Lincolnshire’s Lost Village festival has a prodigious electronic music line-up, underpinned by endless recreational pursuits and sensational food, discovers Amy Rose Everett
Every August, two worlds collide in Norton Disney. Heavyweights from the upscale, Michelin-approved food scene rub shoulders with iconoclasts from underground electronic music. It shouldn’t work, but it does.
Thrown together in a magical abandoned forest-style setting across four blissful days, Lost Village guests dart between elevated dining options and stages built for late night two stepping.
Traditionally, this combination doesn’t marry well – a three-course meal with endless red wine isn’t the best precursor to seven hours of boot stomping in light drizzle. But with a little planning, I synced my adventure there perfectly.
I started by scanning the line up, finding heavyweights Midland, Todd Edwards, Bicep, Ben UFO, Bombay Bicycle Club, Scuba, Habibi Funk, and The Blessed Madonna amongst countless new favourites of mine (looking at you, Aroop Roy).
Prospective visitors could mistake the event for just another homogenous dance festival, given the chance to examine this exemplary curation of selectors. But in an industry where competition shapes the landscape, smaller festivals are differentiating themselves through unique offerings – and not only have Lost Village organisers zeroed in on world-class dance music, they’re jostling with the likes of Wilderness and Latitude to provide magnificent, Michelin-standard F&B.
Post-pandemic, festivals are increasingly seen as premium, multi-dimensional experiences. In 2022 alone, 6.5 million people attended festivals in the UK, with £6.6 billion spent on music tourism nationwide.
Festivals are banking on value-added services for revenue. With COVID-19 disruptions to ticket sales, festivals are increasingly relying on on-site services like food, bars and premium facilities to generate income. This pivot is becoming increasingly necessary as the UK festival industry evolves, with its annual revenue rate projected to rise by 5.7% from 2024 to 2025, reaching a record high of more than £3.22 billion by 2026.
A walk around the Lincolnshire festival site reveals an immersive, multi-sensory world filled with Gen Z revellers and above; peaceful areas dedicated to bombastic gastronomy and soothing wellness are sequestered on the fringes of stonking music stages, large and small.
The dance areas are built to house some of the world’s biggest names in techno, house, jungle and drum n bass, a mixture of intimate settings and spacious clearings, decorated with junk cars, and disco balls.
This ‘choose your adventure’ set up allows the older-skewing crowd enjoying languorous meals and expensive cocktails to slip into the mix after dinnertime, popping to catch a headliner or have a cheeky boogie in the woods before grabbing a cab home; leaving younger and more traditional ravers to dance well into the night.
Easily finding a space for my pop-up tent despite arriving a day later than the Thursday gate opening, I found the general camping area frequented by friendly ticket holders in their twenties.
Across the Bank Holiday weekend my schedule straddled holistic pursuits and late-night DJs sets, starting with Ben Marks and Sertaç Dirik’s 6pm banquet on the Friday.
The feast celebrated the best of British summer produce with a nod to Dirik’s beloved Turkish culinary heritage.
As the forest setting transformed under the golden hour light, guests were welcomed with a glass of sparkling wine, setting the tone for an evening of indulgence and communal dining. I was seated with London’s archetypal food influencer, Clerkenwell Boy – a surefire sign a festival (or any event) is doing food right.
Posting about the great and the good in F&B since 2012, the consultant and tastemaker is a Lost Village veteran, and took pleasure in curating my food choices, start to finish.
“For breakfast tomorrow, Pophams’ Marmite, Schlossberger & Spring Onion pastries – or a Maple Bacon swirl!
“At lunch, try a Bacon Butter burger from Burger&Beyond. Alley Cats’ pepperoni pizza, definitely. Kerala Fried Chicken from Kricket is essential – and if you’re craving dessert, near the Patron tent you’ll find fantastic Oreo doughnuts at Treats Club.”
The expert can go anywhere in the world – I asked him, why here? “Lost Village festival’s food offering is outstanding,” he says. “I love it. I come every year.”
The menu was indeed a thoughtful blend of bold, Mediterranean-inspired flavours and seasonal ingredients, expertly curated by Marks and Dirik.
We started with spanakopita, a crispy, flavour-packed parcel of spinach and feta, and moved on to delicate bites of grilled aubergine ezme – a tangy and smoky vegetable dip with a hint of spice.
The smoked olive oil taramasalata added a unique twist to the traditional dish, with added depth from the smoked oil.
For vegetarians, the Ispanak mança, a classic Turkish spinach dish, provided a hearty start, alongside a soft, fragrant pepper dulce focaccia that had just the right amount of crunch.
The showstoppers of the evening were undoubtedly the stuffed dolmas. The crab rice and onion dolma offered a light, deeply flavourful bite, while the courgette and onion dolma was packed with fresh herbs and a hint of sweetness from caramelised onions.
For the main course, we tried a succulent salt-baked poussin served with summer greens and a touch of fermented chilli that provided just the right amount of heat, balancing beautifully with the tender meat.
The vegetarian alternative—salt-baked hen of the woods paired with hispi cabbage, combined earthy and umami notes. To finish, we indulged in tahini and dark chocolate donuts, served alongside a compote of cherries.
Throughout the meal, our glasses were kept full with Bread & Butter Chardonnay 2022 and Bread & Butter Pinot Noir 2022, bringing out the subtleties in the food.
Marks, the chef-owner of Perilla, and Dirik, a cult favourite returning to Lost Village, managed to create a dining experience that was not only memorable but deeply aligned with the festival’s ethos of connection and discovery – we left tipsy on bubbles, in a crowd of new-found friends; an adventitious family aged between 30 and 69.
If I could have predicted who I’d watch techno wizard Solomun’s main stage set with, it wasn’t these people – and that made the experience all the better.
Nursing dry throats and brains, on Saturday we were grateful to find the comforts of London, in the heart of Lincolnshire. Names such as Circolo Popolare, Bubala, and Mousetail Coffee offer treats for a fraction of the price of a sit down dinner in the banqueting area, at stalls dotted around the farther end of the festival site.
The latter was our saviour during a half-hour thunderstorm on the Saturday afternoon – sheltering with a flat white while waiting for the skies to clear, my friend and I considered indulgent breakfast options.
We opted for Honey & Smoked Salt Buns from Popham’s Bakery, an artisanal favourite with locations in Islington, London Fields and Victoria Park.
Even dancers uninterested or unable to afford the bells-and-whistles banquet events can have a taste of high-calibre food through these pocket-friendly, bitesize offerings; another element that ensures the festival’s top ranking amongst aspirational outdoor events.
Dedicated foodies can also book onto the Table in the Woods experience, an intimate 30-seater dinner amongst the trees showcasing culinary creations from two of the UK’s most renowned chefs: Chet Sharma and James Lowe.
After two days of dancing on car bonnets and climbing trees, I reluctantly turned my attention to my body – aching, tired, and puffy, with two blisters to boot.
Grateful for a spoiling Sunday afternoon slot in a wood-fired hot tub, I discovered their location in the Energy Garden to put you right next to a relaxing lake view and in proximity of a hangover-busting Finnish sauna.
Relaxation workshops are designed to restore mind and body, too. A morning yoga session provided a serene counterbalance to the frenetic energy of the dance floors I find it hard to tear myself away from.
Amid a wellness tourism boom, Lost Village has positioned itself as a leader in festival wellness offerings. Its secluded forest spa experience perfectly complements the festival’s ethos of ‘getting gloriously lost’, set well apart from the dance areas.
Here you can find the balance of indulgence and restoration – provided you have a lot of willpower: walking past the world’s best DJs in my yoga leggings administered a heavy dose of FOMO – until the endorphins kicked in.
How festivals are evolving post-pandemic
Lost Village exemplifies how festivals can pivot to meet evolving consumer expectations. By offering a rich tapestry of experiences that go beyond music—encompassing high-end dining, immersive wellness activities, and intellectual enrichment– Lost Village provides a comprehensive, aspirational escape that caters to a modern audience.
At the Institute of Curious Minds, attendees engage in thought-provoking talks, debates, and live interviews with boundary-pushing thinkers and artists.
At Lost Theatre, festival-goers can take in performances from some of the UK’s top comedians. Complementing this is the festival’s array of Creative Workshops, where attendees can explore their own creative passions. From pottery to storytelling, these workshops offer a communal, hands-on approach to festival engagement.
As the festival landscape continues to evolve, it is clear that creating diverse, high-quality experiences is key to capturing and retaining the interest of today’s festival-goers.
Lost Village has mastered the art of the experience-driven event, curating an ethereal escape that transcends the typical festival experience – you can show up, leave your phone in the tent and truly get lost, knowing that whatever you find will be magical.