Timber Festival 2020 CANCELLED

Creative Tourist

Book now

Timber Festival CANCELLED

3-6 July 2020

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Courtesy Luke Jerram
Book now

Timber Festival returns for a third outing this year with a heady mix of music, art and sustainability. On the Derbyshire and Leicestershire border, the festival celebrates how brilliant forests are for both personal and societal wellbeing.

This year’s line up is packed full of great artists, thinkers and experiences. Field Music, Gruff Rhys, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Sam Lee and The Unthanks are some of our musical highlights this year. We also look forward to a keynote speech by MP Caroline Lucas and an appearance from Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.

There will also be a range of arboreal activities and installations across the 70-acre woodland site, owing to the fact the festival was created by the National Forest Company (responsible for creating the National Forest, one of Britain’s boldest environmental projects and the first forest to be created at scale in England for over 1000 years) and Wild Rumpus (award-winning producers of the Just So Festival).

Add into the mix an extensive natural wellbeing programme (think yoga, Forest Bathing, feasting and foraging), Timber Festival promises more woodland wonder than you can shake a stick at.

Where to go near Timber Festival 2020 CANCELLED

City Centre
Bar or Pub
Schofield’s Bar

Schofield’s could be Manchester’s most grown-up bar. Very precise drinks in an upmarket city centre venue. It’s not cheap, hey, but true class costs.

Manchester
Restaurant
Sampa

Sampa’s underground space is the perfect place to learn about both her new mind-expanding dishes and vintage sherries, reimagined for the late 2020s.

Northern Quarter
Restaurant
Sicilian NQ

Busy backstreet Sicilian restaurant in the Northern Quarter, serving up traditional dishes with well-executed vegan versions that more than match up.

Manchester
Restaurant
Maki & Ramen

Japanese sushi and ramen restaurant on High Street, Northern Quarter, founded by Teddy Lee. House-made noodles, eight-hour broths, plus sushi, donburi and vegan options.

Restaurant Orme
Manchester
Restaurant
Restaurant Örme

A hidden gem in the suburbs of Greater Manchester, serving high-level British small plates to a soundtrack of indie rock and roll.

The Abbey
Manchester
Restaurant
The Abbey

Historic Hulme pub with a very good live gig space, brought to you by the very capable team behind YES, Gorilla, Now Wave and Manchester Psych Fest.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Pigeon Beer Wanderer

Pigeon Beer Wanderer brings wine-level ceremony to Manchester’s new “Beermuda Triangle”, courtesy of Joshua Lightfoot and his crack team of booze experts.

Image courtesy of Unitom.
Castlefield
Gallery
UNITOM Projects

The exhibition arm of Manchester indie bookshop UNITOM is a dedicated space for contemporary visual culture in the St John’s neighbourhood.

What's on: Music

MusicManchester
Manchester Psych Fest 2026

O2 Apollo becomes Pysch Fest’s main stage for the first time, with Billy Nomates and bdrmm heading the final wave.

From £44.80
Encounter Festival in Preston
FestivalsLancashire
Encounter Festival in Preston

Preston comes alive with outdoor theatre, live music and family-friendly creativity in one of the North West’s most joyful festivals.

Free entry
Matt Spratt.
MusicManchester
Madra Salach at New Century

This Irish folk six-piece released a stark and often beautiful debut EP that gives little hint of their “feral, snarling” live show.

From £21.00

Culture Guides

Food and Drink in the North

Squeeze the most out of these final weeks of summer thanks to our mid-August guide to food and drink in Manchester and the North.

Exhibitions

Summer isn’t usually a high point in the exhibitions calendar, but Greater Manchester’s small galleries seem to have made a pact to change that this year.

Matt Spratt.
Music

Aphex Twin-endorsed electronica, an eight-hour organ marathon and the most exciting band in Ireland's current folk revival all feature this month.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre

From intimate dramas to spectacular outdoor festivals, discover the North West performances worth adding to your diary.

Emily Lloyd-Saini as Grace in Space and Harrie Hayes as Lieutenant Strong in Horrible Science
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.