AN award-winning Hampshire music festival is moving to the Matterley Bowl near Winchester for its 2008 event.
Husband and wife team Paul and Mel Bliss say that Blissfields has outgrown its current home at Bradley, north of Alresford.
The event, which started seven years ago, sells out its 1,000 tickets, but increasing costs for security and licensing are hitting it hard.
A move to Matterley Bowl, the home for several large-scale events since the late 1990s, will allow Blissfields to extend its capacity to 5,000.
While five times bigger than previous events, it is still tiny compared with previous events there, including Creamfields, Homelands and Hi-Fi.
Matterley landowner Peveril Bruce has permission to run several small-scale events on his land. The 5,000 limit on Blissfields means that the organisers do not have to submit a licensing application.
The Blisses plan to have the campsite and stages on the same site at Matterley and new ideas for 2008 include a local bands stage, incorporating groups from Winchester, Southampton and Basingstoke, as well as some bigger names.
A city council spokeswoman confirmed that the festival, planned for July 4-6, would not need a separate licence as it was covered by the six that Mr Bruce is permitted to host.
Blissfields was voted best small music festival in the UK Festival Awards. As reported in the Daily Echo, the awards for best major festival went to the Isle of Wight Festival, while Bestival, also held on the Isle of Wight, won best medium festival.
