COMETH the summer, cometh the festivals, that annual round of mud, wellies, dodgy loos and – of course – fabulous music.

Dorset has become home to several fabulous festivals, none more so than Larmer Tree, a five-day feast of music, comedy and much, much more that takes place every July in a sublime North Dorset setting.

For the past 23 years, this very quirky and English event has attracted some of the biggest names in music and popular culture and won two of the industry’s highest accolades – the Best Family Festival and Best Toilets awards.

“It is a very friendly festival,” said James Shepherd, pictured right, who founded Larmer Tree with former Salisbury Arts centre children’s co-ordinator Julia Safe.

“We were trying to create something that we would be happy to be a part of.

“We wanted it to be somewhere where people could meet other like-minded people and forget their worries for a while.

“We always seem to get really lovely people coming to Larmer Tree.

“Last year when the weather was so bad and the rain torrential, people were helping each other out and the volunteers were amazing.

“We thought they would all go home because it was so appalling, but they stayed on and asked if there was more they could do.

“When Paloma Faith arrived the mud was so bad her lorry couldn’t get near the stage so they had to unload everything into smaller vans to get it on site and afterwards they were still packing her set up at 4am. They were incredible.”

The line-up for this year’s Larmer Tree, which runs from July 17 to 21, reads like a Who’s Who of the great and good in the upper echelons of folk-rock and blues.

Van Morrison is the big-name draw, while Imelda May, Dexy’s, KT Tunstall, Seasick Steve and The Beat will also be there.

Folk legend Richard Thompson is performing with his Electric Trio and Bellowhead, who won this year’s Radio 2 Folk Award for best album will also put in an appearance.

Larmer also has a rich seam of comedy to explore and there are slots from Dylan Moran and Alistair McGowan, not to mention the ever-popular Hoedown with Rich Hall.

Mark Kermode will be on hand to talk about and present this year’s film selection on the topic of time-travel, while for families there’s street theatre, Katie from CBeebies, a wide range of children’s shows plus the YouthZone where youngsters aged between 10 and 17 can learn circus skills, build camps and much more besides.