Arts & Culture
Blackwell’s brings back farm-based Children’s Book Festival for a second year

Bookseller Blackwell’s has announced that its farm-based Children’s Book Festival near Oxford will be staged for a second year this July.

Held over the weekend of July 1 & 2 the Festival will once again be staged in a marquee on Millet’s Farm at Frilford, near Abingdon. The Festival, which will be completely free to attend, has been designed as a family event with a range of activities aimed at children up to the age of 11.

The itinerary will include workshops, family-friendly activities, children’s author events, and a popup bookshop.

Authors confirmed for this year include Tom Moorhouse, whose books include The Crayfish Catchers and Trickster; Teresa Heapy, author of Very Little Rapunzel and Very Little Sleeping Beauty, and Suzanne Barton, known for The Butterfly Dance and Robin’s Winter Song.

The Festival will run from 10 am until 4.30pm each day with other activities including a Superheroes Picnic and story time; crafting; Grow Your Own, and treasure hunting in the farm.

“We’re really excited to be bringing back our Children’s Book Festival for a second year,” says Zool Verjee, Deputy Manager at Blackwell’s Broad Street bookshop in Oxford.

“It’s been proven that children who enjoy reading do better at school in all subjects but this is about more than that. This is about fostering a love of reading for its own sake, for the way it sparks a child’s imagination and for the pleasure it brings and there’s no better setting to do it in than Millet’s Farm.”

The festival will run from 10am-4.30pm on both days and all the events are free. Visitors just need to turn up and reserve places on the day.