We really enjoyed our first visit to Shambala last year despite some rather muddy conditions but I have to say that this year’s event was absolutely magical and if it weren’t for the fact that Boomtown Fair knocked the ball out of the park two weeks ago it would have probably been top of the pile of the nine festivals I have been to this summer.

My main criticism about Beautiful Days last week was that nothing ever changes year on year but the same criticism could never be levelled at Shambala. The main arena was moved around with the main stage on the opposite side to where it was sited in 2011. And in the place it vacated Bearded Kitten brought their usual array of madcap fun and games in the form of the Shambolympics. The Kamikazee & Chai Wallah stages were much as before but the Social Club was located in a beautiful wooden Spiegeltent much like the one used for the Pussy Parlure at Glastonbury. There were also 2 new venues which opened in the evenings in the form of The Hotel and the flying saucer shaped UFO, neither of which we actually managed to set foot inside, spending much of our evenings instead in our old favourite the People’s Front Room and enjoying their house band, Bombs on no less than 3 separate occasions.

The huge crafts area has a massive array of opportunities for things to make and do using traditional artisan techniques as indeed did the kids area along with the adjoining Angel Gardens. The Healing Fields were again tucked quietly away over a couple of little bridges and here again there were workshops to participate in as well as being able to indulge in massages of numerous different varieties. The array and quality of the art instillations in the hidden woods was much higher than I recall from last year and included a huge interactive jellyfish as well as a domed dance area with excellent visual projections. The firework display on the Sunday evening was also much more impressive than last year’s slightly underwhelming display and, although not part of the scheduled entertainment, we enjoyed numerous flypasts from Vulcan and Lancaster bombers and hot air balloons among others.

The fancy dress parade on the Saturday afternoon was so well attended that I would guess that there were as many people participating in it as it snaked around the site as there were watching and the originality and attention to detail that people put into their “celebration” themed costumes was simply phenominal. There was a superb selection of food stalls to cater for every taste and several bars including the Wonky Cock pub, which had an impressive selection of real ales and ciders. Unfortunately these ran out on the Saturday night but other than some lengthy queues for the toilets at peak times these would be my only criticisms of what was otherwise a superbly organised and thoroughly enjoyable way to bring my festival season 2012 to an all too early close.