MUSICAL icons, world-class DJs, top chefs, award-winning theatre companies and famous authors.

When it comes to pulling together a festival, the team behind West Oxfordshire’s Wilderness do not mess about.

“I’m very excited about this year’s line up,” says the festival’s creative director Tim Harvey – the man responsible for designing the programme for what has become the country’s most eclectic and interesting festival, at Cornbury Park, near Charlbury, this weekend.

“Wilderness is the most exciting event of the festival season – and this will be our best by a mile.”

The weekend will be headlined by Bjork, pictured, singer-songwriter Ben Howard and jazz-funk artist George Clinton. They will be joined by a diverse range of artists covering everything from folk and country to classical, electro-house, burlesque and blues.

“We’ve been able to get three great headliners with Bjork being the standout artist. What she does is so emblematic of what we try to achieve every year. She is an artistic pioneer and her Friday night show will set the tone for the whole weekend.

“She is the biggest artist we’ve booked and is someone who really wanted to play here, as her only summer festival show. It’s a wonderful testament to what we have achieved.”

She is not the only celebrity at the 30,000-capacity festival, though. One of the biggest names is not from the world of music at all – having found stardom not on stage but in his Oxfordshire kitchen. Raymond Blanc swaps the luxury of his Michelin-starred restaurant, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, at Great Milton, for a tent, by cooking a banquet for revellers. He joins an A-list culinary line-up of fellow Michelin-starred chefs Angela Hartnett, Nuno Mendes and James Knappett. Also joining the festivities will be Sweden’s Niklas Ekstedt.

Priding itself on its ability to source the freshest new talent, the musical line-up is esoteric – with a mix of cult acts and underground talent.

Among those playing for the glittered and fancy-dressed crowd will be Moloko’s Roisin Murphy, Hercules & Love Affair, Nick Mulvey, Nils Frahm, Caravan Palace, Will & The People, Benjamin Clementine, Damian Lazarus & The Ancient Moons, Asgeir and one of the stars of this year’s nearby Cornbury Festival – CC Smugglers.

Music will be followed by spectacular processions, a puppet parade and astounding acrobatic displays.