Folk Festival Fun

For my beloved's birthday this year I gave him tickets to Folk by the Oak - the one day festival held in the grounds of Hatfield house. We went last year and loved it so once again we got in touch with our inner hippies and had a great day.

It was a beautiful day and both of us had groups we really wanted to see, though there was something for everyone. It's such a chilled out atmosphere with people making themselves comfortable with chairs, picnic rugs, and even tables for some.

One of the groups that Ken was most looking forward to was the Unthanks - they are two sisters from the north-east of England - they have beautiful voices that are excellent for their brand of Folk which is a form of story telling.

The below shot is bit off because of the sun, but this is the Acorn stage surrounded by the crowd.  This is the stage where the more up and coming groups perform and where we saw Paper Aeroplanes last year who were a Cornbury this year.

I loved the Green Man that this guy had on his top so of course I had to take a picture of it.

Did I mention what a lovely day it was weather wise?  Well it was glorious so I thought I should take a picture of the sky to show you how fab it was.

I recently bought Ken a lovely Peace t-shirt which he wasn't too sure about, but it was great at the folk festival.  As he had forgotten his hat he went and bought a great festival hat which completed his outfit perfectly.

There were some lovely stalls and I treated myself to a lovely leather anklet with bells on, so when I walk it sounds a bit like there's a cat around with a bell on their collar.

Festival foot

We didn't go down into the mosh pit too often, preferring to sit and chill out in our chairs.  This is our view when Mary Chapin Carpenter was on stage. She is an American folk singer who released her first album in 1987, and has a beautiful voice.

There were quite a few food and drink stalls to choose from, and there were some lovely vans/caravans converted into stalls.  Here's a little selection of what was on offer.

The sign below was just crying out for my beloved to pose beside it.

The drink stall that had the longest queues all day was the real ale tent - people were queueing for ages to get just a glass of one of these tipples.  Ken took pictures of a few of the drinks on offer with their very quirky names and symbols.

This is the view of the stage from where the porta loos were - it's not a huge venue so you can still see and hear everything that's going on.

The group I most wanted to see was Bellowhead who sadly have announced that they will be splitting next year.  They are so fantastic and if you've never listened to any of their music then do yourself a favour and listen to some today.  Great high energy folk music.  There are 11 people in the band and they play lots of different instruments, as well as bouncing all over the stage.  They all have so much energy it's fantastic.

Bellowhead were the headliners so were the last act of the night.  As they were finishing there was a great fireworks display which was a fabulous end to a wonderful day.

Did I say that the fireworks were a fabulous end to the day?  Well we had one more surprise in store, a car that wouldn't start!!  Luckily, because the venue is in the middle of fields, the organisers have a recovery service in the car parking area, so we were able to get jump started and head home without too much stress - such a relief that we have a car that can be jump started.

So mark your diaries for next year and if you can make it, head to Folk by the Oak.  Also, try and catch Bellowhead on their farewell tour - you won't regret it.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and listen to some music that makes your heart sing.

Pamela & Ken

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P.S:  In our Cornbury blog I forgot to mention that we maaged to totally gross out some teenagers.  I stopped Ken to give him a kiss, and as were were kissing (Quite passionately) we heard calls of "gross, look at the old people kissing!"  Ken took great delight in winding them up more, whilst I tried to get over the fact that someone had called me old!!

A date with Sir Tom Jones at Cornbury

After missing last year we made it back to Cornbury Festival for the Saturday and a wonderful day in the sun. We love this festival because it's quite laid back and never feels overcrowded, and it always has a great eclectic mix of artists.

Festival hands - note there are six fingers with pink polish as Ken (long suffering husband that he is) agreed to one being painted for Cornbury.

I love all the colourful banners they have around the grounds, this is just a few of them.

As soon as we arrived we went to the Therapixie tent as I'd already booked myself two treatments by e-mail. A gorgeous holistic facial with the lovely Claire, which included having a mixture of honey and rose geranium put on my face. Then the beautiful Nina (below - the head pixie) gave me reflexology - heavenly and the perfect way to start the day.

Next on the agenda was a breakfast of churros covered in sugar and cinnamon dipped in chocolate sauce.

Festival Ken with his blue beads.

The main stage early in the day. You can see what a lovely day it was.

We love all the performers that wander around during the day - here's just a few.

There is a great variety of stalls to buy things from - they're all really bright and I especially loved the skulls and was very tempted to buy one. When I was younger and lived in Tasmania I had a skull called Claude.

Even the signs and decorations around each stall was enough to tempt me in. I want the umbrellas below.

This is the children's area, there were lots of activities including pottery and circus fun.

Zorbing - they must have been so hot inside those balls.

The Cafe Nero tent had performances throughout the day - nice quiet space to get out of the sun.

One of our favourite groups that we saw was Paper Aeroplanes - they are a Welsh group that we first saw at last year's Folk by the Oak. The lead singer Sarah Howells has a beautiful voice and their songs are totally captivating. If you ever get the chance to catch a performance make sure that you do.

One guess as to who this man had come to Cornbury to see?

Cornbury selfie - I'm quite pale next to my beloved, by the end of the day not so pale, more pink!! I look a little like Rudolph.

I'm one of four children and the only one without tattoos so decided to have a temporary tat done - as I love fairies if I ever was to get a tattoo this might be something I'd go for.

The act that Ken enjoyed the most was Dr John Cooper Clarke - in case you haven't heard of him, he's a punk poet. Sopranos fans may have heard of him as one of his pieces was featured in the penultimate episode of the series.

The act I most wanted to see was the legend that is Sir Tom Jones! It's 20 years since I saw him in Sydney and his voice is as fabulous as ever. Ken being there was quite amazing as my beloved always said he would do anything for me except go to a Tom Jones concert - despite this he was singing, cheering loudly, and I even noticed a little bit of hip swaying going on - we may have a convert.

Sir Tom was the last act of the night and was the fitting end to an incredible day.

As we were leaving we had to spare a thought to the people who clean up as from experience the grounds will have been pristine by the time people arrived for Sunday's performances.

So goodbye to Cornbury 2015, it was great and inshallah we'll see you next year.

Until next time be good, stay safe, and be kind to yourself and others.

Pamela and Ken
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