On my only previous visit to Beautiful Days in 2004 I felt that it had a huge amount of potential. Now in its fourth year it has grown and matured into something absolutely wonderful. The festival felt much bigger, although I understand at 12,500 the number of tickets sold were only a 25% increase on the capacity 2 years ago and it never felt overcrowded at any time. It is also a proper 3-day event now.

The main stage was much as I remember it but the Big Top housing the second stage had moved slightly and was much larger. The Little Big Top which was predominantly a dance tent was also a good size and the Pussy Parlure Spiegeltent plus our friends at the Bimble Inn gave two excellent additional venues. The sound and lighting for the main venues was top notch.

Car Parking was further away from the main camping area than previously but didn’t suffer from the previous problems of cars getting stuck in the mud despite some thundery showers both before & during the festival. There was additional quiet/family camping much nearer the car parks and also a designated campervan field.

Food was far more varied than I recall and prices were on a par with many other similar events. There were also the usual clothing & tat stalls in far greater abundance. Plenty for the kids to get involved with in a large designated area and loads of random stilt walkers & entertainers although the punters were entertainment in themselves with many of us not prepared to wait for the masked ball on the Sunday night in order to get dressed up.

Very few negatives but there was a problem with emptying the campsite toilets on Saturday & Sunday with the inevitable unpleasantness. There were also many more Police in evidence than seemed really necessary and several stories of heavy handedness on their part did the rounds. The festival did however largely escape the blight of tent thefts that has swept numerous festivals this summer with only a few reports of pilfering on the Sunday evening.

Our encampment was enormous & fantastic and huge thanks to Hudu & Lamby for their energy & organisation. We certainly went over the top in the dressing up stakes! Thanks to Aspen for her hospitality en-route to Devon and to friends old & new for making this a truly memorable weekend. Please enjoy the photos.