The Big Feastival started it all, really. A year and a half ago, a few months after starting my deep dive into the world of Britpop, I discovered that my favorite Britpopper of all, Alex James, hosts a festival every summer on his farm. It features music and food and a barn in which you can eat his cheese and dance. All of my favorite things in one spot. Back then I had a wall in my room on which I pinned things I wanted to achieve – the header of the NYT Arts and Leisure section, a photo of the perfect winged eyeliner, etc. Shortly after discovering The Big Feastival a new piece of paper appeared on the wall reading “Save Money for ‘Jamie Oliver and Alex James Presents The Big Feastival.” In August that year, I found myself screaming along to ABBA in the Cheese Hub.
After the first great trip, what I now refer to as The Best Weekend of My Life, I vowed to go back every year for as long as Alex is willing to host tens of thousands of people on his acres of grass. It seemed like it would be easier just to move to England so the trip to the Feastival wouldn’t put me back at least $1000 every year. Okay, that’s not the reason I moved here. But it was good incentive to follow through. This year started off a bit like the movie you’d expect someone to make about a girl going out to the country by herself to camp at a food festival. I got off the train at Kingham where a man was standing offering a shuttle service in his weird red minibus to the grounds. I toted my tent, sleeping bag, backpack and duffle past him. I know better than to take rides from strangers, thank you very much. Plus I walked from the station last year and it was a breeze aside from the fact that I had a rolling suitcase that didn’t love the stroll through the muddy, grassy grounds. This year would be a piece of cake. False. I went to the box office to pick up my ticket and asked where I should go to enter the campground, as it already looked a bit different from the year before. Just down the way to those trees there, she said. I went just down the way to those trees there to have the security guard tell me, No, back the way you came. Best to wait for the shuttle, love. The red shuttle? That’s the one. Swell. I found the red shuttle along with a family of three and a couple, all of whom had also been sent to the trees. However the shuttle driver didn’t exactly know how to get to the campground. We gave him our trust that he’d figure it out and off we went. Somehow this year the entrance was on the complete opposite side of the grounds. And there was a line. A very very long line. My new friends and I jumped in the queue and kicked our bags inch by inch as we got closer. Inch by inch for roughly two hours. Setting up the tent went shockingly well even though I’d upgraded from the 2 person to the 4 person tent for a little extra room to breathe in. Then it was festival time. Just as last year, my first stop was to eat Alex James Presents’ cheeses. As wonderful as I’d remembered. My favorite, Little Wallop, was maybe even better. It’s overwhelming to decide what to eat at a festival full of some of the best food in England. One of my favorites was a beef brisket sandwich from Daylesford, a farm/grocery store/spa/cult nearby Alex’s that is a top destination for the poshest Brits. It held up. I also had strawberries and crème, halloumi fries, four cheese ravioli, a cheese toastie (or two…), a raspberry and champagne roasted marshmallow, churros… the real winner was the “whipnut”: a brioche donut cut in half like a hotdog bun, piped with ice cream, drizzled with caramel sauce, sprinkled with sprinkles, and topped off with a “flake” (basically a milk chocolate stick that is popular to add to English ice cream cones). So, heaven. I learned last year that the best music isn’t on the main stage but rather on the “Udder Stage.” The smaller stage is host to loads of up & coming British bands; last year I discovered a band called Babe that I am still listening to today. The Udder Stage proved worthy once again. The two acts I enjoyed most were Dat Brass and Alice Jemima. Both were doing interesting things and bending genres in a successful way; I bought their CDs and hope to see them play again somewhere in England in the future! I did head to the main stage for a few acts. Friday night hosted Hacienda Classical, an orchestra that plays all popular dance tracks. It was entertaining for awhile but after a few numbers they all sounded the same, much like just normal dance music. I did belt out “You’ve Got the Love” with the rest of the crowd, though. Sunday night brought the best of the main stage. First was De La Soul. A bit of New York in Kingham. To be fair, I was only there because I was convinced Damon Albarn might show up since he worked with them on some Gorillaz tracks AND this was his bandmate’s festival. He did not. I still had a good time. The headliner was Madness. They were so unbelievably British. I only knew probably five or six songs but I danced to them all. They ended with “It Must Be Love” and had the whole field singing along. The thing that is so special to me about the Feastival is the chef presence. The Neff Big Kitchen hosts cooking demos from some of the best chefs in the UK if not in the world. Jamie Oliver, who used to co-host the Feastival with Alex, is always there. I didn’t get to eat what he made like I did last year, but his demo was just as great. He made a pork shoulder burger that I was dying to get my hands on. The nice thing is now I know how to make it so I can do it myself! Candice Brown, the last Great British Bake Off winner, was there, too. I’d just watched her season so it was fun to see her in person. My favorite demo this year was done by the duo that won my heart last year – The Fabulous Baker Boys. Tom & Henry Herbert run a bakery in the English countryside (which I am dying to visit) and also were behind the heavenly “whipnut” this year at the Feastival. Their demo was a Greek-inspired flatbread and it looked fantastic. Mostly though they are just so damn entertaining. They had the audience all stand and then sit down as they went through a list of baking accolades if you hadn’t done it. I was one of the last few standing and Tom came down and gave us all hugs. Tom gives good hugs and smells like flour. A real winner. A surprise to no one, I spent most of my time dancing in the Cheese Hub. Alex DJs along with some special guests including Jamie Oliver, Stephen Street (producer of Blur and The Smiths), and Geronimo, Alex’s oldest son. Geronimo’s sets are hysterical and half the music I don’t know because somehow I’m too old for it (!?), but it’s always entertaining nonetheless. He grabs the mic a lot to say things like "Are you ready for this banger?" Alex plays a mix of Blur hits, disco, and crowd favorites. The memory from this year that I’ll hold most dear is when he played “Vindaloo” and I threw my bucket tattoo into the air. I think I was probably the only one there with a “Vindaloo” inspired tattoo. Though you never know. There's a real split in the Cheese Hub. There's the forty-somethings loving the hell out of "YMCA" and getting to sing "Girls and Boys" AT the man who plays the epic bass line in the song. Then there are the teenagers. Here are a few things I overheard teenagers saying during Alex's sets:
You can imagine which group of people I danced with. The Feastival has been a trip I've made on my own the last two years. Last year I couldn't have imagined it any other way. I didn't have anyone to answer to; if I wanted to dance in the Cheese Hub for five hours without leaving there was no one to stop me. I got to the front of every crowd with ease. I didn't have to share that bloody small tent. Everything was new and I could experience it at my own pace. This year I felt the isolation a bit more. The Feastival grew bigger which made me feel smaller and more distant from everyone else. There were tons of large packs of teenagers shoving me about on the dance floor in the Cheese Hub. I could have tried twice as much food if there had been someone next to me to split it all with. Next year perhaps a companion would be nice. It would just have to be a companion that is willing to leave me behind in the Cheese Hub for five hours or dance right there with me. You can check out the photos I took at The Big Feastival here.
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AuthorMadeleine Saaf is an expat in Cornwall and is pursuing a masters in Professional Writing at Falmouth University. ArchivesCategories |