Medieval clashes and mellow blues - it's a Loxwood summer

The joust will be on August 5, 6, 12 and 13, promising the fiercest fun in the land at the UK’s most spectacular and immersive medieval and jousting festival. The week before, in the woodlands nearby, the gin and blues festival promises a lazy afternoon of fine food, fine drinks and fine music (Sunday, July 30 from 12 noon to 8pm).

Linking the two, of course, is the venue – Loxwood Meadow for the Joust; the Enchanted Woodland for the Jazz, Gin and Blues Festival. Organiser of both is Maurice Bacon.

“Really the catalyst for both is Loxwood Meadow. The joust event is something that we've been doing since 2002 but we started at a castle in Gloucestershire and for various reasons we ended up buying the land down in Sussex. The first one in Sussex was in 2012, ten years after we started in Gloucestershire.”

The Gloucestershire venue had run into flooding problems a few years before, and Maurice spent, as he says, three and a half years finding an alternative. As he says, given he couldn't afford to buy a castle, he had to find somewhere that was truly special as a location in itself and he found that at Loxwood: “I remember walking onto Loxwood Meadow and the vibe was just great. That was it. We had to get the place. I think some places have a vibe. I don't know if you believe in vibes but I do and for whatever reason as soon as I went there it just felt magical. It's like buying a house. You just find that there's something about it and I did with this.

"It is a magical setting and it's also great for the jazz music festival in the woodland. We've got a beautiful stage setting in the woodland and I got together with Simon Bates who runs Loxwood Jazz Club and we set up the jazz, gin and blues festival. This one is our fourth one. We missed 2020 obviously, but again with the gin and blues it's the setting. It's got a vibe. Simon's got lots of contacts with the best jazz musicians. Simon is himself a very renowned sax player who's played with many big names and big artists. And we get the best artists here, not necessarily the biggest names but some of the very best musicians and it's just a lovely setting with fantastic food and fantastic drink as well.”

And to keep it special Maurice sets a limit of 500 people attending. As he says it's intimate and lazy, two things that Loxwood Joust definitely isn't the following two weekends.

“Loxwood Joust has changed so much over the years.

"We've now got an artistic director and we now do immersive. It has got a lot bigger over the years. We took it as far as we could with the traditional medieval festival. We had everything from jesters to archery to knights and everything you could imagine but we have now got another element to it. We have the artistic director who writes the storyline each year and each year you get a whole swathe of actors that are walking around the set. We have lots of quests that you can go on. People want to participate rather than just spectate these days and we have all these experiences that you can get involved in.

"Loxwood Joust is still developing. We never stand still. We do it because we love it and we want to make it the best thing we possibly can and we're always excited to put new things in. I think the day we think that we've reached the pinnacle will be the day that we stop doing it because it just wouldn't be exciting for us anymore. We are always making it better.”

Loxwood Joust is located just off the B2133 between Wisborough Green and Loxwood and has ample free parking. www.loxwoodjoust.co.uk.

The Loxwood Jazz, Gin and Blues Festival: gates open at 12 noon with ample free parking. For tickets and more information, visit www.jazzginblues.co.uk; email [email protected]; or call 07866 468632. Advance tickets: £25.