Houghton Festival in East Anglia cancelled due to severe weather warnings

A weekend music festival has been cancelled little more than 24 hours before it was due to start because of bad weather at the site.

The Houghton Festival, which was due to feature DJs Craig Richards, Stingray and Ricardo Villalobos among others, was called off after weather conditions at the site in Norfolk "dramatically worsened" overnight, organisers said.

They added that conditions "are set to deteriorate further into the weekend", as the whole of East Anglia is under a Met Office yellow weather warning for strong winds on Saturday.

A statement on the festival's website said: "Tragically, following this morning's reports and further consultation with authorities, health and safety and all the festival directors, the decision has been made to cancel Houghton 2019.

"We are utterly devastated. All the hard work, love and creativity that has gone into planning and producing this year's event made this an almost impossible decision to make.

"This was set to be a wonderful weekend and the boldest step we have ever taken as a festival.

"However, nothing is more important than the safety of our customers, staff and performers, which would be compromised if we were to go ahead."

Acknowledging it will cause "a lot of disruption and a lot of questions", festival-goers were urged not to travel to the show.

On Wednesday, organisers of the Boardmasters Festival, due to take place in Cornwall this weekend, called it off because of warnings about severe weather conditions.

Florence and the Machine, Foals and the Wu-Tang Clan are among the acts that had been booked to play at the three-day event.

The Houghton Festival, which has been running since 2017, is held annually at Houghton Hall, around 15 miles east of King's Lynn and bills itself as the only UK festival to use a 24-hour licence, meaning the music doesn't stop.

This year's event, which was sold out, was due to run from Friday to Sunday, with the first act on at 5pm on Friday.

Organisers have promised information on ticket refunds will be available later on Thursday.