The Magpies Festival: a look back at the 2026 edition

The Magpies Festival has just come and gone, but for anyone who missed it, it's worth knowing what the weekend was about before the 2027 edition lands. The festival, now in its sixth year, took place on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 August at Sutton Park Stately Home in the village of Sutton-on-the-Forest, just outside York. It's a family-friendly folk music and arts weekend run by the transatlantic folk trio The Magpies, an all-female band who formed in York back in the autumn of 2017. The line-up is curated by the band themselves, and the whole event is built around supporting local businesses and emerging musicians.

The band behind it all is worth a mention in its own right. Bella Gaffney on guitar, banjo and vocals, Polly Bolton on mandolin, banjo and vocals, Sarah Smout on cello and Holly Brandon on fiddle make up the group, with Brandon also serving as Festival Director. They play a blend of Celtic and bluegrass folk and have made gender equality a central part of the festival, aiming for parity across the line-up and staff to create a safe environment for female musicians and festival-goers. The event also supports the national charity Women's Aid.

This year's bill leaned into that folk and roots territory. Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys, the UK folk band led by the Norfolk-born, Cornwall-based singer-songwriter who took home the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 'Horizon' title in 2016, shared the stage with Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra, a Newcastle-based outfit playing Western Swing, Blues, Gypsy Jazz and Country. Blair Dunlop, the award-winning British singer-songwriter who released 'Out of the Rain' in May 2024, and Katherine Priddy, known for the haunting vocals of her 2021 debut 'The Eternal Rocks Beneath', rounded things out, with The Magpies themselves playing a set. Full entry was £78, with camping set up across the grounds and food, drink and market stalls supplied by independent traders.

The setting did a lot of the heavy lifting. Sutton Park is the private family home of the Sheffield family, a Grade I listed example of Early Georgian architecture built in the early 18th century, and its gardens are a regular winner in Yorkshire in Bloom, taking the Gold Award in 2024. The grounds hold an Edwardian Fernery, a Georgian Ice House and a Woodland Walk, so the camping came with a bit of history attached. If you're planning for next time, it's worth knowing the gardens are open daily from 1 July to 31 August and again on 12 and 13 September, 11am to 5pm, with guided tours of the house departing at 1.30pm and 2.45pm on those days. Admission is £15 for adults and £10 for the garden alone, with under-16s free.

Getting there is the one bit that needs a plan. Leeds Bradford Airport is about 43km away, roughly an hour by car, or you can take the train to Leeds and on by bus, shuttle or taxi. On-site parking exists, but it gets busy on festival days, and accommodation near Sutton Park fills up fast, so looking around Leeds is the sensible move. With the 2026 edition now in the books, the festival has firmly set itself as one of the more treasured fixtures on the North Yorkshire summer calendar.