Having heard wonderful things about the inaugural Solfest last year, I had been pondering about going ever since, especially as it would be compensation for having missed this year’s Beautiful Days. But it would mean a 650 mile round trip and deserting the rest of the family for the entire Bank Holiday weekend so I only really decided to go a few days before the festival itself. I’m so glad I made the effort because this is an absolute little belter of a festival and the 5,000 tickets, priced at a mere £35, sold out a couple of days after I had bought mine.

The setting is simply gorgeous. It’s on remote farmland, close to the Solway Firth with both the Lake District & the Scottish mountains as a backdrop. The main stage is small but the views of it right up to the bar on the hill are excellent. There is also a good sized Dance Tent and the tiny Drystone Stage which has live bands into the early hours. There is an acoustic tent with open mic(less) sessions, the Music Bus, where local youngsters got a chance to perform, a cinema, a story telling yurt, and the Disco du Fromage where you could drink cocktails & dance til dawn. Plenty for the kids to do as well.

Camping was in 2 X 13 acre fields, one of which was set aside for family & “quiet” camping. Fires were allowed & wood provided. It was possible to park your car next to your tent which is a rarity at festivals these days.

Toilets were generally clean and plentiful although we could have done with a few more urinals which may have dissuaded some of the hedge pissing that seemed to happen in abundance. There was the usual smattering of hippy tat stalls and some food stalls in addition to the festival cafeteria, although my one minor gripe is that it would be nice to have a greater selection of these in future.

Oh yes, and while the rest of the country bathed in glorious late summer sunshine we suffered gale force winds, so a little less of that in future would be nice :o)

The line up was superb with some of my favourite festival bands putting in an appearance and the late addition of The Undertones was the icing on the cake having missed them at Glastonbury due to the biblical storm on the Friday morning.

Here’s the photos:-