Duncombe Park to be new home of Galtres Festival (From Gazette & Herald)

Galtres Festival will be staged at Duncombe Park, near Helmsley

11:39am Friday 22nd February 2013 in News By Mark Stead, mark.stead@thepress.co.uk

Duncombe Park

THE organisers of a family festival staged near York every summer have today confirmed they have found a new home.

In a surprise move, this year's Galtres Festival will be staged at Duncombe Park, near Helmsley, despite the stately home not originally being among the shortlisted sites for the event.

The festival's organisers last month said they needed to move from Crayke, where it has been held in recent years, due to its growing popularity and parking issues caused by wet weather. They had focused on two potential sites, Rawcliffe Country Park in York and Folly Wood at Huby.

However, Duncombe Park has now been chosen for the August Bank Holiday event, with festival organiser James Houston saying: "It's a truly fabulous and spectacular location and perfect for our festival.

"There is spacious, grassy parkland, woodland, beautiful riverside camping, the fabulous backdrop of a stately home and fantastic access roads all around the estate. What we also deeply value is the warm welcome we have received from the estate owners, the local traders, the town council - everybody.

"It's clear they appreciate the quality of our event and the value of the benefits it will bring to Helmsley and the region."

Helmsley hotelier Chris Parker, who is also a town councillor and member of the trade association Helmsley In Business, said: "We welcome the festival coming to Helmsley in 2013.

"It has been proved with other events that Helmsley has the capacity and ability to add to the visitor experience, and it is hoped festival-goers will visit the town. Naturally, any supplies which can be provided by local businesses will benefit the local economy."

Gary Verity, chief executive of tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire, said: "We have supported Galtres Festival for some years and are sure this move will be a great boost to the festival and the local area.

"The reputation of the event goes from strength to strength, bringing great music to a spectacular location."

Galtres Festival was launched at the Durham Ox in Crayke in 2005 and its switch to Duncombe Park will be its ninth move. When it was moved to the stately home Sutton Park in 2006, organisers said the audience virtually doubled.

Mr Houston said the festival team also wanted to run events at Rawcliffe Country Park and Folly Wood, saying: "Both are excellent venues in very different ways.

"We've spent a lot of time talking to and listening to the people who live around these sites. While there are concerns about holding events there, there is also much support and our plan is to run smaller events to start with - perhaps a beer festival or a one-night concert - and then build on those with the growing trust of the local communities.

"Galtres Festival is all about working in harmony with people, developing high-quality events which people enjoy and which have minimal impact. We're grateful for the support we have been shown in York and Huby and hope to be issuing news about these venues very soon."