The Big Feastival: The best weekend of the year, every year

In our very humble opinion, The Big Feastival is the best weekend of the year. Every August Bank Holiday weekend, Alex James opens up his farm in Kingham to three days of music, food, drink and a huge number of people of all ages (literally) from all over the country. 

This year (again in our humble opinion) wasn’t the strongest main stage line up we have seen, particularly early afternoon and Saturday brought the sort of rain that makes you question your choices of spending a day in a field. Both, however, gave us a good excuse to go exploring, which is when Feastival tends to reveal itself. We found the brilliant Ines Rae and her indie pop in The Outpost and discovered just how much fun a silent disco can be, so much so we went back twice. 

Then there is the food, which is always at least half the reason to come.

Killa Waffles made a welcome return after a three-year absence and their Killa Mac, fried chicken and mac and cheese in a waffle was once again completely ridiculous and completely brilliant at the same time. The birria tacos from The Bab Haus were as good as ever and Indian Street Kebabs, Poor Boys and Only Jerkin remain firmly in the Feastival staples category.

The highlight, though, came from Ko:te. Their Steak & Fritz (flat iron steak with chimichurri and fries) was already a very good idea, and adding some extra prawns seemed like a better one. We ate it mid afternoon on a table by The Outpost bar with a glass of rose and beatbox legends Duke blasting out of the tent behind us. That moment in time pretty much sums Big Feastival up.

It still to this day never fails to surprise us just how good the food is. These traders are producing truky incredible plates from temporary kitchens in the middle of a field, often with a big queues and the weather doing its best to hamper them. Yet the standard remains remarkably high all weekend.

Pact Coffee provided the necessary caffeine to get each day started, while their espresso martinis were an equally effective way to finish the day. We managed to fill two of their loyalty cards across the weekend. The Little Margarita Truck was another excellent find in The Saloon area. 

There were plenty of musical highlights. Devon based brothers trio Tors were excellent and quite possibly our favourite of the weekend, as were White Lies and the wonderful Jerub. Red Rum Club brought their brass-infused indie to Sunday in the sunshine, while Freya Ridings has a voice that comfortably sits alongside that of Hannah Reid from London Grammar and Florence Welch. It is that good.

Despite a few technical issues, Bastille delivered one of the best Feastival headline sets we have seen in years. If anything, the glitches added to it with Dan Smith taking to the piano and making the set feel all the more spontaneous. From opening with The Things We Lost in the Fire, to a stunning Dolly Parton tribute of Jolene and I Will Always Love You and closing, as they were always going to, with Pompeii was a fitting way to round off the weekend (although we still found time for some fried chicken and another half an hour in the silent disco!).

Elsewhere, The Cheese Hub seemed permanently busy whenever we walked past, with Simon Pegg, DJ Spoony and Chris Stark all taking turns behind the decks. 

As with most festivals, there was no chance of getting to everything. Basement Jaxx and Rudimental played the main stage, Simon Rogan and Poppy O’Toole took over The Big Kitchen, while Joel Dommett and Harriet Kemsley brought the laughs in The Exchange. Barrioke returned for a singalong in The Outpost, with Inbetweeners favourites Joe Thomas and James Buckley also on the bill. And then there were the incredible dining experiences that we never manage to squeeze in. 

It was great to see local names doing serious business too. Burger legends Smiths even got one of their burgers onto the main stage on Saturday night after Mike Skinner of The Streets fancied a patty mid set. The Woozy Pig had hot dogs flying out all weekend, while Copper Lion Distillery served what we thought was the best gin spritz of the weekend.

Normally, an event trying to appeal to everyone would be in danger of appealing to no one. Feastival breaks that mould. The food is brilliant, the atmosphere is hard to beat and even a drop of rain can be forgiven. Everything is pretty close to perfect and we absolutely love it.

Which is why, come next August, we will be back to do it all again.

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