Festival frolics – 5 of the best in Oxfordshire

Ever since I was a wee girl I have been at one with my inner hippy. The Grateful Dead were the soundtrack to my formative years; I even have fond memories of one holiday in Italy with ‘Uncle John’s Band’ running in the background of my internal cinema. So going to local festivals was just part of the musical backdrop of my youth. Whether it be marvelling at the bizarreness of John Otway at Music on the Hill near Watlington, or watching Des Barkus at Warborough & Shillingford Festival, these are the musical snippets from my sun kissed, countryside childhood memories.

It is little wonder, that I am now, somewhat obsessed with festivals. We even had a festival style wedding, complete with Glastonbury style flags, local bands and camping, luckily in a not too muddy field in South Oxfordshire! I love the feeling of being outside, free from routine, TVs and everyday mod cons. There is something, in the words of John Otway, ‘Really Free’ about the experience. Sometimes it’s great to be part of something as immersive as a festival to find perspective and relish the carnival of life (inner hippy at work)!

Needless to say festivals have changed somewhat over the years. Glastonbury is no longer the free loving hippy fest of its youth but an enormous brand in itself, and a successful commercial machine. Despite that, I have to say, Glastonbury is still a magical place and I would urge anyone that hasn’t been to take the trip. It’s brimming with wonderful musical talent from all corners of the globe, the green fields are always filled with weird and wonderful happenings and the after-hours areas are a circus for the senses.

Glastonbury has paved the way for many smaller festivals to emerge and grow in its golden glow. It is the oak tree from which little acorns grow and have grown. It has made festival going a viable holiday and even a fashionable alternative to mini breaks. UK festivals now offer people a unique experience and a sense of escapism, with a plethora of entertainment from music to jewellery making, and massages to fine dining feasts.

Some of the best small festivals in the UK are in Oxfordshire and cover a wide range of interests, age groups and price brackets! As a small business owner, I have researched many festivals in the area to find the real gems with which to take my Kinship of Oxford stall. So if you’re thinking about heading out to a festival this summer, here are my top 5 Oxfordshire Festivals to check out:-

• Wood Festival – 16th-18th May 2014 £79.50 (Inc booking fee)
  Braziers Park, Wallingford, OX10 6AN

A celebration of music and nature set in beautiful South Oxfordshire countryside. The festival is run on 100% renewable energy and hosts lots of family friendly workshops including yoga, DIY wormeries, juggling and knitting. It’s a friendly festival, best for hippies, families and creative types. The line-up includes Sweet Baboo, Luke Sital-Singh and Alessi’s Ark.

• Beacon Festival – 20th-21st June 2014 £25
  Watlington Hill Farm, Oxfordshire

Beacon is a small family festival set against the stunning Chiltern Hills. The music may not be the main draw but the festival offers its own Real Ale Festival and a great selection of food stalls including The Wandering Kitchen, plus a kid’s area, workshops, stalls and a Feel Good Area, at this price, what’s not to like! Great for local families.

• Cornbury Festival – 4th-6th July 2014 £200 (with camping)
  The Great Tew Park, Oxfordshire

Dubbed ‘The Waitrose Festival’, Cornbury is popular with the Chippy set. It’s the Henley Regatta of the festival scene. That said, it’s a lovely weekend, a mix of country fair and woodland carnival, just remember your Joules jacket and your Hunter wellies! Perfect for taking your Mum, or if you can’t stand camping, grab a day ticket. The line-up includes Jools Holland, Simple Minds and Scouting For Girls.

• Truck Festival - 18th – 19th July 2014 £78.15 (Inc booking fee)
  Hill Farm, Oxfordshire, OX13 6SW

Truck is a lovely little festival set on a farm in West Oxfordshire, even the cattle shed masquerades at the second stage for the weekend. It’s great for music lovers, families and those on a budget. Its small size means it’s relaxed and perfect for festival first timers. They have a good mix of local Oxford bands as well as international talent. This year the line-up includes White Lies, The Cribs, Andrew W.K and 90s indie legends Dodgy. Well, if it’s good enough for you…

• Wilderness 7th – 10th August 2014 £151.50 (with camping)
  Cornbury Park, Charlbury, Oxfordshire

Wilderness is the most stylish and magical of all the festivals. The line-up includes some of the coolest bands around as well as some classic acts, catering for all ages. As well as a great line-up the festival offers an eclectic mix of entertainment from banquets and feasts to late night revelry and spectaculars. Wilderness is set in the beautiful grounds of Cornbury Park and offers wild swimming and a lake side spa. The line-up includes London Grammar, Metronomy and Burt Bacharach.

I hope I have given you some festival inspiration for this summer, and hope to see you at one of these gems!

Love

 

 

 

 

Cat Kelly and Oxford Folk Weekend

I first met Cat through the Oxfolk ceilidhs, which happen in Kennington’s village hall every 2nd Saturday of the month from October to May. I’m a big fan of ceilidhs as there’s always a great community element with dancers of all ages and abilities, skilled dancers and floundering newbies, and a cheap bar with potent cider and ale. Cat is a caller at the ceilidhs – which means she explains the dances and calls out the moves. She basically taught me everything I know in terms of my amateur but enthusiastic ceilidh-dancing prowess.

As well as being a part of Oxfolk, Cat also runs Folk Arts Oxford and initiated Folk Weekend: Oxford. Previously there was an Oxford Folk Festival, which Cat was of course on the committee for. The official festival was cancelled in 2011 but so many people had pencilled the date that a lot of the artists, organisations and Morris sides involved still went ahead and there was a sort of DIY event in place of the actual festival. The following year Cat launched the Folk Weekend – a kind of sprawling not-for-profit community event retaining that grass-roots element from that impromptu weekend of folk fun, and entirely ran by volunteers.

I had a fantastic time at the Folk Weekend last year – I got to rediscover my childhood love of maypole dancing at the Oxford Castle, dream myself into a million and one different Morris sides and be extremely envious of many flowery folky hats, hear some Oxfordshire folk tales being told in the gallery at the Old Fire Station, and of course bask in soothing, fun and energising folk tunes.

I asked Cat to explain what the Folk Weekend means to her, and although it’s called Folk Weekend she doesn’t really think of it as a folk music festival but instead as a community festival, “It’s a showcase and a celebration of all the folk activities that are on going throughout the year in Oxfordshire. It’s a culmination of everything that goes on anyway, and a chance to pile everybody into the same place and say: ‘look what we can do!’”

The festival programmes people from Oxfordshire who are making their way in the folk world alongside successful, award-winning national artists and there’s a lovely egalitarian attitude whether it’s in terms of billing and marketing or backstage riders – no matter who is playing, they all have access to packs of minstrels and a sandwich toaster!

There’s a very lively folk scene in Oxfordshire and it’s a big part of the music that the city and county are producing. So what’s special or unique about folk in Oxford? “There are little pockets of folk activity all over the country, and they’ve all got their own flavours. Oxford is quite eclectic – there’s a lot of folk history around the county so lots of material can be locally sourced and there’s a lot of prestige and history, but then there’s also a young and vibrant side to it. It’s just like the city itself – the old and historic slams right up against the new and the changing, and both coexist alongside each other happily.”

As a fiddle player, Cat has many strings to her bow and her interests have changed over time. However, she’s now combining all her skills and experiences into one main area, “I’ve stumbled into one thing after another but what’s really taken over for me now is music and Special Needs. It’s always been an interest, and I did a project around it for my PCGE, but it’s something I fell into almost by accident, from working on a Sing Up project in Oxfordshire’s Special Needs schools. Because it’s quite a specialist area I got to work with lots of experts in quite particular areas and I learnt so much from them. I then got asked to work on other projects with some of those practitioners and things took off from there. Special Needs music is something I am now really passionate about, and I love that it can really make a difference. It completely redefined what I thought of as music and singing. Singing can be a different experience and mean something else for different people, especially those who don’t have verbal abilities.”

Cat’s inspiration comes from her mum and her granny. Her mum showed her the freelance way in life, and gave her confidence that she could do it herself. Cat’s granny was a force of nature and sounds like quite the character – she joined the WI and was voted chair at her second meeting, she was also chairman of the local district council and the hospital league of friends. She also initiated a community bus service and drove the bus well into her senior years, whilst also cooking and delivering meals on wheels to local elderly people. She was even once invited to the House of Lords but wasn’t bothered to make the journey from Devon – clearly she was to busy for any trips to the big smoke! “I feel really blessed to have had somebody like her in my life, and to have had that example. She was incredible.” Unstoppable is another word that comes to mind, quite like Cat herself.

During our chat we got on to talking about women in leadership roles and the Ban Bossy campaign, “A lot people seem to have the impression of me that I’m sort of bolshie and want to be in charge of everything and I wonder if I was a man if I would instead be seen as determined. Sometimes as a woman people make it into a negative thing and both men and women can feel threatened by a woman with some degree of power. But I really just want to make people happy and organise a big festival for people to enjoy! It’s difficult as a woman to take charge and put yourself out there.”

I also wanted to hear what advice Cat had, as a successful creative and enterprising woman, “The thing that I find really important is staying true to yourself. If you want to go and do something, do it your way. It’s okay if it’s slightly different to somebody else’s way. You’re not ever going to achieve things or be happy if it is not right for you and you’re forcing yourself to be something you’re not.”

Find out more about lovely Cat on her website, and more about Folk Weekend: Oxford on their website

From Oxford with love,