A MAJOR Hampshire music festival is to take a break next year.

Organisers of Blissfields festival, held near Winchester, have said that staff need a "year's breather" as planning the popular festival is a 12-month process.

In July the event will be showcasing its biggest lineup of acts, including headline sets from Metronomy and The Cinematic Orchestra.

Nevertheless, a special intimate event will take its place whilst Vicarage Farm is left to settle, it has been announced.

Organisers Melanie and Paul Bliss said: "When putting together our biggest ever party this year we knew we’d need a little break in 2018, so we’re​ ​super​ ​excited ​and pleased to finally announce we’ll be hosting a very intimate return to our roots next summer.

"It will be ten years since our last breather, but rest assured we will have something even more intimate,​ ​and just as frolicsome for you to join us at,​ ​whilst​ ​Vicarage Farm can rests its lumps and bumps a bit."

The festival has hosted scores of big-name bands over the years, including Bastille, Dizzee Rascal, London Grammer (CORR), Clean Bandit and Sam Smith.

A spokesperson added: "We need to rest ourselves, but also we want to take a slightly more outside view of the UK festival landscape than we can when we're in the middle of a project.

"Our independence is important to us, and our closeness with our audience.

"We want to explore new ideas in a Petri dish and then see how 2019 could evolve further. Kind of - knock it down to build it back up - and what that might look like in the current festival scene.

"We hope all our longstanding attendees join us during the next few transformative years. We want everybody's input.

"This is as much their festival so looking forward to hearing what people say over the coming months and years. It's definitely going to be exciting."

The 2018 event will be invite-only, with tickets going on sale first to those attending the festival in July.

However, you can still apply for the second wave of tickets. Register at: eepurl.com/cQdto1 Tickets will go on sale on July 10, immediately​ ​after this year's event.