Muddy wellies, tents galore, pink and blue sheep grazing on the grass, drink in one hand while dancing in dreamy woods to the sound of lovely music in your ears. Sounds familiar?

You’ve guessed it. Latitude festival is back, and this year it returns for its 10th anniversary.

The amazing alt-J, trip-hop pioneers Portishead and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds will headline Latitude’s main Obelisk Arena. With the wonderful, dreamy folk tones of Laura Marling to the effortless electronic sounds of James Blake; it’s hard to pick a standout day of artists that also include Caribou and Wild Beasts. Moving to the BBC Radio 6 Music Stage we can also look forward to seeing Jon Hopkins, The Vaccines and SBTRKT.

SBTRKT is definitely a must-see. Led by Aaron Jerome, the music is a dream of digital sounds filled with sonic invention and dreamy storytelling. Aaron last played at Latitude in 2012 with tracks from his first album, which was amazing. We look forward to welcoming him back for another epic performance this year.

Local festival-goers have described this year’s bill as an incredible, exciting new line-up. Samantha Kathleen Ruddy reckons it’s “pretty damn hot!” and her friend Louise Rose agrees, “I go to Latitude every year and it always surprises me. The atmosphere is amazing, you’ve got to stay the whole weekend to get the most out of it. I’m excited for Laura Marling – oh my god!”

Photo: Marc Sethi

On social media Laura Marling, Portishead and the brilliant Noel Gallagher seem to be the artists that everyone is talking about. Both Portishead and Noel Gallagher are Latitude debutants, and I’m sure they won’t be disappoint.

Geoff Barrow, whose band Portishead pioneered trip-hop over 20 years ago and who headline the festival on Saturday said, “I think the effort they put into their whole programming – music, comedy and film – is what makes it a great festival to be part of.” Brit-pop legend Noel Gallagher said he had not been to the festival but was “really looking forward” to his band’s appearance on the Sunday night.

So are we!

This year, in celebration of their 10th birthday, the festival will also offer swimming in the festival lakes for the first time, and hot tubs for festival-goers to enjoy and soak up the atmosphere. Exciting! Who would pass up that?

The Suffolk festival takes place at Henham Park, near Southwold on 16–19 July, and now’s the time to book those tickets and dig out those Hunter boots.

It’s going to be muddy, it’s going to be wild, it’s going to be just amazing!

Photo: Marc Sethi

Words: Katy Lagden