When it comes to summer festivals, we’d have thought nothing could beat the sheer eccentricity of Michael Eavis belting out an off-key ‘Happy Birthday’ alongside Stevie Wonder, while 150,000 hoots and cheers egged him on.But we’d forgotten one thing. Glasto might be over, but Britain’s most eccentric, eclectic and downright hip indie festival is yet to come.

Forget heaving crowds, forget gut wrenching toilets, forget Jay Z (we know, it’s hard) this year’s Port Eliot Festival is pulling out all the stops to entertain, enthral, bedazzle and bamboozle festival goers over a long weekend from the 23 July. Big enough to draw in major names in literature, comedy and music, but small enough to still feel like your wandering around an albeit it slightly crazy garden party, Port Eliot is in its eighth year this year and has its most exciting programme yet, with everything from serenaded wild swims and Zimbabwean slam poetry to Indian fused drum and bass and Soho-based, literature led boogie woogie.

Words, words, words...

At the heart of every Port Eliot, 2010 sees words delivered by over 40 writers and literary performers with some world exclusives and interesting collaborations to look forward to. Our anticipated highlights include the premiere of much lauded poet and Radio 4’s Saturday Live host Luke Wright’s new show Cynical Ballad. With cutting wit, energetic delivery and an undeniably mastery of contemporary comic poetry; he’s one act not to miss. Sticking with hip young things, Ross Sutherland wowed early Sunday morning audiences last year with his Little Red Riding Hood + 23 words, warping traditional fairytales with nothing more than a dictionary and some mean counting skills. This year expect more of the same as Ross searches for the cheapest form of time travel in The Three Stigmata of Pacman.

Also really worth a look, Helen Simpson, Hari Kunzru and Paul Murray fly the flag for exciting contemporary literature, Laura Barton and Marina Hyde fly the flag for Guardian journalists turned novelists and Telltales, Profwriting.com and Miracle Theatre fly the flag for Cornwall’s own vibrant writing scene. Plus Gavin Pretor Pinney talks waves and Hugh Fernley Wittingstall fires up the camping stove, bantering with The Idler’s Tom Hodgkinson about books, broadcasting and getting the best out of food. Phew.

Sweet music...

On the music and cabaret front, the picture looks equally as varied. Cultural Icon and (hailed as the) successor to John Peel’s crown, Jarvis Cocker will be broadcasting live from the festival, recording an open air version of his BBC 6 Music show Sunday Service. On top of that, Mercury prize winning Talvin Singh will be using all his musical wiles to improvise live, Paul Simon’s son Harper Simon will be treating audiences to a dose of country folk rock, Gaz Mayall’s Rockin’ Blues will be throwing some Little Richard, old ska and Louis Armstrong into the ring and ones to watch Cherry Ghost will be charming the crowds at the Caught by the River tent.

Slicing in there from a more left field angle, Britain’s biggest and best poetry outfit Apples and Snakes bring their sell-out show Forked to Port Eliot, with wandering troubadour Tricity Vogue and multimedia whiz and robot geek Will Stopha for starters, while nationally popular poet, Penzance local and Stranger fan (we know where the dogging poem came from, Murray) Murray Lachlan Young teaches us to rap on one stage, while performing his own witty, brooding and occasionally dark stand up verse on another.

Outside the box...

And then there’s the bits and pieces that refuse to be catergorised but demand to be mentioned. Luella Bartley, Barbara Hulanicki and friends take festival fashion into their own hands, collaborating live on a piece, millinery maestro Stephen Jones will be creating one off hats and running a floral hat-trimming workshop and the Big Apple’s boho queen Anna Sui will be doing an event with Andrew Bolton, curator of the world-famous Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

And if all that culture leaves you itching for some physical activity to balance out your brain cells, why not take a dawn(ish) dip in the Lynher with Kate Rew, whose Wild Swimming books have taken Britain by storm or try out local youth-led skate carpentry outfit Xtravert’s brand new wooden half pipe? The social enterprise which trains young people in carpentry skills by building skate ramps and more, will be touting its wares and inviting you to grind, flip and ollie for your life, so grab your board if you dare take the Xtravert boys on.

On a skating tip, artist, illustrator and one-time pro-skateboarder Ged Wells will be exhibiting a series of drawings and sculptures related to nomadic elephant folklore in the Port Eliot basement, as well as creating a sculptural elephant swing at a location he has yet to reveal, somewhere deep within the festival grounds. If you’re into your illustration, you’ll also want to check out Matt Sewell’s special bird hide down by the river and Pete Fowler (aka ‘The Monsterist’) redefining festival facepainting.

With plenty more still to be announced and a whole programme of treats we haven’t even touched upon, scratching the surface of Port Eliot doesn’t even come near. The beauty of this festival isn’t just the chance to see acts you know about, it’s the chance to stumble across acts you don’t – to be seduced, serenaded and surprised by what’s around every corner. We can’t wait.

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For full line-up, latest news and to buy tickets, go to www.porteliotfestival.com

Stranger Collective is editing the festival website, e-newsletters and official festival guide – see http://www.stranger-mag.com/stranger-collective.html for more info.