THOUSANDS of end-of-season festival-goers will be heading to the 13th anniversary End of the Road Festival today.

Crowned Best Small Festival at the NME Awards in 2017 for the second year running, the independently run sell-out event, held at the Larmer Tree Gardens on the Dorset/Wiltshire border, plays host to a varied musical line-up.

Festival organisers aim to provide a line up of equal male and female fronted acts, and this year sees Vampire Weekend go up against St Vincent, Feist and Yo La Tengo alongside This Is The Kit, Sunflower Bean and Ariel Pink.

Tomorrow, BBC Radio 3’s flagship experimental music programme Late Junction returns for a second year, curating the Tipi Stage with a range of groundbreaking artists from around the globe.

This year’s Comedy Stage hosts a range of stand up, sketch, character, podcasts and political satire.

The influential and satirical podcast The Bugle will be recording an episode live at the festival with Andy Zaltzman and guests, while Bafta award-winning Dave Johns makes his festival debut.

The late-night headline show comes from Mark Watson performing his most recent full-length Edinburgh Fringe offering, The Infinite Show, as well as BBC Radio 4’s Newsjack presenter and Mock The Week regular Angela Barnes and rising stars Catherine Bohart and Bisha K. Ali all join the bill.

The Library Stage will be showcasing some highly acclaimed, writers including best-selling author and ex-Guardian music critic Tom Cox discussing his latest book, 21st-Century Yokel, and Daniel Rachel’s popular book Walls Come Tumbling Down.

The Cinema welcomes some special guest curators this year, with The Prince Charles Cinema - one of the most unique and established single-site independent cinema’s in the country – taking over on Saturday and Sunday, bringing with them a wide selection of cult favourites and a screening of The Princess Bride.

The New Pavilion will host art exhibitions from Dan Jamieson whose latest show Oh Mother, We Had So Much Pun takes in a whole host of celebrities, liked and loathed, representing them in pun form.

There’s an array of after hours fun and dancing to be had at the Silent Disco, The Disco Ship and the Ferris Wheel in The Outlands, and the relaxing Healing Garden.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Being an eco-friendly festival, End of the Road supports organisations such as Festival Wood, where instead of a being charged a transaction fee when booking your ticket you can instead buy a tree which goes towards replanting ancient woodlands in Scotland.

They also look to reduce the amount of discarded rubbish on site at the end of the festival where any belongings left over after are donated to refugee aid charities, and any food waste is turned into compost and unused food gets sent straight to a local homeless shelter.

There are six camping areas: General, Family, Boutique, Accessible, Campervan and Quiet.

GENERAL TIPS

Music starts around midday Friday – Sunday. The Woods Stage will be open tonight for some extra music, along with some of the bars and food stalls. There will be some entertainment in the tipi and cinema tents too.

GENERAL TIPS

• Music starts around midday Friday – Sunday. The Woods Stage will be open on Thursday night again this year for some extra music, along with some of the bars and food stalls. There will be some entertainment in the tipi and cinema tents on Thursday night too.

• It gets cold at night so remember to bring warm sleeping bags, extra blankets and (if you like) air beds.

• There is a festival shop in the general campsite just before you enter the village for all those vital bits and pieces you forgot.