Secret Garden Party

The Secret Garden Party, often colloquially shortened to the SGP, is an independent arts and music festival held in Abbots Ripton, England. The location is on part of the grounds of a Georgian farmhouse and has its own lakes, river and landscaped gardens. The festival was launched by Fred Fellowes and James Whewell in 2004 as an alternative to the established mainstream music festivals. Since its inception, the festival has increased in popularity and size, and has grown from one stage and 300 visitors in 2002, to more than 15 stages and 35,000 revellers in 2017.

In March 2017, it was announced that the 2017 edition would be the last.

During its initial 15-year run, The Secret Garden Party won the UK Festival Award for Best Small-Sized Festival in 2005 and 2008, and then the Award for Best Medium-Sized Festival in 2011. It also won the Act of Independence award from the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) for its work with The Loop, a harm reduction charity that tested drugs on site during the event. This practice has now been adopted by some other UK festivals.

In August 2021, it was announced that after a five-year hiatus, the Secret Garden Party would return in summer 2022. On relaunching, 20,000 tickets were placed on sale and sold out in under 20 minutes via a registration process that featured a questionnaire. The event took place from 21 to 24 July 2022 in Cambridgeshire, with the line-up announced each day of the festival.

The Secret Garden Party supports The Campaign Against Living Miserably that aims to prevent male suicide in the United Kingdom, as well as mental health charity My Black Dog as of 2022.

2004



 * KT Tunstall
 * The Egg
 * The Basics
 * Tallula
 * Carina Round

2005

 * Super Furry Animals
 * Desmond Dekker
 * Mando Diao
 * Regina Spektor
 * Adam Freeland
 * The Noisettes
 * Boy Kill Boy

2006

 * Lily Allen
 * Indigo Moss
 * OK GO
 * The Hair
 * Arlo Guthrie

2007
26–29 July
 * Echo & The Bunnymen
 * Indigo Moss
 * The Noisettes
 * The Sunshine Underground
 * New Young Pony Club
 * Alabama 3

2008
24–27 July
 * Grace Jones
 * Morcheeba
 * Alphabeat
 * Shout Out Louds
 * Florence & The Machine
 * Metronomy
 * My Pretend Orchestra
 * Eugene Francis Jnr
 * Noah and the Whale
 * Mumford and Sons

2009
23–26 July
 * Jarvis Cocker
 * Emiliana Torrini
 * The XX
 * Adam Freeland
 * EMF
 * Emmy the Great
 * Cocosuma

2010
22–25 July
 * Gorillaz
 * Marina and the Diamonds
 * Echaskech
 * Hybrid
 * Cloud Control
 * Eliza Doolittle
 * Animal Kingdom
 * Mystery Jets
 * Infadels
 * Crystal Fighters

2011
21–24 July
 * Blondie
 * Leftfield
 * Cosmo Jarvis
 * Adam Freeland
 * Matt and Kim
 * Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
 * Mystery Jets
 * I am Kloot

2012
19–22 July


 * Orbital
 * Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
 * KT Tunstall
 * Little Roy
 * Caravan Palace
 * Little Dragon
 * Alabama Shakes
 * Tim Minchin
 * Lamb
 * Lianne La Havas
 * The Ladykillers
 * Bastille

2013
25–28 July


 * Faithless
 * Regina Spektor
 * 2ManyDJs
 * Django Django
 * David Icke
 * The Ladykillers
 * SYKUR
 * Bastille
 * Phildel

Attendance: 29,000

2014
24–27 July


 * Little Dragon
 * Sub Focus
 * My Nu Leng
 * Clean Bandit
 * MØ
 * Gorgon City
 * Morcheeba
 * Sigma
 * Matrix and Futurebound
 * The Skints
 * Years and Years
 * Fat Freddy's Drop

2015
23-26 July


 * Kae Tempest
 * Caravan Palace
 * Jungle

2016
21-24 July


 * Caribou
 * Dua Lipa
 * Air
 * The Temper Trap
 * Field Music

Primal Scream were due to appear but cancelled shortly before the festival.

2017
20-23 July


 * Crystal Fighters
 * Metronomy
 * Toots and the Maytals
 * Peaches

Related events
The 2009 Secret Garden Party Valentines Bacchanalia Ball, named after annual parties held in honour of the Greek god Dionysus, took place on 28 February at the Dex Club in Brixton, London.

Secret Garden Party's co-organizers, Secret Productions teamed up with Thai production company Scratch First to produce the inaugural Wonderfruit - a sustainable lifestyle festival in Thailand.