FEARS that 20,000 festival goers will descend on a village have been allayed.

A rumour was circulating regarding the upcoming Willowman festival, which will be held at Lenthor Farm, Brompton, near Northallerton, pending a successful licensing application.

But organiser Steve Williams and landowner and host Derek Plews said they will be lucky if they get a tenth of that number.

The event would be a first as there are currently no other three-day festivals in the area where you can also camp.

Mr Williams, of Northallerton- based Viking Light and Sound, wants to stage the festival over the summer solstice weekend – June 18-20.

The ex-musical director of Scotland’s Wickerman Festival, which won the Best Grassroots Event in 2007, came up with the idea after deciding to branch out on his own.

He chose the venue after successfully holding his Viking Volksfest event there for the past four years and he hopes the local community will get behind it.

The Willowman Festival is aimed at families and those aged over 40, and could bring in extra business for local traders.

“It’s classed as a festival and people think either the best or the worst of them, depending on who they are,” said Mr Williams.

“Every positive effort has been made to do this safely and legally and all the licensing requirements have been fulfilled so far but it is still very early. We have a very good reputation for doing things right.”

Bands so far include The Blockheads and The Beat and there will be children’s attractions such as arts and crafts, a bouncy castle, face painting, and a funfair.

Mr Plews is also overseeing a pagan element to the festival, which includes natural healing workshops.

There will be camping on site but there will be food, drink and toilet facilities and litter pickers will be in operation.

Mr Plews said: “We will have all the proper facilities and it will be a proper festival. If we do things like this we cannot shortcut it.

I like to give the impression I have a cavalier approach but under it I do things by the book.

“This is four times bigger than anything I have done before. It’s going to be a mini-Glastonbury. I have wanted to do it for 20 years. It’s a long time ambition of mine to make this happen.”

But some of Mr Plews’ pagan friends do not approve. He said: “I’m really excited about it but some of my pagan friends are spitting their dummies out. They think I shouldn’t have anything but a quiet day on solstice. They think the site should be for them and nothing else.”