#farmerphilsfestival

[timeoutotour]

Scattered Clouds, 18°C

Unnamed Road, Shrewsbury SY5 0SN, UK

Farmer Phils music festival

Thursday 9th August to Sunday 12th August 2018

Rhian has started her 12 month career break and on her 2nd weekend of freedom we set off for our second visit to the small Shropshire music festival. Our first visit was last year and due to arriving late on the Thursday we ended up in an overflow camping field which turned out to be a nightmare when the time came to leave. A night of heavy rain on the final night had turned the field into a quagmire and we only managed to get out through the mud thanks to others in the same position who helped to push us out. I had earlier done my bit to help them when they were stuck. Mindful of that experience I did not want history to repeat itself so this time we set off earlier and arrived at the site at about 1400hrs. This gave us the opportunity to camp on the main field which was a slightly better prospect bearing in mind that the weather forecast for the weekend was not great. The site was still fairly full as camping had been possible since the previous Monday but we managed to find an acceptable spot which I thought would make our egress easier if the predicted bad weather was forthcoming. Unfortunately I forgot to take my bluetooth keyboard with me so this entry is written retrospectively through a haze of four days of festival revelry! Thursday evening was fairly uneventful as proceedings weren’t due to start until Friday lunch time. We had a quick mooch around the festival site before retiring to the van for dinner which had to be BBQ to take advantage of the sunny evening Saturday morning was a bit overcast and I took Annie ( dog) for a walk up a way marked cycle path across the road leading to the venue. This gave up a good vista of the whole site , albeit from a distance. Rain was in the air and I had to beat a hasty retreat in order to get back to the van before the inevitable . I decided at this time(too late , Doh) that it might be a good idea to use our awning to give us a protected dry area outside . This would prove to be a wise move due to the weather horrors which were fast approaching. After a lazy morning and light lunch we headed off for the venue with a few concealed goodies i.e. alcoholic beverages. I needn’t have bothered with aforementioned cunning concealment techniques which I will keep secret to protect my methods for future use , but needless to say there was a very relaxed security regime and no searching of personal effects was evident throughout the weekend. The festival is a great place to people watch and there is much to watch. Whilst walking through the venue you are likely to come across an eighteen stone , rugby player physiqued, man mountain , dressed in a frock and purple wig and across the way will be a real life Gandalf the wizard with crooked hat and willow staff. Bonkers but great fun ! Friday afternoon the heavens opened , cue the bar. Heavy rain hammering down outside seemed a good time to check out the bar and once again Farmer Phil had come up trumps. No hyper inflated festival prices, I mean 3.50 for a pint of Guinness , Cheaper than most pubs ! After a pint or several we decided it might be a good idea to return to the van , have a bit of an afternoon snooze and return to the venue fighting fit later on. This was in theory a brilliant plan but we didn’t wake until about 2100hrs and missed our dinner in the rush to get back to the venue to watch something before the 0100hrs close. Whilst walking to the main stage we stopped off at the “woodland stage” a small satellite stage used by some of the more up an coming or less well known bands . We noticed that the band setting up were our camping (next door)neighbours who had arrived about lunchtime Friday. They were called Cosmic Ninja (check em out)and gave in my humble opinion the best performance that we were to see during the whole festival although the bad weather dictated that we weren’t going to see that many TBH We finished the evening watching a Bob Marley tribute act who were very good and a fairly late (by our standards) finish was achieved. Saturday morning sun shining but bad bad weather promised and wind picking up too. After breakfast we had a walk around the venue and returned to the van for lunch but neither of us feeling really hungry so we stocked up on essentials i.e. beer , G&T and headed off for the venue armed with our festival chairs and tartan rug ( Yes really). Once again we became waylayed by the “woodland stage” and enjoyed a couple of young bands , despite the best efforts of a couple of seriously hammered individuals who were “dancing” or is that “somehow managing to stay on their feet without falling over” The weather was now deteriorating rapidly into a monsoon and we were lucky to get back to the van before the worse of it hit. There was no way we would be returning for the evening performances. Weeks of drought and good weather and then its festival time , back to normal ! Quite a rough night , wind and heavy rain all night . I could not help feel sorry for the people or families in tents. We were in relative luxury in our van and the weather forecast for the the day was not good reading i.e. more heavy thundery showers which I feared would turn an increasingly muddy field into a quagmire similar or indeed worse than we had experienced last year. Thoughts led inevitably to bailing out a day early and I put this proposition to Rhian who was in agreement. It was clear that we were not alone in making this decision as many people including one of our immediate neighbours were also packing up and preparing to leave. We made it off site without incident and I’m sure that we acted wisely. Good luck to those who decided to tough it out for another day. I hope they think it was worth it

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[sarafedimusic]

Great gig today with #dukeofwolves This place is absolutely amazing! . . . . . . #minitour #outoflondon #inthefields #farmerphilsfestival #celebrating #bassplayer #bassplayerlife (presso Farmer Phil's Festival)

[sallyharrisonart]

A crazy bit of #dianaapp editing #farmerphilsfestival #maelorhughes

[ninjadrummist]

My amazing band #newgrooveformation playing at #farmerphilsfestival last Friday! Photo taken by Kicki Ringqvist. #ska #reggae #festival

[sallyharrisonart]

#nofilter -caught the light just right! #maelorhughes #scottdoonican #farmerphilsfestival #sallywatchesbands @jonmaelor @thebarstewardsons

[sallyharrisonart]

A wonderful #farmerphilsfestival moment #maelorhughes #scottdoonican @jonmaelor @thebarstewardsons

[sallyharrisonart]

Put it away!! #farmerphilsfestival

[sallyharrisonart]

Amazing as always #maelorhughes at #farmerphilsfestival #sallywatchesbands

[sallyharrisonart]

Yep they're cleaning out the loos!! #maelorhughes bravely singing on through that festival stink we all know so well!! #farmerphilsfestival #sallywatchesbands

[sallyharrisonart]

This time I put the camera down and just watched @theleylinesuk at #farmerphilsfestival It was an amazing performance and incredibly moving. Have a great holiday Steve and hope to see you all again soon

[sallyharrisonart]

Our very our sexy #staffyinafrock #farmerphilsfestival

[ninjadrummist]

Another great photo of me by Kicki Ringqvist at Farmer Phil's Festival! #drums #farmerphilsfestival #newgrooveformation

[ninjadrummist]

Some of the beautiful scenery yesterday in Shrewsbury at Farmer Phil's Festival #scenery #beautiful #river #farmerphilsfestival