Advertised (on their website) as Europe's biggest tribute and new acts festival, this is the best…read morefestival I have ever been too. Don't be put off by the tribute side of it, I know you can get some pretty bad tributes but at Glastonbudget they make an effort to get the best. I have to admit that I enjoyed watching the Dead hot chillis more than I enjoyed the real act (at Earls court) - they have so much energy, and you actually have a chance to get to the front of the audience. The new acts are also great, they get some great new acts and it is fab to have a chance to see so many! Value for money is fantastic - ticket prices at the moment are just less than £50 for the whole weekend including camping. Another thing the festival prides itself on is keeping food and drink prices reasonable, so prices are similar to those in a pub. They serve a selection of real ales and ciders which were very popular with the lads in our group. The only complaint I have is about the weather - it rained badly on the Sunday 2 years ago!! They did improve things a lot last year by adding two music tents, one in the camp field and one in the main arena, the rain wasn't too bad but at least they were prepared if it had been. This event is getting bigger year after year, I would highly recommend it (and have been to all my friends!!)

Cropredy is a beautiful, tiny village near Banbury on the banks of the Cherwell. It is an old…read morevillage, dating from before the English civil war, and it looks it (in the quaint, lovely way, rather than the rundown way!) It has a thriving community, including a school, a church, pubs, a doctor's surgery, general store and other small business appropriate to an English village and a rather spiffing website (http://www.cropredyvillage.info/index.htm) . The website will tell you all about the history of the village (including the civil war battle fought here in 1644 and its mention in the Domesday Book), the age of the properties (from really quite old to not really very old at all), the amenities, and its location (the Cherwell valley, three miles north of Banbury and Junction 11 of the M40 Motorway). Do visit the website for loads of useful information. However, I'd like to give you my impressions. It is one of the friendliest places I have ever been. The local residents are of all ages, and welcome visitors with open arms (and, once a year, they get a rather large influx of visitors, but more on that in a minute). The church warden will gladly show visitors around, and discuss the new bells installed a couple of years ago. The residents will recount the age and history of their homes. There is a cricket club, which is quintessentially English. There are moorings on the river and canal for boats. This is a beautiful village, but you might well ask how I, an ex-pat American living in London has found herself there not once but three times. You might also wonder what I am talking about when I mention the annual influx of visitors. Each year, Cropredy plays host to Fairport Conventions annual...well....convention. This is a fabulous folk festival over a weekend in August. There are many, many things that make this different from other festivals - there is only one stage, for a start, the age range tends to be older, it's folk...but what makes this festival unique is that the village positively welcomes the up-to-30,000 visitors the village plays host to. The boy scouts are on litter duty. Local lads sell programmes. The pubs open for breakfast. The cricket club opens for showers. The residents mind the inconvenience (traffic, parking restrictions, smelly festival goers) not a whit. Fairport Convention allocate a ticket to each of the 750 residents to do with as they please. Everyone is happy. An idyllic English village indeed - and one well worth visiting even if you're not a folk music fan...

Having not long since turned 18 I thought I would splash out and go with my friends to a music…read morefestival now that I could drive and legal to attend. I have always been a big fan of dance music and having read the stage line ups for the 2008 Gatecrasher festival I was tempted to buy tickets. Tickets were fairly expensive yet by comparing to other festivals for similar things (camping etc) I wasn't being doddled out of too much. Instructions on the website about every detail including maps, directions, what they offered etc were very clear and easy to follow.When we arrived by car we got there about 3 hours after the site opened yet managed to get in and park quite quickly as the staff were very efficient.However I warn you now you have a trek of death to get your camping stuff from the car to the site and find a spot! As the site is so huge it is quite an exhausting stint carrying all your belongings (or what feels like your actual house after a while) in attempt to find somewhere you can put them all away again. Security was very lax compared to how they described it on the website - evidence of this came in numerous forms as you can probably imagine. However there were large amounts of loos (essential if your a lady camper cos we frankly can't manage a bush!) yet I would have gladly donned male parts as to avoid them they were that disgusting!Food availability and essentials such as water and first aid were plentiful and visible wherever you went. Paramedics and police were constantly on standby and patrolling the main site. The fairground was a bog standard travellers set up yet makes a fun evening with your friends as you are all buzzing from the atmosphere. The atmosphere in each tent is fantastic - even if the weather outside is terrible you still end up enjoying yourself (even just by laughing at the ravers in welly boots!) Each act I saw which included Dizzee Rascal, The Prodigy, Pete Tong, Hixxy, Zane Lowe etc all put on an amazing performance and made the weekend for the thousands of festival goers.The only problems that came about was the weather cancelling a few of the live stage acts due to health and safety - although they could of managed this better and planned in case of the inevitable weather. The lack of security meant you had to be on strong guard exactly what was going on around you. I must include in my review: R.I.P to the gentleman who died during the event of natural causes and could not be revived by the paramedics.

A new Metal Festival in the Midlands you say? And only £38 for a ticket for 3 days including…read morecamping? Plus the aural delights of Morgue Orgy,Flayed Disciple,Kremated,Anihilated,Shrapnel and 15 others? Sign me up my good man!! So only 2 weeks after Bloodstock we found ourselves driving south again to get our Thrash on. Beermageddon is held at the Stoke Prior Sports and Country Club (Posher than it sounds) in the village of er,Stoke Prior,just outside Bromsgrove in the W Midlands. It's only a small Festival mainly catering for the smaller or unsigned Metal bands,which is great for me as i'm a bit of a champion of the smaller acts. The Fest only holds a few hundred people,which makes it seem more like a 3 day party with friends than a Festival,which is great. The bands played inside the venue and we all camped on the playing fields just outside,we were camped and parked (yes you can park next to your tent) less than 100 yards from the club,meaning a very short stagger to and fro,which is always handy. The calibre of bands on offer this year were top notch as far as my tastes go (they were all from the more extreme end of the Metal spectrum) and the attendees were all awesome,some really good friends were made and contacts gathered,and because pretty much all the bands were small they were all camping too and not an ego in sight!! Jim Beerman,the organiser ,knows how to put on a Festival,and you can be pretty damn sure that we will be back to get battered,bruised,baked and blasted next year.....\,,/.....

Hay-on-Wye is one of my favourite places to go even when there's no festival gracing us with its…read morepresence. A small village tucked away in the rolling Welsh countryside, filled to the brim with bookshops of all descriptions and twinned with Timbuktu; this is a unique find. But once a year this little town becomes even fuller with excitement and literature. The Hay Festival of Literature and Arts is a mecca for anyone with a love of words and the secrets that can be entangled within them. With writers from all walks, such as Jasper Fforde, Salman Rushdi, Bill Bryson, Martina Cole and Quentin Blake, there really is something for everyone. Each performance, discussion or lecture is individually priced, from £4-£10, and intensive three day courses for £375. This is a week-long festival with an incredibly large selection of activities to take part in. It may well be hard to choose where to go and who to see, but that's about the only problem you'll have should you come to this festival.

Hay literature/literary/book festival (delete as appropriate according to your level of comfort…read morewith intellectualism) is an annual, original, event in a small Welsh town on the edge of the Black Mountains. Set in neatly organised marquees in fields outside the town, it's a big-time publishing love-in, that attracts anorak-wearing book worms, country types called Georgie or Bubbles, earth-mother families and the odd American ex-president. This years event was good for me. I avoided fiction and focussed on behavioural economics, natural capital, craftsmanship and graphic novels. Where can you hear such a varied roster of genres? I came away with ideas for my own work, pleasure and purpose. Just one day at this event will inspire, or do as many more indulgent readers do, and camp out nearby each year with those relatives you don't really like, but are ideally placed for a yearly Maytime visit. I love looking around and seeing a sea of readers, sat in deck chairs, ignoring their friends and just reading. From real, hard bound, books. It's a small, well organised festival with activities and facilities for all, and affordable. If you're a publishing nerd, it's nirvana.

Moseley Folk really are the Kings of the local folk revival and their main festival held annually…read morein Moseley Park and Pool is a real highlight on the Brum music calendar. Growing this successful brand this year they attempted their first camping festival and were wise enough to start with a very small acorn. Only 500 tickets were available and even though some of the names were fairly big (Fionn Regan, Scott Matthews, Benjamin Francis Leftwich) the festival had a lovely, intimate, family feel. The site itself is a real find, very near the home of Nick Drake, in Tanworth in Arden. There was yummy food from the Soul Food Project and local booze from Purity. They've started some nice traditions already including an outdoor fire that was kept alight the whole time the festival was running. No, the weather didn't help. But it is a great start from these chaps and I imagine a great oak will grow from this . . .

Newly launched in 2012, The Lunar Festival is run by the same team who brought us Moseley Folk…read moreFestival and the Mostly Jazz Festival. The setting was Nick Drake's spiritual home of Tanworth-In-Arden. A festival of acoustic music with folky-leanings, Scott Matthews, Fionn Regan and Benjamin Francis Leftwich headlined the main stage on each night, while singer-songwriters from the local area and further afield played sets on both the Northern Sky and the Riverman stages. With only 500 tickets on sale, most of them were snapped up by those preferring a more intimate festival, a welcome change from the corporate, sponsored rock-based behemoths. With this small amount of people you see familiar faces, the queues for food and toilets are small, and everything is more amiable and easier. Kids can get into Umberslade Farm Park to look at the animals and to play in the adventure playground. The highlight of the weekend for me was Fionn Reagan whose witty, wordy, highly poetic songs with references to literature, historical figures and odd places are among the best that I believe have been written. You don't believe me? Buy his 2006 album 'The End of History and you might be converted. Keep a watch of the website for details of next year's festival.

I literally can't wait for this years' Harbour Festival, I only managed to catch bits and pieces of…read moreit last year as I had only just moved to Bristol. This year, 2010, it'll be going down 30th July - 01st August, and do you want to know the best thing about it? It's freeeeeeeee! Amazingly, it's been going for 39 years, and while I wouldn't want to bore you with trivial statistics and facts, what it means is, this weekend has been running for enough years for them to have worked out what works and what doesn't! There will be not one, not two, not three, but eight, yes eight stages with a variety of music for all tastes. It's generally a great weekend, don't miss it!

This much-loved summer festival sees literally hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to Bristol…read morefor a weekend of eating, drinking and wishing we owned a boat. Many of my friends come down specifically for this weekend, usually around the end of July, beginning of August. All the boats in the harbour tart themselves up with bunting and the like and there are plenty of food stalls where you can buy everything from candy floss to wheels of cheese! There are plenty of market type stalls if shopping is your thing and all the bars and pubs around the waterfront are jam-packed with people making the most of drinks promotions and the outside seating. A fantastic weekend of entertainment, and it's all for free! Last year I spent it drinking cider and watching VV Brown play on the main stage in a packed Lloyds Amphitheatre and can't wait to do the same this year.

went to the 2013 download, it was on my bucket list it was the best camping concert venue i've ever…read morebeen to. the international mixture of people was incedible. met some irish folk that i ended up hanging with for the duration of the awesome show. its 5 days of camping and 3 days of concert. the brits are a wacky lot and it was like a drunken holloween party that just kept going and going , the energizer bunny would have been killed and cooked at this party ! there is a tent city that has everything you could need. beer tent, food tent, comedy club a couple of night clubs (with live music !) camping supply tent, thrift stores and wacky cosume stores. i met alot of really great people that i would like to see again . i couldn't make it to 2014 but i wouldn't miss 2015 for the world. security was a litle stand offish and dickish but they usually are at american venues and the english security didn't disappoint us. They have carnival rides also, just right for a drunken late night fun.

Bulldog Bash 2009 - didn't manage to get in to see the event itself, but why should that minor…read moredetail stop a Qype review? Reason was that £55 entrance fee too steep - (OK, this would be a very fair price for a weekend of head banging - Motorhead thrown in for the ultimate bleeding eardrum experience - boozing and V twin harmonic earmashing, but the price is OTT for a quick nose around just to clock up some Qype points) - did give it a go to get in cheaper for a quick mooch but the tattoed (but friendly) gatekeepers not impressed - reckoned they wouldn't see me for the next 2 days. No good arguments worked - even offered to leave them with the Brompton as colateral - they just laughed and said it had no engine and was worth nothing - huh. So, make do with watching the biking cavalcade arriving - amazing - from all over Britain and Europe - all sorts of bikes and trikes - some weird, some menacing, some normal, some so shiny and pearlescent, should wear welders goggles to look at them direct on - a fantastic sight and sound - don't need to be a biker to appreciate all that. A perfect location too - middle of nowhere - an old airfield - even sounds like squadrans of B52 bombers coming in to land. Downside - a lot of fuss made by the local fuzz - even stopping pedal cyclists from following legitimate National Sustrans cycle paths for no clear reason other than seemingly to show their authority. Speaking to the locals round Stratford, general comments were that police appear to be out of touch with the community that supports them. How to get to the Bash? Bike it, obviously. Or, if at all worried by your carbon footprint (tyreprint?) then a return train from Birmingham Moor Street is around £8.50 - a great price for a direct journey to Stratford, just about 1 every hour, on the half hour - take a bike (bicycle, not your Harley Chopper, silly) on for nothing with plenty of room in the special carriages - or hire a bike in Stratford for the day. Cruise around the town on pedal power, head down to the river front, have an early breakfast or perhaps make a massive decision to choose whether to have a Costa or a Nero Americano with hot milk - tough one - maybe take it down to the barge front and sit watching the people, ducks and swans in the early morning sunshine before the crowds arrive - nice. Follow the river bank on the theatre side where it's possible, towards the hauntingly beautiful riverside graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church, to best appreciate the georgeous tree lined river views. Then back round to the 'Stratford Greenway' ( http://www.sustrans.org.uk/sustrans-near-you/midlands/easy-rides-in-the-midlands/stratford-greenway ). This was a railtrack and is now a perfect, easy cycle highway into the countryside south of Stratford - wonderful country and river views and meeting lots of friendly walking and cycling folk, just like you and me of course. There are even 2 railway carriage cafes along the route to provide essential refreshments and bike hire if required ( http://www.stratfordbikehire.com/index.php?id=50 ). And, what do you know - this path takes you directly towards Long Marston airfield and the Bash, where the story started. Not very far - gentle, flat, cycle ride - just do note that due to possible obstructive policing, you might be forced to take a more dangerous road detour to reach the entrance to the airfield. Retrace steps (pedal backwards maybe) to get back to Stratford or shoot along the heavily trafficked B4632 (quicker but probably not recommended on bicycle http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&rlz=1C1CHMB_en-GB... (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&rlz=1C1CHMB_en-GBGB335GB339&ei=Wrh8SvCSLoeG-Qa7_qg5&resnum=0&q=long%20marston&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl) ). Fantastic day out - highly recommeded. Hope this is useful.