Castletown House will fling open it’s doors over the August Bank Holiday weekend, (Sat 3rd, Sun 4th and Mon 5th) reigniting a 300 year old tradition of arts and entertainment in Ireland’s only palace, to host Ireland’s first BIG HouseFestival – A Cultural Carnival of art, music and entertainment.

Big House festival is billed at the antidote to the standard summer festival offering. Visitors come along at lunchtime and stay until last light at what is Ireland’s first site-specific arts festival. Discover rock ‘n roll in the ballroom or tap your toes to trad with a twist. Enjoy tea-time theatrics or dance in the colonnades Picnic on the lawn, as an opera plays out before you. Pause by the silver screen, or bathe in the sounds of a classical quartet by the lake. And later get lost in a forest full of mechanical birds or speak your mind at the Big House Parliament. 

On the agenda for this year's festival is so far includes: Jerry Fish’s Carnivale Show, award-winning comedy dance troupe Ponydance presenting Anybody Waiting?, Big House Parliament (an alternative citizen’s parliament run by Mindfield and The Sky Cat Laugh’s Naoise Nunn), The Ark’s Ukelele Ceili workshop for children, award-winning hit Farm from Willfred Theatre Company, a film programme presented by the Irish Film Institute, Theatre Lovett featuring Louis Lovett, Choice Music Prize winner Julie Feeney in a special event in the Long Gallery of Castletown, trad legends LAPD (Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Liam O’Flynn & Paddy Glackin), 3 separate recitals from classical ensemble Musici and visual art installations from artists such such as Oisín Byrne, Almha Roche and Áine Phillips. Renowned international artists including Michael Trainor, Laura Kriefman and Claire Hodgeson will also present work for BIG HOUSE. And this is just a small selection of a much bigger programme.

More information from www.BigHouse.ie. Advance day tickets only €22.50, family tickets just €45. Early bird discounts available. Follow the happenings at @BigHouse_Fest or facebook.com/BigHouseFestival.