A week at Hay Festival Digital

I'd been hoping that this year, after a long break, I could visit Hay Festival again. I've been several times before; generally stopping off for a day on the way to or from a half-term holiday in Pembrokeshire, and had vaguely being thinking about going this year, staying in the tent, taking a bit more time to explore the town and surrounding countryside as well as catch some book events.

All year round this small English/Welsh border town is home to dozens of bookshops, but for a week or two at the end of May it plays host to a huge literary gathering. It's what I call a 'proper' book festival - lots of variously-sized tents/marquees for events, shops, food and drink, all gathered in one area. There's no need to buy a ticket - entry to this tented village is free, so you can wonder in and browse the stalls, grab a deckchair and try to spot the celebrities, but obviously going along to hear your favourite author talk about their latest book is the real draw. There's something for everyone from (almost) the smallest toddler to their great great grandma, from comedy to serious thought provoking discussions on the world's and humankind's problems; there are artists and musicians; and everywhere you'll find books. 

My plans came to nothing though, with Hay and similar events having to be cancelled due to corona virus. Fortunately Hay's organisers decided to try this as an opportunity, rather than a disaster, and made the decision to go digital. It's been nothing like the size and scope the actual event would have been, but every day has been filled with interesting talks and discussions. 

I've listened to Maggie O'Farrell talking about Shakespeare, plague and grief with relation to her latest novel Hamnet; watched Jackie Morris, illustrator of The Lost Words, paint and gild a picture of a hare from her studio in Pembrokeshire; increased my knowledge of Chinese history and culture with Michael Wood; revisited the Tudor world with Hilary Mantel, this time from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell and the politics of Henry VIII's court; discovered The Art of Rest with Claudia Hammond; and taken a trip to a taverna on the Greek island of Hydra for music, poetry and to hear about Polly Samson's novel based round the lives of a writers' colony there in the early 60s.

It's been a busy sort of time. I've definitely seen more than if I'd actually been to Hay, though I didn't get to wander down by the river or up in the surrounding mountains.

Curious Arts Festival - 23rd - 26th August

It's nearly time for Curious Arts Festival, that blend of music, literature and comedy which introduced me to the fun of festivals. For five years it's been held at Pylewell Park in the New Forest; I went along for two of them - in 2016 and 2017-  and loved it! 

Now it's on the move to Pippingford Park, Sussex, where it will join forces with Byline Festival.

While Byline is all about serious hard-headed journalism, looking at contemporary culture and politics, Curious Arts will provide the arty, literary complement to it. I've covered the literary line-up over at OurBookReviewsOnline, but my picks would be Candice Carty-Williams talking about her novel Queenie, described as a politicised Bridget Jones' Diary, about a 25 year old black woman trying to straddle two cultures, and Dan Richards talking about his search for isolation and silence, which led to his book Outpost - A Journey to the Wild Ends of the Earth.

Blow Monkeys

The musical line up, meanwhile, ranges from open mic and DJ sets, to performances from  Blow Monkeys, Suggs (from Madness), The Feeling, The Priscillas, and Pussy Riot. Curious Arts is certainly living up to its eclectic reputation!

The Feeling

A huge part of the Curious Arts experience for me was the food on offer. Again 'eclectic' covers it well, with choices from pizza to Iraqi street food to a three course meal at the Naturally Curious pop-up restaurant, with beer and ciders from Curious Brewing, or Chapel Down English wines to drink. You could even take part in an oyster tasting workshop. Somehow that just sums up the vibe of Curious Arts!



My weekends at Curious Arts have always been very special times and I'm a little disappointed that our plans don't allow me to go this year (I'm heading north, though, to Edinburgh for a different sort of festival fun). Maybe I'll be back another year.

So Many Festivals, So Little Time

Once summer actually arrives there's never quite enough time to do everything you'd like to. It's certainly the case with festivals. There are so many out there - inspiring, fun-filled and delightful - but, with only a certain number of weekends for them to take place on, some are bound to clash.

Here are some I wish I could go to, if it weren't for other plans ...

Tangled Roots - photo credit; Camilla Arnhold

First, this weekend, is a new festival  - Tangled Roots at Radford Mill Farm in Somerset. It describes itself as a 'Contemporary Folk, Roots and Acoustic Festival' with music ranging from India Electric Co with their award-winning contemporary folk, to French gypsy jazz from Petites Annonces, a cappella, acoustic soul, roots Americana, and traditional Spanish music and dance from Flamenco Loco. As well as performances on stage, there'll be a choir workshop, a chance to try flamenco dancing yourself, campfire story-telling from Noah and the Whale's Matt Owens, and impromptu acoustic sessions around the site, or at evening by the campfire, that everyone can join in with.
It's location sounds idyllic - an organic farm with a stream running through the festival site

I already have tickets for a local festival this weekend - no, not Download, although that's not far from here, but a quieter affair, Wildside run by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust - but maybe next year I'll head south to Somerset ...


Also Festival, at Compton Verney, Warwickshire, is another fab-sounding event. It's a much bigger affair than Tangled Roots, offering over 200 experiences over the weekend 5th -7th July.










There will be talks and discussions to stretch your mind, music and comedy to entertain, food to keep you going, and a wide range of activities to take part in, from light sabre workshops to wild swimming.



 Where would I start? Well, what attracts me is the mix of informative talks, and hands-on experiences, so I'd maybe head to hear Margaret Macmillan on The Uses and Abuses of History, or James Wallman talk about Time and How To Spend It (as relevant to a person of my advancing near-retirement years as to younger folks), then make a flower crown, and join a foraging walk, though checking out the wide range of food on offer, from Tibetan curries to pizza, seems like a 'must' too.

This year though, Timber Festival falls on the same weekend, and I'll be covering that.

photo credit; Michael Bowles

Heading down to Cornwall later in July, you'll find another festival of ideas, Port Eliot. Running 25th - 28th July this year, this is timed awkwardly for me as it falls close to, some years actually on, a family birthday.

photo credit; Sarah Louise Bennett

 There are several stages showcasing different musical styles, so there's bound to be something for everyone, though I'd probably give the late night pop dungeon a miss :) I'd head instead to the estate's Church, the oldest in Cornwall, for some quieter acoustic sounds.

The church. photo credit; Linday Melbourne

Around the grounds you'll find a wide range of activities from river-based activities like wild swimming, mud baths, and canoeing, to star-gazing, yoga sessions, and Viking tournament games.

photo credit; Louise Roberts

The literary line-up boasts novelists, journalists, and comedians; there'll be cookery demonstrations to inspire your meal-times; and the drawing room of the house will play host to an exhibition celebrating fifty years in the fashion industry for designer Zandra Rhodes.
 An event mixing art, fashion and books with music and comedy, set on the riverside Port Eliot estate in a romantic landscape designed by Repton, sounds like another one I should catch sometime (and preferably before I'm too old to enjoy a few nights under canvas)


Looking further ahead, I've spotted another festival clash - Derby's own street festival Feste takes place the same late September weekend as Deepdale Festival in north Norfolk. Sometimes I feel a time machine is the only answer to doing everything I'd love to!

Making plans for summer - Staycationing again

Cromford

Everybody's heard of staycationing, as in taking a holiday here in the UK. Well, I'm not sure if "extreme staycation-ing" is a thing known to anyone else, but it's how I describe a holiday taken from the comfort of your own home. We did it last year, and, due to my parents' ongoing health problems, we'll be doing it again this.


Last year I made a list of places I wanted to visit, and barely ticked anywhere off of it, although we DID discover other new-to-us places. So, that list will be a good starting point for this year's plans, and social media is proving a good source of inspiration. It's actually amazing what is going on almost on-the-doorstep when you start to look - from museum and art exhibitions, and book festivals, to get-outside in-touch-with-nature style days, and of course we have plenty of countryside, for either long, energetic walks, or lazy pottering by rivers and canals, within in a short drive.

Chatsworth

In a way we've started our staycation already, with trips to Chatsworth, Shipley Country Park and Lea Rhododendron gardens, but to make it a 'holiday' rather than an afternoon out we need to set aside a specific day or two, to get up, spend the morning doing one thing, lunch out, pass the afternoon elsewhere, and get an evening meal out, even if it's pub grub, or fish and chips eaten at a picnic bench watching the sun go down.


I'm still hoping there'll be chance for a couple of weekends away - to visit my youngest daughter, to attend Curious Arts Festival, and maybe a quick dash to the seaside (how I envy anyone who lives near enough to visit it easily!) - but mostly it will be a summer of staying home again, heading out for the day, to local stately homes, into the Derbyshire/Leicestershire/Nottinghamshire countryside, and hopefully taking in a local festival or two (more of this here). One definite advantage to holidaying from home if that we can pick your 'days away' to fit the weather. All I need now are a few days of sunshine ...

Making plans for summer - Curious Arts 2018

It may still be cold outside, and not at all the weather to be thinking of outdoor festivals, but over the past few weeks organisers have been starting to announce line-ups, and so the excitement is mounting. 

Now, although I'd visited both Hay and Edinburgh book festivals, I only discovered the appeal of  all inclusive, stay-onsite-in-a-tent, get up early for book events, stay up late listening to music festivals recently, when I was asked along to Curious Arts in 2016 in my book-blogging capacity. I think that till then, I'd always considered them to be only for the under-25s, and a few seasoned festival goers who remembered Glastonbury being a sole guitarist playing in a field of cows. 

Curious Arts Festival proved this idea wrong, and it's quickly become the highlight of my year. For any of you who've missed my previous write-ups (how?), it's multi-faceted music, literary, comedy festive held in the ground of Pylewell Park in the New Forest, with plenty to occupy everyone from children to oldies like me. Imagine a mix of garden party, school fair, and village fete (it even opens with a cricket match), but with attitude, cocktails, and music almost through till dawn! I absolutely love it, even if like last year it rains, and I'm delighted to have been asked back again*.

Kate Mosse

So, who's to be seen this year? 

Well, the complete line-up hasn't been announced yet, but heading the literary side of things will be Kate Mosse (author of Labyrinth, and The Taxidermist's Daughter) with 'support' from poet Lemn Sissay, Adam Kay (This is Going to Hurt), Dolly Alderton (All I Know About Love) and restaurateur, writer and broadcaster Russell Norman,

Gareth Malone

The music will be as wide-ranging as in previous years, with acts as varied as John Newman (headlining on Saturday evening), indie-rockers Outlya, and Gareth Malone (BBC2's The Choir). Even without my youngest daughter along, I'll be there in the music tent till late at night. I can't wait!

If I've managed to intrigue you, more details can be found on the Curious Arts Festival website here, on FB and Twitter @CuriousArtsFest

*yes, this is a sponsored post of sorts but I wouldn't be going if I didn't love it!

Festivalling at Curious Arts 2017

 This time last week, I was arriving at Pylewell Park and putting up the tent in heavy rain, ready for a weekend of Curious Arts. 

 It's a mix of literary, comedy and music festival with plenty of activities to occupy children too, and you might remember (because sometimes I talk about very little else) that I was invited along last year and had a wonderful time. Well, to be honest, in the rain last Friday, I was wondering if this year had any hope of living up to its predecessor ... fortunately, although the weather continued hit and miss, the event itself didn't fail to delight me again. 

Gorse's Big Top style interior

On Friday the skies cleared enough for us to leave the shelter of our small tent and make our way to the "Big Top" style Gorse marquee to catch that evening's headliner, Izzy Bizu, and after that almost every minute was filled with something to do.

Saturday's plan

My plans for Saturday proved to be a little ambitious, but moving smartly between one tent and another I managed to catch most of these events, plus dancing along to Tom Odell late in the evening, and still walk down to the edge of the grounds for a glimpse of the Isle of Wight. 

Joanna Trollope, Matt Haig and Eimear McBride were all fascinating to listen to, discussing their various latest novels.*

The Wandering Hearts

Martha Gunn

An addition for this year was an acoustic stage for music during the afternoon, and I went along to watch The Wandering Hearts, Martha Gunn and Aine Cahill entertaining an audience of all ages. Maybe to be honest, without the rain, many of the children would have been elsewhere about the grounds playing crazy golf or hunting the Jabberwocky but they certainly seemed to enjoy the music.

Aine Cahill

Tom Odell

Junius Meyvant from Iceland kicked off the night-time music back in the Gorse tent, but Tom Odell's show was definitely the highlight, with a fantastic light show to accompany him! 

Tom Odell

don't try this on your piano at home!

DJ sets carried on till 3 in the morning, but I'm too old for that, and headed back to the tent.

Sunday was quieter, but even so I caught Susanna Beard discussing her debut thriller, Dave Eggers talking about almost everything, Julian and Isabel Bannerman with a slide show of the fantastic gardens they've created, and music from the Southern Companion to round things off.

Somewhere pulled into all that there was time to browse the Waterstones pop-up store, and eat!

breakfast in the sun

As last year, the food stalls were varied and interesting - Dorset Cereals were handing out free samples of muesli for breakfast, for lunch/dinner we tried curry from the Happy Gurkha, pulled pork burger from one vendor,  Mexican vegetarian burger from another, and scampi and chips from the seafood stall (sadly, they'd run out of crab, calamari, and smoked salmon), and, besides endless mugs of tea, I had the most curious cider, from Chapel Down's aptly-named Curious Brewery, served with a slice of cucumber and a sprig of mint.



This year's event was much larger than last, both in terms of events and attendance, but still with an intimate feel, and when the rains came there was enough space for everyone to rush under canvas.

Yes, it was a weekend that I think will be remembered for the rain, but it was a fun one too, and I for one would love to go back next year.

This counts as a sponsored post as I was invited along as part of OurBookReviewsOnline though words an thoughts are all my own

* these events are written up at Our Book Reviews Online.

Camping in the rain at Curious Arts Festival

Last weekend I was invited down to Curious Arts Festival in my capacity as book blogger, but, as it involves camping, it's also an excellent opportunity to test my credentials as an 'outdoor blogger', and for that matter 'festival goer'.
Well, looking at my 'drowned rat' photo, taken after putting up the tent in a torrential downpour, I think I'm now hardened as both!
The weather forecast had fooled us, or maybe we'd understood 'showers' to be something much more gentle but we hadn't packed waterproof jackets or wellies! When we arrived there seemed little hope of the rain stopping, and merely walking from the car to the entrance we'd already got wet, so we just carried on and got the tent up even though soaked, then bought curry from The Happy Gurkha (one of many food outlets on site) to warm us up, and went along to see Izzy Bizu in the 'Big Top' tent (more of the actual festival here)





By this point the weather looked like it might brighten ...

... I strung the outside lights INSIDE the tent to brighten things up a bit ..












and by Saturday morning things didn't look too bad ...





The sun was shining, the tent had withstood MORE heavy rain overnight and for a while things looked good ..

then the rains came again!












That, give or take, set the mood for the weekend - some glorious sunshine, some dreadful downpours - but there was enough space inside the events marquees for everyone to just about huddle out of the rain, and sun on the car dried the wet clothes and shoes.

It definitely wasn't as muddy as Glastonbury can be, we didn't have the floods I've seen photos of at Download, but it's the first time we've had to cope with rain while camping and it wasn't too bad. Practising putting the tent up at home definitely helped it go up without a hitch in the rain. Sometimes we retreated to our tent to have space to flop down, and let the dog relax off his lead, and I'm glad we had head room to stand, and chairs to sit in, but I didn't miss the opening sides which I thought would be nice, or even an extra window. Maybe when it's raining you just want to huddle inside your tent and forget the outside world!

In case you're interested, you can find out more about Curious Arts Festival on their website here, my write-up of this year's festival here and the tent's a Quechua Arpenaz 4.1 from Decathlon

My First Festival

Nearly a week has gone by but I'm still buzzing from my first trip to a weekend-long, stay-onsite-in-a-tent festival - not, to be honest, a wade-through-mud, have your tent knocked over by a drunk, can-you-spot-someone-NOT-on-drugs style music festival but one with, thankfully, a bit more sense of style and taste.



Through OurBookReviews, I was invited down to Hampshire for A Curious Arts Festival, held in the grounds of Pylewell Park - a mix of literary, music, and comedy festivals, with a multitude of other things going on as well, and I had a wonderful, absolutely jam-packed couple of days, starting early with seagulls waking us about 6:30 and not finishing till I drifted off to sleep to the sound of ongoing music sometime in the early hours.

Lucy Rose

We set off in what we thought was plenty of time on Friday morning ... but google maps had been just a little (or a lot) over-optimistic, and a journey that should have taken about three and a half hours took over five!  Sadly this meant I missed the first event I'd wanted to catch  - author Deborah Moggach - but as the sun set there was time to grab a fancy cider and head along to the largest tent for the evening's musical entertainment head-lined by Lucy Rose. I didn't stay up till the end as music carried on after midnight and I was ready for some sleep!

Tea Sympathy

 Saturday morning we rose early, grabbed breakfast from the fantastically decorated Tea Sympathy tent, had a wander round the site and by lunchtime I'd seen three author events (Meg Rosoff, Andrea Wulf,and Renee Knight), followed by two more in the afternoon (Joanna Cannon and Harry Parker). I then had a bit of a break, before heading to the music events of the evening - Matt Maltese, Skinny Lister and Billy Bragg.

Although it would have been possible to stay another night, we'd decided that we'd head home on Sunday - but not before catching another couple of author events, including literary prize-winner Andrew Miller. 

Renee Knight being interviewed by SJ Watson

I definitely feel I pulled in more than two days worth of experiences, and, of course, most of this time my husband and teenager were off doing different things - a panel-style discussion of the morning papers, learning how to be a lazy guru, watching the early evening comedy acts.

Billy Bragg

Everything joined together to make a very special weekend, but for me the highlight was definitely Saturday evening. Billy Bragg was without doubt good, mixing political commentary and jokes in between his songs, but Skinny Lister set the night alight with their sea-shanty, folk-punk sound and infectious exuberance which had everyone bouncing and clapping along.

Skinny Lister

I'd written about this before we went, so did it live up to expectations? Definitely!

a distant view of the Isle of Wight

As you might guess, I had a fantastic time. As an introduction to music festivals I think it was rather on the tame side - but at my age I prefer that to something rowdier. 

I've been to book festivals before but even those held on a single site - such as Edinburgh and Hay - have people drifting in and out and don't have the same feel of everyone joining in an event together; it wasn't quite a community but after a while faces began to feel familiar. And, an important thing for me, Dylan the dog was welcome everywhere - he went into book events, hung out at the back of the marquee for music on Friday night, sat with us out of the sun in the tea tent and was fussed over by so many people!






The whole festival was quirky and quaint; a mix of garden party, literary salon and gig venue, with a definite family feel to it. I loved the way I could see a couple of author events before lunch, a couple more afterwards, have some down time with the dog and a walk to the sea, but then in the evening head off to the music marquee. And the food was great - everything from fish and chips to sushi and halloumi fries, via Higgidy pies and lamb tagine in a burger style cob, cake from the tea tent, and a choice of four bars, including the Nyetimber bus serving English sparkling wine. Isn't it SO cute? Sadly I didn't think Dylan would like the steps.

sneaking in to Skinny Lister's sound check

There were still things that I wished I'd seen - I only briefly caught snatches of the Sonnetathon, didn't get to try the Fever Tree cocktails or the sushi tapas selection, have a good browse round the Waterstones tent, or join the talk about the gardens, but I did get to sneak into the Skinny Lister sound check and chat to vocalist Lorna after the show, meet friends I only know through social media, stroll down to the sea twice and even find a small patch of sand to walk on. If I'd put together my own private festival it could hardly have been better! The only thing I would change another time is to add in a few days in the New Forest itself either before or after.



If you go over to OurBookReviews you'll find more in-depth accounts of the author events, and I'll be blogging here soon about how my first camping trip went.