Glastonbury Festival has begun, where thousands of music fans will flock to Worthy Farm in Somerset to see acts including Neil Young, Olivia Rodrigo and The 1975.
It has been confirmed that 2026 will mark the festival’s traditional fallow year, which is held once every five years in order to allow the farmland site to recover.
Glastonbury is held on a working dairy farm, the 900 acres of which is home to the farm’s herds of cows while the festival is not taking place.
Fallow years were most recently held in 2012 and 2018; Glastonbury also had to take two years off during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
Speaking to the Glastonbury Free Press last year, organiser Emily Eavis said: “We’re taking a fallow year in 2026 to give the land a rest, and the festival before a fallow year is always a fun one to plan because you almost have to fit two years in one.”
She added: “I really would like to say thank you to everyone who’s made [2024] so special. It’s got to be the best one yet.
“Every single one of our vast, incredible crew is crucial to making this event work. And, of course, it simply wouldn’t exist without the participation of the kind, brilliant, respectful festival-goers.”
She continued: “I think people here show a better way to live, and that they do take a little bit of that back to the outside world with them. It honestly restores your faith in humanity.”
In a recent appearance on Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw’s podcast Sidetracked, she revealed that 30,000 trees would be planted during the next fallow year.
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“It’s the kind of thing you want to do… plant trees, plant hedges,” she said. “Just really restore the wild side of the farm and the surrounding land.”
Later on during the conversation, she confirmed that other admin duties take place during a fallow year, including renewing contracts and carrying out repair works.
Eavis said she also plans on taking some time to herself and her family to celebrate her father, festival founder Michael Eavis’s 90th birthday in October.
“A fallow year is a really good idea,” she said. “You drop off, you have a break and it sort of reminds everyone that it’s a farm and a family. We’re just normal and need a break.
“I am looking forward to going to a sports day, for example, without being really stressed. It’ll be really nice, I’ll be present.”
She said she wanted to make this year’s festival “a big birthday celebration” for her father.
The gates to this year’s Glastonbury Festival will open on Wednesday (25 June). News regarding the 2027 event, including tickets and lineup details, is expected to be revealed at a later date.
You can see the full lineup and set times for the 2025 festival here.
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