POP and rock acts from the past three decades will be entertaining music-lovers at the biggest Cornbury Festival.

Bands as diverse as Blondie, Suzanne Vega and Echo and The Bunnymen feature on the line up to this year's event, which will take place in the grounds of Cornbury House, near Charlbury, on July 7 and 8.

The line-up to the event has been a closely guarded secret, but was officially unveiled last week by organiser, Hugh Phillimore, who lives on the festival site.

There were fears this year's festival - now officially dubbed The Cornbury Oxford Music Festival - might not happen at all, because of the amount of money lost by Mr Phillimore in previous years.

But he told the Witney Gazette the event was here to stay, and was spending up to £1m on the two-day party, which has a capacity of 20,000 people a day - twice last year's size.

Other big names to appear at the festival, which is supported by our sister paper The Oxford Times, are singer songwriter David Gray, rising stars The Feeling, award-winning folk singer Seth Lakeman, indie rock band Midlake, Ireland's The Hothouse Flowers, and Scottish duo The Proclaimers, who have just released a Comic Relief single.

Also playing are Irish folk-rock band The Waterboys, who were forced to cancel their set at last year's festival, after getting stranded in Portugal.

Mr Phillimore, said: "I would not give up on Cornbury. It is a huge investment, but I am hoping to break even. If we do, it will be a huge achievement. If we don't, we will still soldier on.

"Cornbury really came of age last year. We had up to 10,000 people coming each day, and everyone had a lovely time. A lot of regular festival-goers are coming because of its unique atmosphere.

"It is going from strength to strength.

"We have a diverse line-up, and are hoping for a sold-out year."

Cornbury park, a national nature reserve, is an unusual location for a festival, but provides the perfect setting for an event which has been dubbed the Rolls-Royce of festivals.

Certainly its Champagne and Pimms bars, gourmet food and gentile ambience are a contrast to the mud, bonfires, and chaos of the likes of Glastonbury or Reading festivals. Last year's event featured a second stage run on the Saturday by Oxford-based Truck Records - organisers of Steventon's annual Truck Festival.

This year, however, it will be run by music magazine The Word. On the Sunday, the second stage will once again be run by The Oxford Folk Festival.

Mark Ellen, editor of The Word, said: "There is nothing to compare with Cornbury.

"It's the only rock festival for all ages where your day won't be dented by demented jugglers, and your night by rave-pixies, playing dance music in the campsite."

Tim Healey, of the Oxford Folk Festival, said: "Cornbury allows us to reincarnate every summer in supremely beautiful parkland surroundings."

* Tickets cost £45 for Saturday or Sunday, and £80 for the weekend, and are available from the website www.cornburyfestival.com, or by calling the ticket hotline, on 0871 472 0420.