The Hon. Morwenna and Hon. Edward Lytton Cobbold at Hellfest in Clisson, France
Edward Lytton Cobbold
Having grown up with the gothic beasts and bastions of Knebworth House, our childhoods highlighted by raucous rock concerts, my sister Morwenna and I have always felt an affinity with loud guitars and screaming crowds. Perhaps that is what drew us to the 15th edition of Hellfest – the annual rock and heavy metal festival in Clisson, France. A festival which 60,000 revellers a day descend on each year – and that always sells out instantly before the full line up is even announced. It has the largest turnover of any festival in France.
You could say this interest runs in the family. Our novelist ancestor Edward Bulwer-Lytton (a contemporary of Charles Dickens) had a famous fascination with the occult and it’s thanks to him the old Tudor manor our family built in the 15th century was transformed into the Victorian fantasy fortress we love today.
Edward’s late grandfather, the 2nd Baron Cobbold, and grandmother, Lady Christine Cobbold, in front of Knebworth House, 1977, the original home of rock ‘n’ roll
Shutterstock
