We are incredibly excited to announce that we are holding our very own Little Earth Fest this summer at our brewery, pub and campsite in the stunning south Suffolk countryside.
The festival will be set over 2 days on the 7th and 8th of July, 2023 and we hope once again shine a light on the remarkable mixed fermentation beers being produced in the UK, with a focus on seasonality and local sourcing/foraging of ingredients – something that is very important to us here at Little Earth Project. While we are not a huge site, we hope that, in collaboration with our pub, the Edwardstone White Horse, we are able to welcome people from both near and far to a relaxed and intimate festival in the countryside.
The fest kicks off from 12 noon Friday & Saturday until 9pm. From then, the garden will shut down and those on site are welcome to pop into the pub for the remainder of the evening!
We’ve invited representatives from all the breweries in attendance to come along, so not only will you be able to sample some of the finest mixed fermentation beers in the country, you’ll also be able to have a chat & we’ll have a few bonus talks from a few of the brewers in regards to foraging, seasonality and more! We’ll also have a bonus Little Earth Project & Friends bar with additional kegs from brewers who were not able to join, alongside our 10 regular taps inside the bar for when you need a palette cleansing lager, mild or pale ale!
We’re excited to share that we have 12 breweries, in addition to LEP, join us for the weekend including
Abbeydale Funk Dungeon (Sheffield)
Balance Brewing & Blending (Manchester)
Burning Sky (Firle)
Crossover Blendery (Hitchin)
Dolphin Brewing (Reading)
Duration Brewing (West Acre)
Holy Goat (Dundee)
The Kernel (London)
Mills Brewing (Berkeley)
Pastore (Waterbeach)
Red Willow (Macclesfield)
Wilderness (Newtown)
Spread out in the spacious beer garden, the breweries will be manned by brewers/reps there to answer questions/wax lyrical about what they do! We also hope to have a few talks from brewers keen to share their stories and experiences in regards to brewing these special styles, as well as a special foraging walk on Saturday afternoon by Little Earth Project founder, Tom Norton. A “Little Earth & Friends” bar will be set up in front of the brewery featuring our own beers alongside a few special kegs!
Food
We will have a couple of food vendors visiting us this weekend with the burger legends Wagyu Burgers & Street Food on Friday, a breakfast/lunch visit from Otis Breading on Saturday from 9am-2pm with Suffolk Spice Fusion here 1-8pm!
As mentioned, our on-site pub the Edwardstone White Horse, will also be open as usual with cheese/charcuterie boards as well as fresh in-house made sourdough pizzas flying out! Vegan & veggie options available!
The festival will operate on a token based system, which means those who want to try the beers in the garden will need to purchase tokens from the LEP & Friends bar first. Advanced day passes are available via our shop and include a glass and 12 tokens. You do not need an advanced pass to come along on the day – it just helps us account for numbers!
If you are staying off site but hoping to attend both days, you only require 1 advanced booking as you may keep your glass and return the following day and purchase additional tokens.
Weekend camping tickets are also available! Please purchase tickets together per pitch so we can ensure we don’t over/undersell! Electric pitches are limited and are an additional cost for the full weekend.
Address:
White Horse Inn/Little Earth Project
Mill Green, Edwardstone
Sudbury CO10 5PX
PLANES: If you’re coming from quite further afield, Stansted Airport is just over an hour from Edwardstone. Your easiest mode of transport from there would be either by car rental or taxi.
TRAINS: The best route to reach us by train would be to arrive in Sudbury – which has train links via Marks Tey to London Liverpool Street, Colchester, Ipswich & Norwich. We are about 6 miles from Sudbury, so a further taxi may be required (see below for rec’s).
AUTOMOBILES: The Beestons 91 Bus from Ipswich to Sudbury will get you close by dropping you in nearby Boxford, which is a nice 30 min stroll through the countryside to us. Boxford also has a number of Air Bnb’s, which may suit for those not keen to camp!
By far the easiest way to reach us is by car. Due to limited parking on site (something we’re working on!), we’d suggest carpooling whenever possible, whether you’re camping for the weekend with friends or just popping out for the day!
LOCAL TAXI COMPANIES
One of the biggest draws to our little of piece of the Earth is our large campsite area. We have 27 pitches (6.5mx10m), including 5 electric sites, with 2 group pitches, too. Weekend Camping is £50 per person which gets you a pitch for Friday & Saturday, a glass and 15 tokens.
For those looking for a step up, there are a number of Air BnB’s within walking distance in nearby Boxford, Lindsay or Groton and a handful of small hotels or pubs with rooms in Sudbury including
The Mill Hotel
The Bay Horse
The Lady Elizabeth
Grove Cottages (Specifically Grove Farm)
If you are staying off site but hoping to attend both days, you only require 1 advanced booking as you may keep your glass and return the following day and purchase additional tokens.
The festival is open to those of all ages, though obviously focused more towards those who are 18+. We reserve the right to operate under the Challenge 25 policy in both the pub and festival, so it is advised that you bring a form of ID along with you. Dogs are also welcome, though we ask that they are kept on a lead at all times due to being both close to roads & fields where horses and other livestock are kept.
In regards to cancellations and refunds – we do hope to carry on with the festival rain or shine so please prepare accordingly!
Daily access to the festival is available without advanced bookings, but understandably it allows us to better plan and manage capacity when we know how many are coming! Weekend camping must be booked in advance.
LICENSING
The event will be taking place at our brewery, pub and campsite. The entire site is licensed under the pub/brewery, therefore we ask that you do not bring your own alcoholic beverages for consumption on site. You are more than welcome to being a growler, grab a 2 or 4 pint takeaway container from the bar or have a look at our vast bottle list if you’d like to have drinks back at your site.
While we ask that you support the variety of food vendors we have invited on site (as well as the pub itself), you are permitted to bring your own food/BBQ if you are staying on site, but ask that that food is consumed on the campsite, not in the beer garden/patio area. All BBQ’s/fires must be at least 30cm off the ground and must be put out fully at curfew. While we are in a rural location, we do have lovely neighbours close by, therefore quiet time on the campsite is from 11pm. We ask that you be respectful of both our neighbours and your fellow attendees by adhering to this curfew.
We’re looking forward to a relaxed, funky weekend in the countryside full of great beer and lovely people!
If this sounds like your thing, please head over to our shop to get advanced booking/camping on sale from
MONDAY, APRIL 3rd @ 12 NOON!
Any questions, please get in touch with the team at littleearthfest@gmail.com!