Lost Village

Lost Village is a house and techno festival that first ran on 23 and 24 May 2015 in a private woodland in Lincolnshire, halfway between Newark and Lincoln, beside Norton Disney. Jaymo — Jay Jameson — and Andy George created it through their label Moda Black, with Aaron Mellor, Ben Atkins and Andy Ellis. Year one held about four thousand five hundred people. Early-bird tickets sold out in hours, before the bill was announced. The site uses postcode LN6 9HN, at Witham St Hughs.

Moda Black represented Hot Since 82, Groove Armada, Eats Everything, Theo Kottis and Ben Pearce. Jaymo and Andy George said a festival of their own was only worth it if the ground was exceptional; they took time to find the wood. The idea started from ruins, cabins and abandoned buildings. The site mixes woodland, gardens and remains of an airbase. Crowds explore between sets. House and techno sat at the centre; disco and club electronica filled the side hours. Jaymo and Andy George also DJed.

The 2015 bill fixed the scale. Four Tet, Jamie Jones, DJ Koze, Jackmaster and Dusky closed. Ben Pearce, Erol Alkan and Heidi covered the arc of British and German house. The weekend fell on the Spring Bank Holiday. The wood is walked: old cabins, clearings and a site you cannot see from the road. Year two added the Lake of Tranquility, with wood-fired tubs, yoga, massage and saunas on the shore. Basecamp grew in street food. The Lookout stage, the Bureau of Lost and the Lost Theatre comedy room opened new zones. Lee Westcott of Typing Room and Michael O’Hare of The Man Behind The Curtain served tribal banquets.

The Norton Disney site is a closed wood, with a lake and ruined buildings. You camp among trees, lose the gate as a landmark and use the sound as a compass. By day the site looks like a rebuilt abandoned village: cabins, gardens, an airbase. After dark house and techno turn those clearings into rooms. May mud and Lincolnshire green mark the body. Later the festival moved from two spring days to a four-day summer format, with art, theatre, talks and workshops. Postcode LN6 9HN still pins the map at Witham St Hughs.

Lost Village holds together through that alliance of a British house label and a private Lincolnshire wood. The festival asks for Norton Disney, cabins and a weekend of house and techno, not a city yard. The first two nights of 2015 left the mould: four thousand five hundred tickets, a bill of Four Tet and Jamie Jones, and a site you walk as a ruin. The wood, the lake and the airbase set the scale. The ground still measures the festival in camp days and in the real distance between Newark and Lincoln.

Visit Lincolnshire lists the site at Witham St Hughs. The house mail sits on the lostvillagefestival.com domain. The first-year crowd came from across the United Kingdom, with a core that already followed Moda Black in clubs. The early bird selling out without a bill showed that the wood sold as hard as the names. Four Tet played in a clearing. Jamie Jones and DJ Koze covered the house night. Jackmaster and Dusky closed the Scottish and London arc. Heidi and Erol Alkan brought German and British club hours to the same weekend. The 2015 Spring Bank Holiday remains the founding date. DJ Mag covered the announcement. Access All Areas posted the headliners on 29 January 2015. Bizarre Culture interviewed Jaymo and Andy George after year one. The wood was described as secluded, with a ruin atmosphere. Public transport reaches the area. The label also represented Marco Faraone and Walker & Royce. The later four-day format added art, storytelling, talks and workshops without leaving the Norton Disney wood. The lake, the cabins and the airbase remain the site map. The 2015 Spring Bank Holiday and postcode LN6 9HN locate the origin. Four Tet, Jamie Jones and DJ Koze set the club level that wood could hold across two May nights. Early tickets after the first sell-out stayed on the same domain. Founders played their own weekend as DJs, not only as promoters. Theo Kottis sat on the label roster. The private ground avoided a city park. Two May nights were enough to prove a Lincolnshire wood could hold a European club bill. Groove Armada’s name on the roster explained why early buyers trusted the brand before any stage was named. Eats Everything and Hot Since 82 belonged to the same house that sought the wood.