No - We love dogs, but this time they’ll need to sit it out at home. Because the festival takes place on a working farm and historic site, only guide dogs are allowed on site. This keeps the animals, the land and all our visitors safe and happy.

St Osyth Summer Sounds is a music and food festival in Essex, celebrating brilliant live performances, amazing local producers and a proper Farm to Fork ethos. Think great bands, great food and a feel‑good community vibe, and its free to come.

Yes – tickets are completely free this year.
There’s no catch, no hidden booking fee, no “admin charge” the size of a small mortgage. We just ask that, if you’re able, you consider supporting us with a donation so we can keep it that way.

Our aim is to keep tickets free forever if we can make the numbers work. Your support, whether that’s a one‑off donation or an annual gift, helps us plan ahead and keep the festival open to everyone.

Short answer: The National Lottery Community Fund.

Slightly longer answer: St Osyth Summer Sounds is run by Arts Trust, a registered charity. We rely on donations, sponsorship and grants to cover the costs of staging the festival. Every pound we receive is spent directly on the festival – artists, staging, safety, loos, the unglamorous but essential stuff.

You can make a one‑off donation or, if you’re feeling committed, set up an annual donation to help secure the festival’s future. Sharing our posts, bringing your friends and spreading the word all help too. If you’re a business, you can also get in touch about sponsorship.

Your donation will go straight back into the festival. Donations help pay for artists, stages, sound, site infrastructure, accessibility measures and the extra bits that turn “some stuff in a field” into a proper festival. Arts Trust is a registered charity, regulated by the Charity Commission, so everything is properly overseen and accounted for.

It means we champion local farmers, growers and makers, the people who actually produce the food and drink you’re enjoying. You’ll find stalls and traders who source locally, reduce food miles where possible and care about quality, sustainability and flavour. Basically: you’ll eat very well.

Yes. Alongside the music and food, we showcase the work of local charities, community groups and services, giving them space to be seen, heard and supported. The festival is designed to have a broad social impact, not just a good soundtrack. So if you represent a local charitable service, and would like to have a presence at the festival please don contact us via the contact form.

Accessibility is really important to us. We work to keep the site as accessible as we can and to make the festival welcoming for everyone. However please note that the ground is a combination of gravel and grass, and can be a bit tough on wheelchairs. We are looking into solutions for this.

Closer to the event we’ll publish detailed access information on our website, and if you have specific needs you can always contact us in advance.

Absolutely. The whole point of keeping tickets free is that everyone can come, whether or not you’re in a position to donate. If you can’t support financially this year, that’s okay, just come, enjoy the day, and maybe tell a friend or three.

Yes – there’s on‑site parking. We have Blue Badge parking right next to the entrance, so if you need to be close to the action, we’ve got you covered.

Please follow the AA road signs as you get closer to St Osyth and the festival site - these are designed to keep the cars out of the village.