events

GROUNDED festival is held in a different location every year so each festival is a unique, unmissable event. In April 2026, the festival will be held on the beautiful Yan Yan Gurt West Farm in Victoria’s spectacular Otway Ranges.

Over two unforgettable days, Yan Yan Gurt West will come alive: bold conversations, standout speakers, hands-on workshops and paddock demonstrations across multiple stages. Add local food and drink, live music, on-site camping and starry skies – this is the gathering you’ll be talking about all year. 

Choose from a range of ticket options, purchase camping tickets and join us for the extras – the opening night dinner, wine and cheese hour and farm tours. 

While specifics of parts of the event are still to come, we can fill you in on the basics:

• Tues April 21st: gates will be open during the day for anyone camping on site. There will be limited food, the bar and music going until about 8pm with the site closing at 9pm.
• Wed April 22nd: gates open 7.30am, official welcome at 9am, and the site closes at 9pm
• Thurs April 23rd: gates open 7.30am and we’ll be all done by 5.30pm, though the bar and some food will be available into the evening for those staying on site or wanting to continue the conversations.

We’ve designed ticket types to suit a range of attendees, with great discounts for returning participants, students, the local community, and groups. 

• 2 Day Ticket – $450. 

• 1 Day Ticket – $250. Choose either day at checkout.

• 2 Day Returner Ticket – $400.

• 2 Day Corangamite CMA 

• 2 Day Student Ticket – $300.

• Group Booking Ticket (10+) – $400 per ticket. 

Supported Tickets – To help make sure GROUNDED remains accessible, we also offer a number of free tickets. If you’d benefit from some support, please reach out – we trust you to know your own circumstances. Just send a quick expression of interest to [email protected], and we’ll get back to you with next steps.

Under 18s are free with a paying adult.
But fair warning – GROUNDED is designed for grown-up conversations. There won’t be activities for little ones, and let’s be honest… they might get a bit bored! Bring them along if you think they’ll love soil talk and food systems chat as much as you do

THE OPENING NIGHT DINNER – TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY 13 FEBRUARY

Kick off GROUNDED with a one-night-only dinner to remember.

On the evening before Day 1, we are bringing together an incredible group of chefs for a relaxed feast designed to celebrate good food and good company. It is a chance to arrive early, settle in, and share a meal with the community that makes this festival what it is.

The menu will be created collaboratively by:

• Jo Barrett (Discovered Foods)
• Eilish Maloney (The What If Society)
• Jude Hughes (Ante)
• Ross O’Meara
• John McIntosh (Gentle Annie)

Expect generous, seasonal dishes built around thoughtfully sourced ingredients and cooked with real care and creativity. Drinks will be flowing thanks to Minimum Wines, curating a bar full of character and great flavours. Local musicians will provide the soundtrack as the evening unfolds.

This dinner is about easing into GROUNDED the best way we know how: sharing plates, swapping stories, and enjoying an evening that feels warm, energetic, and a little bit special. And while the dinner is designed as an informal event, there will be plenty of communal tables and chairs available for anyone who prefers to sit, gather with friends, and take things at an easy pace.

• Date: Tuesday 21 April
• Time: Evening event
• Format: Stand-up, roaming dinner
• Tickets: $100 per person, strictly limited to 100 guests only.

This dinner is supported by Gentle Annie, Discovered Foods, Minimum Wines, Schulz Dairy, Gippsland Jersey, Bulla Park, Kinsfolk Farm, Farm My School and Wonki.

LOCAL FARM TOURS

We have a number of pre and post event tours available. 

• Bambra Agroforestry Farm Tour – Rowan lecture in the paddock – tickets on sale now.
  • Tuesday 21 April, 2.00–4.30pm
  • This tour is limited to 50 places. Tickets are $55 per person and available to GROUNDED ticket holders only.
  • Follow Rowan Reid (forest scientist, educator and author of Heartwood) as he presents his “lecture in the paddock” tour of this extraordinary tree farm. The first plantings are now approaching 40 years old and are producing a wide range of high-quality timber, including 55 trees harvested and milled on farm for use in the new farmhouse, firewood, native food, fodder and more.You’ll see well established and managed examples of more than 50 specialty timber species including natives (Eucalypts, Blackwood, Silky Oaks, Australian Red Cedar etc.), and exotics ( Coast Redwoods, Oaks, Black Walnut and more). Rowan will explain how they can be grown in ways that heal the land, enhance biodiversity, shelter stock, reduce the fire risk and create a beautiful landscape. Along the way Rowan will provide demonstrations of tree establishment, pruning and timber processing and drying.More than 10,000 people have visited Rowan and Claire’s property over the years making it the best known agroforestry and family forestry farm in Australia.

• A free self guided tour of the Frogwood Arboretum in Deans Marsh
  • Tuesday 21 April from 10am to 3pm.
  • This tour is free, but registration is required to help us manage numbers.
  • Join a free, self-guided visit to the beautiful Frogwood Arboretum in Deans Marsh. Drop in anytime between 10am and 3pm to explore this unique 40-hectare arboretum at your own pace. Established in 2007 on former grazing land, Frogwood Arboretum is home to more than 3,000 trees representing around 200 carefully selected species. Each species is planted in its own dedicated grove, creating a natural setting and helping build a diverse seed bank for future generations. The collection focuses on trees considered exceptional for their usefulness to people, natural beauty, individuality, or cultural and symbolic significance. Wherever possible, trees have been grown from seed and planted as original species rather than cultivars. With most of the planting now complete, Frogwood offers a rare opportunity to experience an evolving landscape dedicated to conservation, diversity, and the quiet wonder of trees.

• Yan Yan Gurt West Farm including Yan Yan Gurt Creek catchment drive – tickets on sale now.
  • Friday 24 April, 9.00-11.30am
  • This tour is limited to 30 places. Tickets are $20 per person and available to GROUNDED ticket holders only.
  • Starting at the Yan Yan Gurt West historic Woolshed, you will meet your hosts, members of the Stewart family. You can inspect the Woolshed, built in 1888, and wool press, perhaps the only functional farm Ferrier wool press of its era in rural Victoria. From there you will hear about the YYGW whole farm plan, then carpool to a viewing point on the property’s northern boundary, gaining an overview of the northern section of the 22 km long Yan Yan Gurt Catchment where farmers have lifted their sights beyond their boundaries to connect each other with biodiversity and ecology, forming a contiguous wildlife corridor from the Boonah Bushland along YYG creek to the Barwon River. You will then have the chance to inspect the many trees, flowers and pasture species the Stewart family have planted on their property, discuss the YYGW Farm Agriculture Victoria Carbon Accounting study, and walk through the the fenced-out Banksia dam with about 80 species of plants, including 28 species of banksias.

• Brae Farm Garden Tour
  • Friday 24 April, 9.00-10.00am
  • Tickets are $30 per person, and available to GROUNDED ticket holders only.
  • Join Head Gardener Jo Lawson for a one-hour guided walk through Brae’s 20-acre organic farm. See what’s in season, taste what’s being harvested and learn how their regenerative practices shape the daily set menu. Jo will guide you through their vegetable production areas, fruit orchards, olive grove and polytunnel. You’ll see where their organic fruit, vegetables, citrus, nuts, berries, honey and grain crops are grown for use in the restaurant. Get a first-hand look at seasonal production; taste varieties being harvested and learn what’s being planted next. The Brae farm is a long-term regenerative agriculture project that contributed to them gaining three-star accreditation from the Sustainable Restaurant Association in 2024. You’ll learn about composting, waste management systems, cover cropping, soil health, organic pest management and biodynamics.

WINE & CHEESE HOUR

• Tickets for this experience to be launched soon

Follow along on UPPER BARWON LANDCARE NETWORK AND GROUNDED socials and sign up to GROUNDED newsletter to be the first in the know.

Tickets and booking for opening dinner and farm tours available below (through to GROUNDED website):