I detest the “Boutique Festival” label which seems to be attached to every event with an attendance of less than 15,000 nowadays. I mean, try telling any supporter of Millwall FC that they support a “Boutique Football Club” and just see what sort of reaction you get! However, despite the fact that this is exactly how Festinho describes itself on its own website, it took place a mere 3 miles from my front door and I had no other festival plans for the weekend so I decided to pop along to sample what it had to offer.

Predominantly a fund raising event for the Action for Brazil’s Children (ABC) Trust, Festinho took place this year in the grounds of Kentwell Hall in Long Melford, Suffolk. It started on the Friday evening although I was unable to get there until the Saturday lunchtime. I confess that I was somewhat underwhelmed initially. There seemed to be more of a village fete atmosphere during the afternoon with cake stalls & quoits. Things didn’t really get going until the oil lanterns were lit and The Bays hit the main stage with their excellent improvised set. But there was plenty to keep the party people occupied from then right through until 4am on Sunday morning.

The Main Stage was small but well lit and with reasonable sound quality, although the quieter acts were affected by a degree of soundwash from the second “Kentish Green Stage” which had comfortable seating in a chill area next door. The upstairs portion of a reconstructed brick barn housed an indoor stage, which played host to DJ’s on the Saturday and “YouStagers” live acts on the Sunday. Downstairs was a rather disappointingly stocked bar but the paved area outside of this proved to be an excellent dancefloor at night. Finally the Disco Shed, which is familiar from The Big Chill, was positioned in a woodland glade. The location for this was perfect although power problems meant that both sound and lighting suffered at various points over the weekend.

Camping was in a flat, grassy field adjacent to the main festival with showers and also a sauna. There were plenty of nice, clean toilets in the campsite but we could have done with a few more around the arena. The kids had a field with a marquee set aside for face painting etc and there was a further field for more grown up sports activities such as volleyball, badminton & the aforementioned quoits. There was a smattering of merchandising stalls and a small art exhibition with the usual crystal nonsense and massages available in the woods. Foodwise the choice was pretty limited and I was glad to be able to pop home for a spot of lunch, although there are several decent pubs and a shop within relatively easy walking distance from the site.

So to summarise Festinho at Kentwell Hall shows a lot of promise and I really had to pinch myself at times that an event like this was taking place so close to home in comparison to the 650 mile round trip I made for Solfest the weekend before. There are a few rough edges but nothing insurmountable and the rustic, tree-lined setting is wonderful. I just hope that next year the event is publicised a fair bit better and the 1,500 capacity is achieved. Maybe then the atmosphere will be rather more along the lines of what The Blockheads’ wonderful Sunday night headline slot so richly deserved.