Womad Festival returns and moves to new Wiltshire location | WOMAD

Womad, the global music festival co-founded by Peter Gabriel, is set to return in 2026 in a new venue.

The festival took a year off in 2025 to “return fully charged”, and left its home in Charlton Park, Wiltshire, where it had been held since 2007. Its new venue remains in Wiltshire, at nearby Neston Park in Corsham.

“It immediately seemed like a warm, welcoming home to us where we could put down roots,” Gabriel said.

He added: “In a world where many bad actors seem to achieve power by fanning the flames of hatred, racism and division, the meeting place of all the world’s cultures and dreams, built on mutual respect, seems most valuable.”

Womad is an acronym for World of Music, Arts and Dance, and has one of the broadest musical mandates on the British festival scene. The artists lean into pop, dance, folk, jazz, hip-hop, etc., and come from a variety of global countries.

Neston Park is a stately home owned by Sir James and Lady Venetia Fuller: James is a member of the family board of Fuller’s Brewery, and Venetia is an entrepreneur. “This will be the first time we’ve opened the property for any type of event, and Womad’s message and what it stands for is something we’ve admired for a long time,” they said in a joint statement.

The festival began in 1982 in Shepton Mallet, then moved to near Reading between 1990 and 2006, followed by Charlton Park.