Located in a beautiful rolling hills close to Chepstow, the Big Green Gathering is an annual festival with an environmental and social justice focus.
As well as live acts and DJs, there are workshops and talks on permaculture, politics, ecology and crafts, plus poetry and spoken word performances.
The festival grew out of the Green Fields area of the Glastonbury Festival, with the first Big Green Gathering being held during the heady days of the Criminal Justice Act protests in 1994.
With its name shortened to the Green Gathering in 2011, the festival has been held in Piercefield Park, near Chepstow in the Wye Valley since 2011.
The site is overlooked by Piercefield House, a largely ruined neo-classical country house designed by Sir John Soane.
[Piercefield House circa 1840 from a painting by George Eyre Brooks]
The festival is wonderfully laid back, and very friendly. Here’s a load of photos taken around the site over the weekend.
I loved these beer mugs – the handle made them easier to hold and walk around with multiple pints.
The view over the Bristol Channel was splendid.
Severn Bridge in the distance.
There were several small stages around the site.
Flying a kite.
Chillin’.
Pixie on the keyboard.
The festival is powered by “wind, sun & people” and described as:
Performance meets permaculture at this award-winning, family friendly festival where you can experience the counterculture – live. Four days of music, speakers, poetry, crafts, campaigns, campfires, low impact living, love and green life.
The festival is commissioned by The Green Gathering Charity, which promotes education for sustainability via hands-on interactive learning and the arts.
Several talks and workshops take place around the site.
Learning blacksmith skills.
Freeshop: “Take what you need, leave what you can.”
Stone carving.
Hula hooping.
Small stage in the Tipi Circle.
Archery skills.
The Fairy Glade ahoy!
🙁
A young uke player.
In the kids’ area.
Free Poetry.
Brixton Tea Party in the house!
Ale & Cider bar.
More
Chat about the Green Gathering 2016 on the forums.
See photos from UK festivals from 1975 onwards here
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