It was great to get away from the house – we arrived Wednesday evening and it rained so we chilled in the van until Fay sent a text “Pizzas in 10”. Amazing – so we made our way to the bus for pizza and to meet the crew (Danny, Fay, Phil/Andy on bacon, George/Jess, Mike/Becks (The Vegans), Molly (chalet host), Kerim (French guy) and a promise of an appearance from Lawrence). On Thursday we saw Spirtulized sound checking, sold a load of clothes to our friends at Kinky Melons (Vix has her own blog) and worked the evening shift after meeting up with Penny and Adrian for a lying down cider. I was all set to turn in at 2am when Danny offered me almost a pint of G&T …

Friday we worked the breakfast shift – the usual relentless onslaught (but good fun). Saw Cass McCombs (George’s recommendation) and Parquet Courts and I helped Jason from Sleaford Mods carry his kids’ hot chocs upstairs on the bus. We were about to call it a day when Jess took us to the comedy and we saw David O’Doherty .. hilarious. Best part of teh day.

Saturday’s breakfast shift was followed by some better music – Fran saw Wire (not my thing so I caught the excellent Tyler Childers in the Garden). We both stumbled upon Courtney Barnett being interviewed on a small stage in the woods and caught a bit of Black Midi but it was kind of hard work to listen to. Then most of the bus crew went to the front of the main stage to see Kate Tempest. OMG! She is such a talent and delivered a set that had grown men literally in tears (and Fran too). Absolutely stunning. Fran saw a disappointing Low while Adrian and I saw a pretty impressive Courtney Barnett at the main stage. All but dead on our feet, we went to the tent to watch Sleaford Mods – hard to reconcile the angry, aggressive, humorous ranting of Jason with the guy buying hot chocs for his kids.

Sunday was THE day for music! I worked backstage at the Bus and had to take a trip to Salisbury for supplies – saw Jason pushing a push chair so congratulated him on his headline set. Quite a paradox. Rushed back from Salisbury in time to get to the front for my main man Israel Nash. Wow! Great set – every sound they make hits the spot for me. I got his set list too! Managed to get it signed by him at Rough Trade and asked about working at his ranch (he took my email address and promised to get in touch). Then we stayed away from the main stage and saw Pigsx7 (absolutely loved the Sabbath/Hawkwind onslaught), Fontains DC (it really kicked off … the band barely move and the music send the audience mental), we had a look at Jarvis Cocker but it was a bit disappointing and ended up at Beak> with Mike/Becks (not their thing). It felt like we gate-crashed their rehearsal – great fun and enjoyable set. Good news was a lot of our clothes sold at Kinky Melons! Up and away early Monday to head back to the final push on the house. A great festival and a great way to end the season.