The Great Estate Festival 2024 Review: Cornwall’s Very Own Wonderland

Hidden in the trees is one of the UK’s most exciting festivals: The Great Estate, full of sun-soaked silliness and incredible music.

Set in the heart of Cornwall, the Great Estate Festival is back in 2024 with the promise of an unforgettable mix of music, art and culture. This eclectic event, held at the picturesque Scorrier House, has become a staple of the UK’s small festival scene. Known for its quirky charm and varied range, The Great Estate has quickly become one of Cornwall’s summer highlights.

For the third year, we at RouteNote have experienced the magic first hand to bring you an account of what this secluded wonderland has in store for music lovers, thrill seekers and sun chasers. So whether you’re looking for reasons to come next year, or have attended and already miss The Great Estate, join us for a finale to one of the UK’s most magical festivals.

Here’s why The Great Estate Festival is a must-see event.

A feast for music lovers

The sun came out just in time for The Great Estate, lighting up the main stage acts and encouraging a beautiful sense of summer escape. As you enter the festival, your route takes you through a canopy of trees and leads to the light where the woods suddenly open to the wonders of the festival unfolding before you.

Fairground rides, colorful tents and head-turning activities welcome you to the festival area, encapsulated by beautiful forests. Step through the booming bubble of events to find the main stage, framed by the natural beauty of a sprawling grove.

The main arena played host to many fantastic acts throughout the weekend, showcasing a new standout performance each night. Friday night saw the timeless classics of The Stranglers; there is something poetic about watching Golden Brown as the sun slowly sets. Saturday night was marked with the indelible power of darkness, guitar riffs and falsetto tones that you can’t help but smile. Then the soulful fun of Soul II Soul led off the weekend in style on Sunday night.

Numerous local acts helped populate the smaller stages with a non-stop mix of fantastic music. A short walk into the cider forest of Cornish Orchards reveals a superb area for up-and-coming acts tossing their sounds between the tree trunks.

As the sun goes down, the main stage gives way to the festival’s famous silent disco. This year, silent disco comes out of the woods to take center stage in the main arena, delivering a bigger, badder and better night with room to lose yourself in throwing your wildest shapes.

Whether you’re in awe of the main stage or exploring the hidden corners of The Great Estate, you’re sure to tickle your ears with something unique and always enjoyable. But there’s something for all the senses at The Great Estate Festival and there’s plenty more to see.

Art and culture galore

The Great Estate Festival is a celebration of art and culture and that goes beyond the incredible music on display. Scorrier House, with its lush gardens and historic charm, serves as the perfect backdrop for a variety of art installations and performances. From contemporary sculptures to interactive art exhibitions, the festival encourages creativity and participation.

Beyond the grandeur of Scorrier’s manor house, refined class gives way to bohemian intrigue. Your eyes are drawn to a huge circus tent, promising something a little different. This is Mrs. Wong’s House of Wrong, but let’s make it clear that if this is wrong, we don’t want to be right!

Here’s the most outlandish of the weekend’s acts, including mesmerizing cabaret, raucous comedy and slightly offbeat musical acts including: Mik Artistik’s quirky musical poetry Ego Trip and The Beatle’s Dub Club’s collection of Beatles songs, how could you not did you hear them before. Take the time to watch an exclusive drag race and rediscover the wonders of childhood with circus tricks.

Beyond Madame Wong’s Wonderland, there is much more to discover. A compact, tented market offers vintage clothing, boutique finery and antique intrigue; Fantastic food stalls fill the air with enticing aromas, giving rise to the age-old question, “What should we eat?”; And if you’re feeling a little sore from the night before (or just riding a quiet high), The Zen Den and Wellness Workshop Tent offers a meditative respite.

The Great Estate is a wholesome, family-friendly daytime festival offering activities for all ages. Fairground rides offer a thrill, while a day of Victorian sports offers competitive festival-goers an old-school challenge. Ax throwing and blacksmithing offer a taste of simple, rough pleasures. Everywhere you look, there is something joyful to engage in.

Among the sounds of delight at the center of the festival is a skating rink filled with learners and experts alike showing off their skills and having fun. If I felt like hitting and snapping, I’d be right there with them! As it stands, simply watching the festivities around you bathed in sunshine provides a thrill of its own.

It’s heartening to see young people having fun with young adults. For generations, The Great Estate has brought a smile to the faces of attendees. It’s the perfect place for parents to let loose with the assurance of a good time for all, while also accommodating fun-seeking singles and couples of all ages.

A Cornish Wonderland for all to discover

Walking through the forest, passing flying books and magic mirrors, you really feel like Alice is entering another world. The Grand Estate has defined its aesthetic and achieves it with such stunning success that you are completely absorbed from the moment you enter the main gates.

Cornwall itself is special: the remote corner of the United Kingdom, surrounded by beaches of tropical beauty and full of greenery. It’s a place that Justin and Dan Hawkins, the musical brothers of The Darkness, have fond childhood memories of. During the set, singer/guitarist Justin recounts the nostalgic breeze of Cornish holidays – and the less romantic memory of his parents conceiving his guitarist brother on holiday in Cornwall.

The Great Estate takes the magical feeling of being lost in nature and delivers it alongside an intoxicating combination of vintage class and free-spirited avant-garde to create what manifests as a one-of-a-kind sprawling garden party. The weird and the wonderful combine at Scorrier House for a weekend getaway that feels beyond time and place. It’s only fitting that a family festival is able to make you feel like a kid again with its fascinating surroundings.

It’s been thrilling for us at RouteNote to watch the festival progress from its first year to the mature and self-assured event it is today. Every year, The Great Estate makes a little more of itself – but it’s always known what it is:

A brilliant display of the more extraordinary side of our culture, a celebration of the joy in pure fun and quirky entertainment and the eternal wonder of getting lost in the woods and discovering the extraordinary on the other side of the rabbit hole.

You can watch all our videos from The Great Estate Festival on the RouteNote Sessions YouTube channel. See what we thought of previous iterations of the festival in our articles below.

Head here to find The Great Estate’s official website and keep your eyes peeled for next year’s tickets to make sure you don’t miss out on what’s sure to be another delightful and irresistible event.