Tim Hughes looks forward to a weekend of music in the forest, at England’s most remarkable garden party.

SECRET late night parties in the forest, swimming in shimmering lakes, a midnight masked ball, camping in rolling countryside and being entertained by some amazing bands in the stunning setting of an English stately home garden...

Sounds like paradise doesn’t it? And to anyone whose experience of music festivals has involved mud, queues, crowds and rioting youths, it may well be.

But it’s no fantasy. This midsummer three-night dream is the vision of England’s hippest aristocrat – Lady Rotherwick, main picture, who is giving over the wooded acres of her Oxfordshire Cotswold estate for the county’s freshest festival – Wilderness.

Previously used as the venue for Cornbury Festival, the grounds of her Charlbury pile will next month become a natural playground bringing together the best elements of the Great British music festival, but without the hassle.

And no one is more excited than Lady R herself, who has booked the likes of Mercury Rev, Gogol Bordello, above right, Antony and the Johnsons, Laura Marling, right, Daniel Johnston, The Low Anthem, Dry The River, Guillemots, Toots & The Maytals, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Hayseed Dixie to provide the soundtrack to her lavish bash.

“It’s going to be wonderful and I am looking forward to it enormously,” said her Ladyship – a disarmingly friendly, and down to earth music-lover, who prefers to be called Tanya.

Wilderness has sprung up in the wake of Cornbury Festival’s move from the Rotherwick’s estate to Great Tew. And while promoter Hugh Phillimore’s Cornbury proved a huge family-friendly success, pulling in punters with a line-up of classic pop acts, Tanya has promised an altogether different event – pitching her gathering at a younger, creative and new-music-loving crowd than Hugh’s ‘Poshstock’.

“We are used to having music festivals here, but this is going to be more interesting and eclectic than anything we’ve had before.

“I used to love Cornbury Festival. It was always the best weekend of the year and I enjoyed seeing people having a good time here. But this is a different kind of event – with much more variety.

“The site layout will be new, with music more entwined with the lakes, forest and little valleys, instead of being just in front of the house. It will be a much more interesting set-up which will feel more intimate.

“The line-up is also aimed at a younger audience than Cornbury, but it will still be fantastic for families, on the most beautiful site imaginable.”

A highlight, and major coup for the Rotherwicks, is the appearance by Mercury Rev, who make their only UK festival appearance of the summer, performing their seminal masterpiece Deserter’s Songs.

The set is their last date on what has been a sell-out tour.

The concept album, named Album of the Year by NME in 1998, sees the experimental Americana-rockers merging orchestral ballads, girl soprano vocals, flugelhorns and the eerie whine of a bowed saw.

But Wilderness is not just about music. The line-up also features ‘sets’ by chefs Skye Gyngell and Sam and Sam Clark from Moro; and performances in an ancient forest clearing by The Old Vic Tunnels, Tax Deductible Theatre Company, Factory Theatre, and the Bristol Natural History Consortium.

Oh, and there will also be ballroom dancing, late night story-telling, puppet theatre, processional bands, séances and life drawing classes.

And with posh camping and boutique babysitting, it looks like being the perfect grown-ups’ party.

Tanya says: “There will be hot tubs, swimming in the lake, good food, nature walks, a Where The Wild Things Are-style late night secret garden party, midnight masked ball, debates and talks, and, of course music – including some of my favourite artists – like Laura Marlin, Toots & The Maytals, and Antony and the Johnsons.”

The event, staged with the team behind the well-established Secret Garden Party, is licensed for 20,000 people – with up to 8,000 expected for its first year.

And, she insists, it is here to stay. “Oxfordshire needs us,” she says. “We may seem to have a lot of festivals in close proximity, but we are all different.

“Wilderness is going to be the quirkiest festival of the summer, and I personally can’t wait.”

* Wilderness takes place at Cornbury Park, near Charlbury, from August 12-14. Tickets start at just £60. Go to wildernessfestival.com See next week’s Guide for a chance to win tickets for Wilderness.