The 10th Earl of St Germans has died, aged 75.

Peregrine Nicholas Eliot founded both Elephant Fayre and the Port Eliot Lit Fest, which, organisers say, will continue this year as a tribute to its creator.

Lord St Germans was married three times and led a colourful and at times eccentric life.

Prominent in the counter-culture of the 1960s and 70s, he was a patron of poet Heathcote Williams and artist Robert Lenkiewicz, a close friend of Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis and, at one time, vice-president of the Harley Davidson Riders Club of Great Britain.

Lord St Germans was credited with ensuring the survival of the Port Eliot estate; one of the measures taken was the £5m sale of one of the last Rembrandt paintings in private hands in the 1990s.

He is succeeded by his grandson Albert (Albie), whose father Jago died aged 40 in 2006.