The Stranglers will headline a music festival at Mount Ephraim Gardens this summer.

The Faversham News revealed last year that A New Day Festival will debut at the vast grounds in Hernhill, which has previously seen the likes of Lethal Bizzle, the Maccabees and Calvin Harris take to the stage for Electric Gardens.

This week, we can reveal that The Stranglers, who achieved chart success with hits such as Golden Brown and Peaches, will be headlining on the Sunday of the three-day event.

The band have had 23 top-40 singles and 17 top-40 albums during their four-decade career.

Formed in Guildford, Surrey, the group built a following within the punk rock crowd during the 1970s, and have continued to thrive with tours across the globe.

Thousands of people are expected to descend on Mount Ephraim Gardens from Friday, August 5, to Sunday, August 7.

The family-focused weekend will also welcome fellow headliners Ian Anderson, from Grammy Award-winning Jethro Tull, and Wilko Johnson.

The woman behind Glastonbury’s Kidzfield will be providing the children’s entertainment, and there will be an eclectic mix of music and craft workshops, food stalls and bars, and for those staying over there will be camping and glamping.

Other musicians on the line-up include Heavy Metal Kids, Limehouse Lizzy, Jackie Lynton, the Blockheads and Canterbury’s own Caravan.

The organisers, who successfully ran Weyfest in Surrey, say they are “veterans of countless festivals, either as organisers or fans” and say they know exactly what festival-goers want.

One of them, David Rees, said: “We worked for 11 years on Weyfest, helping it grow from nothing to a great little festival, but in the last couple of years things turned a bit sour.

“For a number of reasons, we have left Weyfest and have gone back to our original ideals with A New Day Festival.

“We know what we like at festivals and, just as importantly, what we don’t like.

“Great music is vital of course, but no matter how good it might be, people need to feel happy and secure and comfortable during the evening. People don’t want long queues for toilets, overpriced beer and food, heavy-handed security and so on.

“And they don’t want to pay the earth for a ticket. We want people to go away happy and looking forward to next year, not feeling ripped off.

“We’ve had a lot of support from all over the area, and it already feels like a proper community project.”

A New Day Festival weekend tickets start at £89, with day tickets also available. For details and tickets, visit www.anewdayfestival.com