Big Chill wasn’t even on my radar as a possibility when I drew up my list of festivals to attend at the beginning of the year. But the fact that we were given the option to exchange our tickets from the washed out Sunrise Celebration for the considerably more pricey ones for Big Chill tempted us along. The setting is absolutely beautiful. The festival is held in the parkland surrounding Eastnor Castle in the Malvern Hills near Ledbury. The main arena runs along one side of a valley with illuminated lakes forming a backdrop to the 2 open air stages while the majority of the camping areas are a bit of a hike over the “Ridgeway” and into an adjoining valley. There are lots of large oak trees and the campervan fields are accessed via a very pleasant walk through mature woodlands.

The main stage is a good size with screens on either side and an arena that slopes gently to allow a good view all the way to the back. Although not previously a fan, Leonard Cohen’s faultless performance here on the Sunday evening was the musical highlight of the weekend for me. The second Castle Stage is smaller but also has a nicely sloping viewing area and overall the line up here was probably more appealing to my tastes. The vast and frankly quite dire Club Tent was compensated by the weird & wonderful goings on in the excellent Media Mix Tent while the Big Chill Nights tent had more in the way of comedy and cabaret. Additionally there were several smaller stages and dance areas sprinkled around the site as well as the Eartheart, Small World & Inspiral venues from Sunrise Celebration.

I suppose the name should have given us a clue but I really had no appreciation of how BIG Big Chill actually is. With nearly 40,000 punters onsite it verges on feeling like one of the large commercial festivals that I abhor and there were times when battling against the crowds became rather an uncomfortably experience. Prices for food were top end of what I would expect to pay and bar prices were verging on extortionate. Even the legendary Burrowhill Cider Bus had a 50p a pint mark up on their Glastonbury prices from just a few weeks ago! The toilets were fairly unpleasant at times and the moody security didn’t help by refusing to allow people to pass between the Sunrise Celebration & main arenas with drinks that they had obviously bought onsite. The “Art Trail” was such a massive disappointment that I didn’t take a solitary photo and although there was a kids tent, children were banned from several areas after 9pm so it was hardly a family friendly event.

It wasn’t all bad news however. I had a thoroughly good time with some wonderful friends. The small area that Sunrise Celebration had transported from Somerset was easily the highlight and the “Body & Soul” section around the Cider Bus was also a very pleasant place to sit & watch the World go by. There was some pretty decent entertainment, although I’m afraid I wasn’t as inclined to head for the front of the stage for my usual selection of close ups of the artists as I usually manage.

Would I go again? Offer me another cheap ticket & I’ll think about it…