Deer Shed Festival was established in its North Yorkshire home of Baldersby Park. A 1-day, 1000-capacity event in 2010. By husband and wife team Oliver Jones and Kate Webster after their frustration at how few festivals offered progressive and contemporary programming within a safe and secure environment suitable for their children to explore.
2020 will mark our fully independent festival’s eleventh year, taking place from 24th-26th July. With an organically grown audience of 10,000 and the original team still in place, Deer Shed is now widely regarded as “the ultimate family festival” (Festivals For All).
What’s our take on the whole “family-friendly festival” thing? Well...
If you go and watch a Pixar movie with your children, everyone has a great time. Not just the kids... EVERYBODY! We strive for this holy-grail every year. Our range of over 125 workshops appeal to all interests, whether you’re arty, crafty, sporty, or science-y.
We don't have kid's areas as such - they're not zoo animals! The whole site is accessible to everyone and we will welcome you as though you were our house guests, which you essentially are. Oh, and if you don't have kids to bring you will of course still be welcomed like part of the family.
But we are a cultural event, too, and you will be exposed to many new things. We like new things. You might be challenged by some of them, but we want everyone to leave Baldersby Park inspired, if that's okay.
Comedy, theatre, live podcasts, literary talks, wellbeing sessions, almost every sport under the sun, cinema screenings and singalongs are all on the ever-expanding menu of festival goodies.
And finally, our music line-up, hitting you through extremely high fidelity PA systems, will be as thrilling and contemporary as you will find at any UK festival in 2021 - it's just that you can share that thrill with your kids and feel perfectly safe at the same time.
"If you’re coming here for the first time, congratulations: you’ve just found the best festival for families in the north – perhaps even the whole UK." - eFestivals
Main Address: Baldersby Park, Park Rd, Topcliffe, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 3PH