The Wickham Festival has just wrapped up another year, and for anyone who missed it, it's worth knowing what the weekend looked like. The 2026 edition ran from Thursday 30 July to Sunday 2 August across 28 acres of flat, accessible grassland on Blind Lane in the village of Wickham, near Fareham and Portsmouth, with a capacity of 7,000. It's built its reputation as one of the safest, most relaxed and family-friendly festivals in the UK, and the 2026 bill leaned into that with a wide-ranging mix across four stages.
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The main stages were the busiest. The Saw Doctors, the folk-rock band from Tuam in County Galway formed in 1986 by Leo Moran and Davy Carton, brought the Irish contingent, best known for their 1990 single 'I Useta Lover' which spent nine weeks at number one at home. The Proclaimers, the Scottish duo Craig and Charlie Reid, were there too, with 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)' and 'Sunshine on Leith' as the obvious crowd-pleasers. Curtis Stigers, the American jazz singer and saxophonist born in Hollywood and raised in Boise, Idaho, and the Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, born in Muswellbrook in 1955, rounded out the bigger names. The rest of the bill filled in around them: The Dhol Foundation, The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Ferocious Dog, The John Jones Trio, The Amy Winehouse Band, Dervish, Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening, The Young'Uns, Steve Knightley & The Winter Yards Band, Mec Lir, Imar, Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman, Jim Causley & Miranda Sykes, Gaz Brookfield & The Company of Thieves, Penguin Cafe, Tim Edey, Norrie MacIver, Hejira, Jack Broadbent, True Foxes, Windborne, Rob Clamp & The Ashmen, Project SMOK, Pronghorn, Black Umfolosi, Bonfire Radicals, Black Water County, Belinda O'Hooley, Nick Parker & The False Alarms, Sorrel Nation, Sheelanagig, Olivia Chaney, Roving Crows, The Firelight Trio, TR5's, Alistair Goodwin Band, The Gilkicker Weevils, The Rose & Thistle Pipes and Drums, The Freddy Saxo Quartet, Plaitford Common, Twisted Fiddle, The Marching SKAletons, Big Noise Samba, Encore Choirs, and The Tuneless Choir.
It wasn't all music, though. The spoken word programme gave the weekend some quiet moments: Friday brought an audience with Mike Read, Saturday was Spike Edney on touring with Queen and 'that performance' at Live Aid, and Sunday handed over to Russell Hastings of The Jam. On the practical side, the four-day weekend was £200 for adults, £100 for under 16s and £10 for under 10s, with that small charge for the youngest visitors added specifically to deter scammers. Tickets were non-refundable unless the event was cancelled. Camping was a big part of it, with space for tents, caravans and motorhomes, clean toilets, hot showers and a late-night transport service into the village, plus glamping options like bell tents and pods on site.
A bit of context helps explain the festival's character. It's held near the historic Chesapeake Mill and the Georgian market square, and in 2024 it moved across the A334 to a flatter grassland site with better access and drainage. It also does some quiet good: it works with Two Saints, a Fareham charity supporting homeless and vulnerable young people in south Hampshire, and since 2021 it has raffled a guitar signed by festival artists for the music therapy charity George's Rockstars. It's been recognised too, taking Best UK Festival under 15,000 at the Live UK Music Business Awards in 2015 and landing on The Guardian's list of best family-friendly boutique festivals.
Published Date
3 August 2026
