It's here. The best foodie festival of the year is finally here. Grab your gold leotard, your flower crown and your rainbow glitter because Wilderness starts today and there are still 500 tickets left.

Now in its sixth year and organised by the same folks behind the Secret Garden Party, Wilderness has established itself an award-winning foodie haven with 30,000 people attending last year. Even better, the festival has expanded into the arenas of wellbeing (with Q&As from Deliciously Ella and yoga for all levels), and theatre and arts (with performances from Sadler's Wells and Hip Hop Karaoke). 

Set in the fairy light-lit woods of Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire, it's four magical days of creativity and culture, with festival goers wild swimming in the lakes next to mad hatters playing croquet on the lawn; hot tubbing in the ski lodge huts to feasting from the menus of Michelin-starred chefs.  

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Wilderness Festival

And although Wilderness has as strong a musical line-up as any other festival – Robert Plant, The Flaming Lips and Lianne La Havas are all set to perform on the main stage – the real delight is the food. 

French virtuoso Raymond Blanc, spring-time innovator Skye Gyngell and Peruvian pioneer Virgilio Martinez will be serving up delicious three and four course menus at the revered long table banquets. Think old timey feasts and fine wines, all consumed in the setting of a traditional elbow-to-elbow communal banqueting hall. 

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Wilderness Festival

Even if you miss out on the banquets, you can eat all weekend long from the likes of Hix, Moro, Petersham Nurseries, Patty & Bun, Raw Duck, Duck & Waffle and Bubbledogs. 

'But what about the booze?' we hear you cry. Well, head over to the Champagne Laurent-Perrier Orangery, which returns to the festival for its third year. In the daytime you can sip from glasses of chilled bubbly in a 1920s-style, art deco garden house overlooking the lake. Hang around until evening to watch the flapper girls and burlesque dancers perform among the exotic plants and birdcages.

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Champagne Laurent-Perrier Orangery

And of course, we can't talk festivals without talking festival fashion, and Wilderness attracts the best of the best dressed. At ELLE we celebrate individuality, and there's no better place than Wilderness to harness this at: pack your leotards, your neon jumpsuits, and your sequin jackets because more is more here. 

So what's new for the Wilderness this year? We heard on the grapevine that the annual Saturday Night Spectacle with Cirque Bijou is set to be the biggest yet, as is Goldie and The Heritage Orchestra spectacular show. 

Check out the full programme here and head to buy your tickets here. That's your weekend sorted – no need to thank us. 

And don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram to see all our exclusive pictures from the weekend. 

Photography: Wilderness Festival