This first appeared in The Wokingham Paper on Friday 26 August 2016
Whilst my local friends were rewinding in Henley dressed in ra ra skirts and day glo vests with big hair and bangles I was enjoying the Green Man Festival at The Glanusk Estate in Crickhowell wrapped up warmly in my wet weather gear nursing a Stack Cup and listening to some tremendous music, filling my face with delicious food.
The festival, in its 14th year, was a hugely enjoyable event, the children roamed around with their friends returning only to get money for food or the big wheel, until it was time for them to head down to the front of the Mountain Stage and be within touching distance of some of their favourite bands. I've got an eclectic mix of music, some may say ancient, but I got into the swing of it and my playlist on the way home yesterday was that of festival fever from Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, Meilyr Jones and Belle and Sebastian to name but a few. Alex Ebert the lead singer of Edward Sharpe is officially my new crush and I will admit to a hay fever moment on Saturday when he had a break in their catchy tune "Home" to talk to the crowd. One man proposed to his girlfriend and she said yes, after saying have you asked my dad?, whilst someone loudly and proudly announced she was getting married at the Estate in a couple of months. I'm just a hopeless romantic at heart!
On Sunday night Belle and Sebastian were outstanding, everyone was on their feet and when Stuart Murdoch invited people to join him on the stage during there was an invasion, at one point he said "careful now" in his Glaswegian burr which made my eyes itch again. Google it, I was there! Meilyr Jones was a bundle of energy and spoke in both English and Welsh to cheers from the crowd. Being British the weather didn't stop anyone enjoying themselves and whilst the ground was muddy underneath it certainly wasn't a mud bath and besides we were prepared with umbrellas, ponchos, rain hats, good spirits and beer from the many tents selling a variety of local and craft beers. All served in the most amazing Stack Cups. No more trying to manoeuvre 7 drinks with 2 hands as the handles neatly stacked inside each other, making carrying easy and spillage a thing of the past.
I met up with the guys from Stack Cup to hear more about the concept and I can tell you it's a biggie. When I've packed away the festival gear I'll be blogging about them in more detail and hope that event organisers will consider them for their functions in a bid to reduce waste and spills. So now we're home .... and it's the downward hurtle or uphill struggle to get into some kind of bedtime routine and wear socks with shoes, which after a summer of bumbling around will prove hard. All too soon the roads will be full of school runners and for one day at least the cupboard will be full. Of course there's still plenty of summer fun to be had and we're looking forward to the food festival which is always a popular event.