What better way could there be to welcome spring than listening to live music from local bands, while eating and drinking local produce in the beautiful Kent countryside? A farm in the heart of the county is planning just that with its new two-day Fruits of Spring Festival. Kathryn Tye found out more.

Mark and Rosie Mount have been keeping a close eye on the weather for the past few weeks. After months planning the Fruits of Spring Festival, the husband and wife team, who live at Woolton Farm in Bekesbourne, are praying the event won’t be let down by rain, sleet or snow.

Mark, 56, said: “We are hoping for around 250 people to come along each day, but obviously a big factor is the weather. We are out in the middle of the sticks, and the majority of what we have planned is outdoors, so we really need the sun to shine!”

And there is a lot planned for the festival, including an eclectic programme of live music each day performed by fabulously-named bands such as Cocos Lovers, Ladies of the Lake, Tarry Trousers, Poggy Hatton and Hellfire Orchestra.

The festival is a first for the 100-acre fruit farm, which has been in the Mount family for three generations, and was prompted by their other new venture – a nursery shop selling fruit trees and soft fruit plants.

Mark said: “We opened the nursery back in October, and knew that we needed a proper launch, but decided to wait until the weather warmed up and the fruit season had started. It began with the idea of a family fun day, and then things just grew from there.”

He added: “Rosie and I enjoy watching live music, and our son Sam’s job is to organise music festivals so he is in charge of that side of things. Handily, because we are out in the middle of nowhere, we don’t have to worry too much about being noisy neighbours!”

Daughter Camilla, 28, will also be helping out and has got the local community involved, with the weekend’s hog roast sourced from Faversham’s Butcher of Brogdale, and Canterbury’s The Goods Shed providing the sausages and burgers for the barbecue on Saturday evening.

The Mount family will be selling Kentish Pip cider, which they make on site with their own apples, and there will be a host of other local producers selling items including cakes, fudge, chocolates and cheese.

There will also be traditional garden games such as croquet and skittles, and demonstrations of apple pressing, grafting and pruning, which the family hope will inspire people to buy plants from the nursery.

Mark said: “One of the reasons we opened the nursery is that we’ve seen an increase in people wanting to grow their own fruit, so we thought we could capitalise on that.

“Hopefully the Fruits of Spring Festival will allow people to find more about what we offer.

“If it goes well, we will definitely look at making it an annual event.”

Festival line-up

Saturday, March 23

3pm Jamie Dams; 4pm Ivan's All Stars, 5.45pm Famous James and the Monsters, 7.30pm Magga Tiempo, 9pm Theoish (DJ), 10pm Mums Old Vinyl (DJ)

Sunday, March 24

1pm Tarry Trousers, 2pm Hellfire Orchestra, 3.15pm Ladies of the Lake, 4pm Cocos Lovers, 5.15pm Poggy Hatton.

The Fruits of Spring Festival at Woolton Farm runs from 11am to 11pm on Saturday, March 23, and from 11am to 6pm on Sunday, March 24. Admission is £3 per person, per day, and free for under 12s. Call 01227 830525 or go to www.wooltonfarm.co.uk for more details. Woolton Farm is in Bekesbourne, near Canterbury. Tap CT4 5EA into your sat nav.