THE Charlatans have been announced as a headline act and "a huge scoop" for this year's Lakefest festival.

The band joins Badly Drawn Boy, Aswad and Yak as a major attraction for the Eastnor Castle Deer Park venue .

A spokesman added: "These acts join the previously announced Feeder, Imelda May, Turin Brakes, Wilko Johnson, Kíla, Alabama 3 and Seth Lakeman.

"The Charlatans are a huge scoop for the Lakefest organisers who have worked hard to build the festival organically, while remaining considered with their music choices."

The Charlatans can boast the talents of Tim Burgess (lead vocals), Mark Collins (guitarist), Martin Blunt (bassist) and Tony Rogers (keyboard).

Formed in 1988, over the years they have garnered critical and fan-based praise for their work; all twelve studio albums have charted in the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart, three of them being number ones.

They have also achieved seventeen Top 30 singles and four Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart. Their most recent and twelfth studio album was released in 2015 and named Modern Nature.

Badly Drawn Boy, once included by Q Magazine as one of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die”, is the stage name for English indie singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Damon Gough.

In the late 90s, Badly Drawn Boy had a succession of increasingly well-received EPs, which led to Gough’s debt album The Hour of Bewilderbeast, gaining a Mercury Music Prize.

This led to Gough being asked to record the soundtrack to Nick Honby’s novel, About a Boy, from which three singles were released. In 2012, he released another soundtrack to the film, Being Flynn.

After fifteen albums and two decades on the music scene, Aswad remains one of Britain's best-loved reggae bands.

The duo of Drummie Zeb (vocals and drums), and Tony Gadd (bass, keyboards, vocals), "are renowned amongst reggae fans for their adventurous fusion of musical styles such as dancehall, funk, hip-hop and dub".

Yak are an English alternative rock band, formed in 2014, and comprising of singer-guitarist Oliver Henry Burslem, bassist Andy Jones and drummer Elliot Rawson.

Their debut album Alas Salvation, was released in May 2016 on their own Octopus Electrical label.

The spokesman added: "For the ever-popular Floating Globe stage, the following acts have been confirmed: Fly Yeti Fly, The Minkie Whales, The Curious Incident, Albert Man, Ruth Theodore, Blackbeard’s Tea Party, Lost Boy, Tors, Future Set, White Feather Collective, Round Mountain Girls, Elles Bailey, Fred’s House, Monster Ceilidh Band, Josh Fletcher, Marie-Claire Berreen and Her Husbands, Harper’s Ferry, No Coward Soul and Under A Banner.

"Family is at the heart of Lakefest and the team is excited to announce even more free activities for the entire family at Lakefest 2017.

"Returning for the second year, the Pro BMX dirt jump competition will be back, alongside endless amounts of free activities, which include pottery lessons, kids yoga, a creche, workshop activities, free passenger rides with Land Rover Experience Eastnor, a Tiny Tots Rave and DJ Workshops."

The date for the diary is August 10 to August 14.

Early Bird tickets are now on sale at lakefest.co.uk