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Just past the halfway point, and the Fowey Festival is showing no signs of slowing down. The programme this year has been amazing. So packed, so varied, and so consistently strong that the real challenge has been accepting that it just isn't possible to see everything on the list. Choices have had to be made, events reluctantly missed, and plenty of conversations started with "I really wish I'd got to that one." On Wednesday, I chose the three events that felt unmissable, and all three delivered.
Patrick Gale opened the day to another sold-out house, talking about his new novel Love Lane, which continues the story of Harry Cane from his much-loved A Place Called Winter. Patrick resists the word sequel, and his publishers were not keen on one either. Adjacent is the term he prefers, and having heard him speak about it, that was the perfect way to frame it.
What made the session so memorable was the intimacy of what he shared. Love Lane is rooted in his own family history, drawn from an archive of letters and photographs he was lucky enough to inherit, and he brought that research vividly to life. He talked about growing up in a prison, his father having been a prison governor, and shared a civil service memo setting out, in precise and unsettling detail, the formal process for a hanging. It was the kind of detail that leaves an impression. Patrick was warm, funny, and utterly charming throughout.
The early evening brought a complete change of pace. Andrew Lownie presented Entitled, his updated account of the fall of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, to an audience so large the event had to be moved from the Town Hall to the church. Presenting rather than being interviewed, Andrew laid out the book's revelations with understated, methodical authority. He spoke about the extreme care required when covering such sensitive territory, the legal exposure, and how the establishment had, in his view, enabled his subject for far longer than anyone should be comfortable with. The past twelve months have added fresh material: the removal of the title, the arrest, the further release of the Epstein files, and legal threats. It was gripping from start to finish.
Then, to round the day off, something completely different …
Helen McGinn, interviewed by Veronica Henry, delivered what was probably the most fun session of the week. A genuine authority on wine, Helen traced her love of it back to the university wine society at Exeter, laughing as she admitted the initial draw was less romantic than it sounds: four half-glasses of something decent, once a month, in the most affordable way possible. She addressed the elephant in the room without hesitation: her new book, The Supermarket Wine Guide, is about supermarket wine, yet the wines for the evening had been supplied by John's. Rather than apologise for the apparent contradiction, she made the case clearly and warmly: "if you have a good independent wine merchant, you must support it". She spoke with particular admiration about Tyrian's expertise, which had clearly left an impression. We tasted four wines: a Bella Modello Prosecco, an Oropasso Biscardo white, a La Vie en Rose rosé, and a Les Beaux Brins red. Helen gave the audience a short masterclass in how to taste wine properly, and the difference it made was immediate and revelatory. Helen is every bit as warm, funny, and unpretentious in person as her many admirers would hope, and another pre-release book left the room under my arm.
Three days of the festival remain, and the programme is far from finished. The Fowey Art Trail also runs alongside it all until Saturday, showcasing paintings, ceramics, sculpture, photography and more. It is well worth making time for. Visit heatherjaneandco.com for more information, and check the festival website for what is still available on the festival programme.
And if the town feels particularly alive right now, that is not your imagination. The hospitality venues, the retailers, the traders are all buzzing. Over the next three days, Fowey welcomes three cruise ships carrying almost 1,900 passengers into the harbour, and the Fowey Artisan Market sets up on Albert Quay for the next few days. And as if all that wasn’t enough, Place is hosting a silent disco on Saturday evening, with sessions at 5pm and 7pm, tickets available at www.placefowey.com. The festival, the ships, the market, the art, the music - Fowey is the place to be over the next few days.
The Fowey Festival runs until 9th May - you can find the full programme on the LoveFowey What's On page, or on the festival website. Tickets are available online or from the Festival Box Office, located alongside the Waterstones Festival Bookshop at the Royal Fowey Yacht Club.