life Arts - Woman in yoga pose

Life Arts is the leading mind body spirit events company in East Anglia. In April in Woodbridge and again in July at Trinity Park, Ipswich, they bring you the Mind, Body & Spirit Festival. Featuring a range of classes including yoga, Qi Gung, cleansing your aura and sound healing, plus tasters including Indian head massage, fire cupping, reiki healing and reflexology - a festival guaranteed to help you relax and de-stress! 

For more information visit https://www.lifearts.co.uk/life-arts-events/

11 - 15 April 2024 - Ink Festival, Halesworth

TTDA - The Cut - Stage

INK Festival is an annual weekend festival of new short plays, musicals, radio and film taking place at The Cut in Halesworth.

The 15th April 2024 will feature the second INK Youth Festival, a day when local secondary school students can come to experience the joy of live theatre, for free.

Tickets for the 2024 INK Festival are on sale now. For more information visit inkfestival.org

25 May 2024 - Beccles Food & Drink Festival

Beccles Food & Drink Festival

Plenty of artisan East Anglian food and drink stalls, world street food, cookery theatre, music, children's entertainment will be taking over the charming market town of Beccles on Saturday 25 May 2024 for the Beccles Food & Drink Festival.

This free to attend event, not only showcases the region's top food & drink providers, this year the Local Flavours mobile cookery theatre, will feature budding chefs and bakers showing off their skills and providing you with culinary inspiration. 

For more information, visit becclesfoodfestival.co.uk or visit the Facebook page, facebook.com/becclesfoodanddrinkfestival

7 - 23 June 2024 - Aldeburgh Festival, Snape Maltings

TTDA - Aldeburgh Festival 2018 - John Wilson and the BBC SSO - Photo credit BBC John Wood

Taking place at Snape Maltings and venues in the town of Aldeburgh, the 2024 festival is back with a 16-day celebration of music and the arts. 

Celebrating 75 years of this incredible event, the 2024 festival promises to be a continuation of the classical music and culture pilgrimage that is the Aldeburgh Festival. Every June, the event plays host to new commissions, world premiers and international stars on the stretch of Suffolk Coast which composer Benjamin Britten loved so dearly.

For highlights of the 2023 festival and to sign up to the festivals mailing list for updates, visit brittenpearsarts.org/the-aldeburgh-festival

22 -23 June 2024, Summer Solstice Weekend - First Light Festival 

TTDA - First Light Festival - Sunrise Stage

After a triumphant weekend in 2023, Lowestoft’s free summer solstice celebration will return for 2024. Inspired by Lowestoft’s location as the most Easterly part of the country and therefore the first to receive sunlight, the First Light Festival programme has been curated to celebrate the cycles of the sun with events taking place throughout the weekend from sunrise to sundown.

Championing Lowestoft as a growing creative hub by showcasing and supporting new talent within the local community, alongside a full programme of events and activations to engage and excite – First Light Festival is the UK’s only free beach festival. This year's headliners include DJ Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy, comedian Shaprak Khorsandi and author and poet Hollie McNish.

The full First Light Festival 2024 line-up will be announced in Spring 2024, but you can book your wild beach camping or campervan pitch now!

For more information, visit firstlightlowestoft.com

26 - 30 June 2024 - Felixstowe Book Festival

Felixstowe Book Festival 2019

Launched in 2013, Felixstowe Book Festival is a celebration of "Books by the Sea". Authors and audiences love the festivals unique and welcoming atmosphere where they can combine a weekend of literature with good quality seafood, walks along the prom and bracing swims in the North Sea.

Author events are followed by book signings, a chance to meet the talent behind the pen. With an eclectic range of genres to choose from, whether you are a fanatic of fiction, a lover of biography or an appreciator of poetry this festival is sure to have something for you to adore.

Tickets go on sale in April 2024, for more information and for highlights from 2023 visit the festivals website felixstowebookfestival.co.uk 

5 - 7 July 2024 - Maverick Festival

TTDE - Maverick Festival

Established in 2008, Maverick Festival is now the UK's leading Americana event showcasing the best roots music from both sides of the Atlantic. Set amongst the restored Victorian barns and out-buildings of Easton Farm Park, nestled deep in the Suffolk countryside, the festival also hosts films, workshops and performances from a range of different artists across six stages, indoors and out.

Tickets are on sale now for 2024 and are available to buy online at maverickfestival.co.uk

6 July - Pax Festival, Thorington

Back by popular demand, this intimate one-day festival returns to Thorington Theatre.

Come and listen to the mesmerising JERUB, who performed at the King Coronation alongside Pete Tong. stunning vocals of Henry Grace float over the treetops. He will be joined by amusing wordsmith Josh Flowers, captivating songstress Alex Kate and local up-and-coming artists Leon O'Leary and BBC Introducing one to watch Sophie The Great plus Ralph Taylor.

Book your place at the popular wine tasting workshops led by TikTok sensation Luke Flunder, or Soho House resident life drawing teacher, Bella Franks, who will be hosting circus-themed classes in the woods. Qualified Nutritional Therapist, Clare Backhouse will be hosting free workshops on stress, and you can tuck into food from local street food traders.

Tickets are on sale at https://www.thoringtontheatre.co.uk/events/pax-festival-2024

25 - 28 July 2024 - Latitude Festival, Southwold

TTDE - Latitude Festival

Set within the stunning surroundings of Henham Park, Latitude has been creating unforgettable memories for over 15 years - offering the very best in music, dance, comedy, poetry, theatre, literature, podcasts, family activities and wellness.

This year's line up is yet to be announced although we do know one thing... the first confirmed headliner is Duran Duran!

Tickets for Latitude 2024 are on sale now at latitudefestival.com

2 - 4 August 2024 - Black Shuck Festival 

Black Shuck Festival - men carrying black shuck model

The Black Shuck Festival is a unique festival celebrating folklore, imagination, and storytelling in its many forms, based on the strange and terrible wunder that is the Black Dog of Bungay! 

The East Anglian legend of Black Shuck tells of a wild black dog that entered Bungay's St Mary's Church during a violent storm, the animal then reappeared at Blythburgh Church, where the beast was trapped and its claw marks, burned into the surface of the door, can be seen to this day.

From theatre, music and performance, to art, literature, and history, the Black Shuck festival will offer exciting and thrilling activities for all ages and abilities, immersing visitors in the rich folklore of the region, set in the stunning natural environment of Bungay and the Waveney valley.

For more information go to blackshuckfestival.com

16 - 18 August 2024 – FolkEast, Saxmundham

TTDA - FoldEast - (c) Kathy Baxendale

FolkEast continues in August 2024 and is bound to bring yet another brilliantly cosmopolitan line-up. In recent years the festival has hosted a range of vintage performers and some of the best new acts on the block including stellar overseas performers – from England, Scotland, Canada and Australia  and of course East Anglia. Look forward to this event as musicians and performers take to the stages in the stunning surroundings of Glemham Hall.

The 2024 event will be played out on several stages – Sunset main stage, Moot Hall, Stage in the Woods, Sanctuary Space and the Dance stage while the event’s pubs will be alive with singarounds and sessions. Here, there and everywhere throughout the weekend will be the festival’s hugely popular ‘life enhancers’, multi award-winning patrons, The Young ‘uns. 

For more information go to folkeast.co.uk

28 & 29 September 2024 - Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival 

TTDA - Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival - 2021

Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival is a hugely popular food festival taking place in the beautiful setting of Snape Maltings, next to the River Alde and close to the Suffolk coast, where reed-covered marshlands stretch into the distance towards Aldeburgh.

With over 100 food and drink producers from Suffolk, many from just a few miles away, all gathered to sell their produce including raw milk, organic vegetables, sourdough bread, award-winning beer and spirits and delicious streetfood.

This year, the festival promises to deliver a jam-packed weekend of fabulous food adventures, from tastings and demonstrations to masterclasses.

For more information go to aldeburghfoodanddrink.co.uk



Things to see and do

The Cut - Halesworth

The Cut - Halesworth

Halesworth

The Cut Arts Centre offers Halesworth and the surrounding countryside an extensive range of arts, music, theatre, dance, comedy, cinema, workshops and art exhibitions. 

Read more >
Free wifi