We’ve all heard about the mud and Jackie Pethick doesn’t like camping, so in 2009, she bought a day ticket to the festival at Glastonbury. And she loved it, the music, the buzz, the total difference to her every day life! So, the following year, Jackie decided to try staying for the whole festival –not camping as we imagine, she booked a yurt (a round, central Asian arrangement), then the yurt company went bust! Best laid plans and all that. Jackie, not a person to be deterred, phoned around and found the perfect solution, a bothy located close by – www.manorfarmglastonbury.co.uk. This, essentially, is a small separate building in Matthew McKaig’s garden, rather like a suite in a boutique hotel, with a bedroom, small sitting room and shower room. With cooked breakfast delivered to the door each morning. Surely that beats camping any day! And the walk to the main Glastonbury gate is just 10 minutes, to the pyramid stage 45 minutes. The bothy also comes with hospitality tickets, which means, important for ladies, access to decent loos on the site! Although even this cannot cut a swathe through the mud. Mud is a factor at festivals, as are wellies, and thus the option of somewhere warm and dry (not a tent) is high on the list of priorities. For a totally different stay, a splendidly converted double decker bus is also available, sleeping 4 with all mod cons, in what must be a rather surreal experience. Ding ding on the number 14 to Putney.
Food is certainly not a problem, with global varieties available, from English pies to Goan curry, and all options in between, vegetarians and vegans well catered for. Why not eat your way round the world over the 4 day event. And to drink, absolutely everything, Festival Cider top of the list, wheatgrass juice and lassi (Indian drinking yoghurt) on hand. What is less easy to find, so BYO, is good quality wine. A light rose on a summer’s evening never goes amiss.
Jackie loves festivals as they appeal to their ageing hippie within, and we know many who would agree. Armed with a camping stool or deck chair, a kagoul and stout shoes, the older festival goer enjoys and appreciates the charms of outdoor events every bit as much as the scantily clad teenager, boogying to Beyonce with best of them! And it is a wonderful chance to re-visit your youth, or maybe you missed out as a youngster, and now’s the chance to create that memory! Jackie’s top tips for silver festival first timers are: don’t camp, take baby wipes, plenty of anti-bacterial hand gel, suspend disbelief and have a very open mind!
Other Festivals you might enjoy
www.villagepumpfolkfestival.co.uk/
www.greenman.net/
www.bestival.net/
www.londongreenfair.org/
www.wychwoodfestival.com/
