Our Festival

Family Theatre, Music, Comedy, Arts and Crafts Festival

The Great Barn Festival is a fully inclusive, family festival celebrating the best of the Arts.
Music to suit all tastes, theatre performances to inspire and delight, side splitting comedy, storytellers to capture the imagination, the chance to learn a new skill such as juggling, join an art class, keep the kids amused in the packed programme of activities in the children's tent, or just soak up the beauty of the historic Oxfordshire countryside at this stunning and unusual Festival venue.  



​Proudly supported using public funding by the Arts Council England
We are pleased to be a members of both the Family Standard Arts and the Age Standard Arts. These logos demonstrate the companies commitment to providing family-friendly and age-friendly Arts events.
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They prove our commitment to providing activities that all family members can enjoy together. That we are welcoming to families, with helpful staff, good facilities and considered pricing. 

Our Charities

​We are in the lucky position to be able to support a number of charities through the Festival. From helping in the car park to running the children's tent, if you see any of these charities about the site shaking their buckets, please give generously. All are very worthy local charities. These include RotaKids, Soundabout, Youth Challenge Oxfordshire (YoCo), FAAAZE and the Pump House Project. 
RotaKids

RotaKids are part of the Rotary Family. The main objective is to introduce Rotary ideals to young people and giving them the chance  to put back into society, instead of just taking out
Soundabout

Soundabout is a charity that uses music to unlock the potential of people with severe or profound learning disabilities. They run an inclusive choir that is open to everyone regardless of age and ability.
Youth Challenge Oxfordshire (YoCo)

YOUTH CHALLENGE OXFORDSHIRE (YoCO) is a local charity supporting young people aged 14 -21 to develop resilience and confidence so that they can overcome the problems that they face in their lives. They aim to develop young people through personal challenge. 

​FAAAZE
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FAAAZE is an unincorporated charitable association. Our aim is to provide a safe space for young people with special needs and disabilities to socialise.
Pump House Project
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Based in Faringdon, The Pump House Project is a community centre; running a weekly timetable of activities, events, classes and clubs for the whole community. Our aim is to provide a variety of low cost activities for all ages and abilities in Faringdon and the surrounding villages.

Our Venue

The Great Barn, Great Coxwell

Set in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside, the Great Barn was built of Cotswold Stone around 1292 making it over 700 years old.

For further details on this most unusual festival venue, please visit
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/great-coxwell-barn
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Our Story

The Great Barn Festival was begun in 2018, organised by Boxed Up Events in partnership with the National Trust.
​The festival has brought life, colour, laughter, music and theatre to this magnificent 13th Century Barn, a much loved local landmark
Boxed Up Events
Boxed Up Events is an Oxfordshire based company, initially, the kitchen table project of two determined mums with a strong background in marketing, PR and events management. We firmly believe our creativity,  enthusiasm and experience help us make truly memorable events very achievable on every budget.
​www.boxedupevents.co.uk
National Trust
The National Trust is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The trust describes itself as "a charity that works to preserve and protect historic places and spaces—for ever, for everyone  
​https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/great-coxwell-barn

T E S T I M O N I A L S

Happy People
Just to say we absolutely loved both the events we took part in. The kids found Midsummer Nights Dream hilarious and it was wonderful to see them laughing so hard! The actors were just brilliant.
 
We loved the African Drumming workshop and it was brilliantly structured, the teacher was fantastic. We really felt we learnt something and wished we had paid for the adults in our party to have a drum too! It had me looking up African Drumming lessons on my phone afterwards!
 
I hope it will be happening again next year as I would have loved to attend some of the Sunday sessions too.
 

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