And so another year of festival mayhem begins with a return to Kedleston Hall for Bearded Theory v6. I still find it hard to believe that in 5 short years this festival has grown from a £12 a ticket one-dayer in a pub beer garden to the well-oiled machine it is today, especially given the fact that all of the organisers give their time entirely voluntarily and had little or no previous experience of organising an event of this scale.

There was very little alteration required in the general layout of the site after the success of the 2012 event. The main stage, the tented Tornado Town and the Magical Sounds Dance tent were all positioned as before. The only notable change saw the disappearance of last year’s somewhat misplaced Water’s Edge Stage which was replaced by the Lock Inn, providing unscheduled Thursday night performances from festival favourites, 3 Daft Monkeys and Ferocious Dog, as well as a full programme of entertainment throughout the remainder of the weekend.

Responsibility for the bars was again given to the Thornbridge brewery and the selection of beers and ciders on offer was even more extensive than last year, all served without delay or fuss and always with a smile. The kids area seemed larger, busier and better organised than ever and there were certainly no complaints from me regarding the perennial festival issues of toilets & security. Litter was also minimal and, despite forecasts to the contrary, the only significant rain fell on the Friday night with the Sunday turning out to be a glorious day to bask on the grass in the sunshine.

The festival marked the first outing for my girlfriend, Lisa, and her “partners in shine” Vic & Jon, with their new Sequinporium enterprise and we couldn’t be more pleased at the enthusiasm with which it was received. This was just the first of many ports of call in their glitterfication of the nation campaign so look out for them in other fields around the country this summer and add a little sparkle to your festival wardrobe.

It was also my first opportunity to test out my new Panasonic FZ200 camera and I’m delighted with the results despite the fact that a slight overindulgence in the cider led to a massive accidental over-egging of the ISO setting for the last 3 bands I saw on Sunday. But hey, I’m still a rank amateur at this photography lark and every day is a school day!