The Rock Oyster Festival has taken place at Dinham House on a number of occasions. Known to be a ‘Glasto for foodies’, the small event helped put the estate on the map as a unique event venue in Cornwall.
The family-friendly festival featured live music, chef demos, food and drink stalls, oyster shucking, circus skills for kids, and much, much more. It was the first time Dinham House estate had been opened up to the public, and has hosted the festival a number of times again since.
Local chefs including Paul Ainsworth and Jack Stein have supported Rock Oyster Festival from the beginning, with well-known Cornish brewery, Sharp’s, sponsoring and providing the bar. With big names such as these within the line-up, the festival has continued to grow, and is now a key date in the Cornish festival calendar.
Use of the site
Rock Oyster Festival remains a small boutique event, which now welcomes up to 3,000 people to the estate each day. Dinham House makes the perfect venue for this Cornish festival, with the 40 acres of fields on the bank of the River Camel providing a complete blank canvas for the event organisers to curate their vision. Previously, the more in-land fields have been used for car parking, whilst the large, open spaces overlooking the estuary are used for the main festival site, providing an idyllic backdrop for the theatrical marquees.
Accommodation
Camping no longer takes place on-site, but with a campsite within walking distance of Dinham House, festival-goers still have the option to complete the true festival experience – but with the added luxury of showering facilities. With the addition of newly refurbished on-site accommodation, there’s also the chance to attend the festival in VIP style.
Photography by Mark Ashbee.