Beautiful Days Festival 2009 part 1
Escot Park, Nr Fairmile, Devon, 21st-23rd August 2009 - part 1
(Photos © urban75, Aug 2009)
Taking place in the lovely Escot Park in the heart of Devon, Beautiful Days is a festival put on by folk-rockers Levellers, now in its seventh year.
Billed as a family music festival offering five stages, on-site art, a large children's area, comedy, theatre, family camping, licensed real ale bars from Otter Brewery, food and craft stalls and a village shop, the event proudly proclaims it has 'no corporate sponsorship or branding'.
Shamefully, we'd never made it to the festival until this year but when a last minute ticket became available, we travelled down late on Friday and managed to grab a short weekend on the site - and had a great time!
We arrived horribly late and it took an age to get on site, so we only heard Hawkwind's thunder from behind the stage. The lasers looked incredible though!
This is the backstage bar where we worked hard to make up the lost drinking hours.
The main stage arena is on a gentle slope affording great views.
Our hangovers in the morning were soothed at the Tiny Tea Tent.
The site was fantastic - lush, green, hilly with loads of big trees and tons of space - and the festival was incredibly well thought out with heaps of stuff going on and a fantastic vibe throughout. And the toilets? Ruddy spotless!
Tree sculpture.
The Bimble Inn, located at the far end of the festival at the bottom of a verdant valley.
Chilling inside the
Bimble Inn.
The weather was
good all weekend, with just one or two light showers that quickly passed. No Glastonbury quagmires for us. Huzzah!
Watching comedy inside the Little Big Top.
This lot were fantastic fun. Called Les Truttes and hailing from Belgium, their show consist of cheesy covers with some hilarious choreography.
When we awoke we realised how perilously close we were to the main stage. The bass was so loud that it would make our voices physically warble if we were inside the tent. The soundchecks started up early in the morning too, so sleep wasn't exactly in abundance!
The Wonderstuff on the main stage.
Wonderstuff crowd whoop it up.
There were loads of bars on-site, serving up a fine choice of local real ales and ciders.
View from the top of the main stage field.
Back in the Bimble Inn.
Main entrance to the mainstage.
The police presence was pleasingly low-key, and the ones on site got into the spirit of things.
urban75 crew!
The Pogues pulled a big crowd on Saturday night.
By the Bimble Inn.
Tiny Tea Tent late at night.
A sea of discarded plastic cups at night.
Inside the Pussy Parlure.
« back to festivals homepage Beautiful Days Part two »
|
Part one
Camera: 
