Musicians, food lovers and patrons of the arts gathered at a stately home in east Suffolk yesterday to mark the launch of a festival, celebrating folk music and locally sourced produce from the county.

Organisers of FolkEast offered the visitors to Glemham Hall a flavour of what this summer’s festival has in store, with artisan foods, local ales and live music performances.

Festival director John Marshall-Potter said there was a “real buzz” about this year’s event, which is the third of its kind and the second to be hosted in the grounds of Glemham Hall.

“This festival is potentially a dream come true and if we get there it’s going to be a fantastic event for this area,” he said. “I feel we have turned a corner and this year we are going to start to see where it’s going to go in the future.”

The festival is hoping to attract around 3,000 visitors with dozens of acts performing live across three stages including the multi-award winning Bellowhead and local favourites The Broadside Boys.

Newly announced headliners for the Sunday night, False Lights, attended yesterday’s launch event to praise the organisers and promote their new self-titled debut EP.

Jim Moray and Sam Carter - two established solo musicians who have collaborated on this latest project - said Folk East was “exciting, healthy and new”. “No other festival would have this amount of faith and enthusiasm to support this kind of project,” said Mr Moray.

As well as championing up and coming folk musicians, the festival organisers are also passionate about promoting Suffolk and its produce. More than 95% of what goes into the festival has been sourced from within the county and organisers hope that percentage will reach 100 by next year. Major Phillip Hope Cobbold, who lives at Glemham Hall with his wife Raewyn, said he was a “great believer that Suffolk is a really lovely place to live” and supported the festival’s focus on the county. “I hope that people from Suffolk and some from further afield will be able to come along and enjoy it,” he said.

FolkEast takes place from Friday to Sunday, August 15 to 17. Visit www.folkeast.co.uk for information.