The Dart Music Festival

Everyone who has visited Dartmouth says it’s a pretty lively place. As a community which loves its festivals and fairs, there’s always frivolity in the air. This year the Dart Music Festival is 10 years old and goes from strength to strength, attracting high quality musicians from all around the world such as jazz stars George Melly and Digby Fairweather, but it isn’t too proud to hand the stage to school choirs and local performers. The diversity of musical styles includes bagpipes, drums, chamber orchestras, boogie woogie, didgeridoo, and of course, the ever-popular rock.

Running from 16th - 18th May, The Dart Music Festival promises its usual extravaganza. Churches, hotels, pubs, restaurants, the bandstand and even Bayard’s Cove are opening their venues to host events, and if you fancy a walk to the castle, you can take tea to the sound of music.

Blues and jazz fans will be in their element, because the line-up is terrific. Louise Parker, who performs extensively around the South West and has just sung on Humphrey Lyttelton’s new album, Cornucopia, will be performing her own interpretation of jazz mixed with funk and gospel. Michael Pickett brings his own brand of blues over from Canada. Cornish band Men of Splendour mix blues with soul and pop and will be performing some of their own original material, which, if you listen on their website, sounds decidedly funky.

If you like saxophone, then the five-sax band Sax Appeal will be for you. Snake Davis’s own easy-listening compositions mix jazz with funk and ethnic, with a high saxophone content. Acclaimed jazz trumpeter Digby Fairweather will be making another appearance this year as will the Devon Youth Jazz Orchestra.

For Fifties nostalgia, listen to the Vince Lee Big Combo rock band, or The Johnny Cash Roadshow for some country ‘n western classics. Don’t forget to include Carmina’s contemporary Celic folk in your programme. There’s Baroque from Amy Carson and gospel from Glorious Chorus, not forgetting community drumming from Drum Crazy Fun. 

Friday evening is punctuated with one of the areas finest bands and if you like Pink Floyd you are in for a real treat - In The Flesh are a local band, and perform all of Pink Floyds early hits - definitely a show not to be missed! 

If you’re in the West Country you must include some folk in your programme, so why not try Celtish, with their blend of mandolin, fiddle, harp and flute, not to mention some evocatively haunting vocals? For good, solid fun folk, take a look at Mad Dog Mcrea, who claim to be a blend of raw energy and kaleidoscope acoustic orchestration.

This is only a smattering of what you can expect. Programmes can be bought from Di Lyon, Tel 01803 833943, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Fancy a bite to eat?

While at the festival, you’ll want plenty of food and drink to keep you going, so why not try some of Dartmouth’s excellent restaurants and cafés? For true, luxurious evening dining overlooking the Dart from the Yacht Club, visit Sails. Chef Malcolm Whybrow cooks his own creations to order using the finest Devon ingredients, with a specials board that features an extensive catch of the day list and truly decadent puds.

The Royal Castle hotel is as popular for its pub lunches as it is for its fine dining in the restaurant. Jan and Freddies Brasserie serves cuisine from a Michael Caines-trained chef, and at The Anzac Street Bistro, your fruit, vegetables and herbs will be mainly home grown. The Dart Marina has three in-house restaurants: the River Restaurant, Wildfire Bistro’s and the Floating Bridge pub. Taylors and The Wheelhouse specialise in fish.

Dartmouth is pretty much global when it comes to eating. Kendricks Californian style and the Italian La Casa Di Tudo are popular with families. If you want Asian there is the Khrua Thai Restaurant, Tsangs Chinese, Golden Dragon or Spice Bazaar for your curries. Dine on the ocean waves at the Resnova Floating Inn, a 19th century steel Dutch barge, which operates a water taxi service for those without boats.

Celebrity TV chef Mitch Tonks has just opened The Seahorse on South Embankment which will specialise in seafood and grilled meat dishes as well as house specialities. John Burton Race’s New Angel restaurant is re-opening shortly.

Grab a slice of history with your pint in the14th-century Cherub, which was named after a locally-built boat used for carrying wool and has nothing to do with angels. The Spinning Wheel Café in Hauley Road was also built at the same time and is the oldest tea rooms in England, so why not drop in for a cream tea, or at the delightfully-named Singing Kettle?

Café Alf Resco was named by The Independent as one of the 50 best cafés in England, and when you see its gourmet breakfast, served every day from 7am, you can understand why.

Other events in Dartmouth

Dartmouth has a buzz all year round, but during the summer it really rocks. Later on in the summer, from 5th - 9th August, the Dartmouth Shakespeare Festival is performing the Tempest. At the end of the month, from 28th - 30th August, the Dartmouth Royal Regatta offers a fun-filled bank holiday weekend. Besides the boat races, the Royal Avenue Gardens are taken over by a shopping marquee, there is barrel rolling, a children’s fancy dress, golf tournament, tug-of-war and music.

The famous Red Arrows usually stage their airborne acrobatics over the Dart, and regatta is opened and closed by a fireworks display. Log onto www.dartmouthregatta.co.uk for the programme.

At Christmas the high jinks continue with the Victorian fayre and Candlelit Dartmouth.

As Nigel Way, owner of the Royal Dart hotel said: “It is very much a town for all seasons.”