Glastonbury

Glastonbury

Glastonbury is the mother of all festivals, the undisputed heavyweight of the world. Though if it were a boxer, it wouldn’t so much knock you out as give you a hug and a cider and introduce you to some really good music. Still run by Michael Eavis on his Somerset farm, as it has been since 1970, Glastonbury has always put on the big names: David Bowie, Marc Bolan and Curtis Mayfield, the Smiths, Radiohead and Patti Smith, New Order, Björk and the Arctic Monkeys… It isn’t a music festival, though. Glastonbury is determinedly a ‘festival of contemporary performing arts’, with an equal passion for poetry and dance, circus and vaudeville. The unknown acts on the acoustic stage are as key as the legends headlining on Saturday night. Many of us will always be happy to risk the mud and rain for Glastonbury, and that includes the style set: this is the only place you’re likely to see Kate Moss or Sienna Miller in wellies. No other festival manages to welcome fashion folk and hippies, the leftfield and the mainstream, young and old, conservative and radical, with such open arms.

Highlights

Saturday night’s headline act usually provides the big moment of the weekend, the focus of rumour and speculation for months beforehand, and often remembered as legendary for years afterwards (as anyone who saw Radiohead in 2003 will attest). There are hundreds more esoteric or low-key highlights though: head to Lost Vagueness for lindyhopping in the Diner; go to the Healing Fields for a massage; rave in the Glade; or listen to a story in the Tipi Field.

In The Know

Head Count

This changes every year, but recently it's been around 170,000.

Meeting Point

There's a red double decker bus just to the left of the Other Stage. It's pretty central and you can't miss it.

Best View

Head to the stone circle for daybreak. You'll get a beautiful view of the rising sun, and find yourself among a particularly wonderful collection of party people.

Packing Tips

Take your wellies, whatever the forecast is. If it does rain, there’ll be huge queues (and inflated prices) for anyone wanting to buy them on site. Apart from that, you can wear absolutely anything you like at Glastonbury, and people generally do.

Escape

The choice is endless. Head to the Glade for ambient music and art installations, search out the Pilton Palace, a vintage-style mobile cinema, for an open-air film, or simply go and put your feet up in the Healing Field.

Dos and don'ts

• Arrive early (the site opens on the Wednesday). You can bag the best camping sites and get your bearings before everything kicks off on Friday.
• Don’t think you’ll give the loos a miss and find a quiet hedge or tree. This causes pollution (the festival has already been fined for this), and remember – cows have to live here once you’ve gone home.
• Remember that text messages can take hours to arrive, and calls don’t always get through, although mobile reception has been hugely improved over recent years. There are tents where you can recharge your phone.
• Don’t be scared of the toilets. Some of them are grim, but many are absolutely fine. And ladies, try the She Pee – a little cardboard funnel that could change your life! (See www.shepee.co.uk.)

Need To Know

Children

Glastonbury is very child-friendly, with plenty of events and activities, centred around the Kidz Field and the Green Kids Area. Children under 12 get in free with a ticket-carrying adult.

Parking

A parking ticket costs £10 (book ahead). If you approach from the A303, rather then than the A37 (Blue Route), there’s more space and less queueing.

Disability Access

Uneven grass fields can be difficult to traverse, but the organisers are working alongside the Attitude Is Everything project (www.attitudeiseverything. org.uk) to ensure that disabled access continues to improve.

Food & Drink

Long gone are the days of mung-bean casserole (although it’s surely still available among the hundreds of food stalls). Today’s options include gourmet and international food, and such local delicacies as pie and cider.

Sleep

Limekilns and Hitchin Hill Ground are the quietest camping fields, furthest from the action; Row Mead is one of the most popular. Our recommendation is Camp Kerala (www.campkerala.com), a private tented village with 75 luxurious Shikar tents. The hefty price tag of £6,000 includes tickets and B&B accommodation for two people all weekend.

VIP

We are big fans of the accommodation provided by Fly Glastonbury (07767 606342; www.flyglastonbury.com) at Windinglake Farm, just 450 metres from the Blue Gate entrance. It’s all caravans and American trailers, the loos and showers are superior, and you can charter a helicopter from Bristol to get there if you fancy it, or buy a backstage pass (from £300 a head). From around £500–£4,500 for the duration, plus about £175 a head for the Windinglake Pass (which allows you to bring your own tent or vehicle with you).