We could see that WOMAD’s new home at Charlton Park would be an excellent location if it weren’t for the knee deep mud that we had to endure last year. And so it turned out with a return to more traditional WOMAD weather of wall to wall sunshine once we got a few spots of rain out of the way on the Friday morning. Lessons have definitely been learnt from last year’s quagmire and the main arena has been moved to a completely new, & hopefully better drained, position. So it was back to the drawing board as far as the site layout was concerned and on the whole they have made a very good job of the new design.

The main Outdoor Stage, the Siam Tent and the Big Red Tent were all as we remember them from previous years but we also saw a return of the tri-span tent which made an appearance at Rivermead in 2006 and which has been renamed “Little Sicily”. The BBC Radio 3 Stage was again positioned in the arboretum but the increased number of people walking through this area in order to get to the main arena from the campsite meant that the stage was much more popular than last year and it was impossible to see the artists through the trees so a re-think may be in order here for next year.

The bars were all slickly run by the newly appointed Workers Beer Company franchise and, although pricey, there was the usual selection of Bath Ales beers as well as several additional guest ales in the Real Ale Tent. The 10p deposit on the paper cups meant that people either returned their cups or they were collected by numerous kids for a bit of extra pocket money. As a result the site remained spotless throughout. The same can be said for the toilets although further thought needs to be given with regards to their distribution around the site. More taps are required too as the long queues to refill water bottles would testify.

Musically the line up didn’t appear quite as strong as last year’s 25th anniversary celebration but there were many highlights nonetheless. I was particularly looking forward to Shantel and Bucovina Club Orkestar and they didn’t disappoint with their banging Balkan beats. But the real surprise for me was Devon Sproule whose beautiful songs and infectious stage presence won over many new fans. The only thing that appeared to be missing this year was “Club WOMAD”, meaning that late night musical entertainment was restricted to the chilled out sounds in the Siam Tent or the Campsite Bar which banged out 70’s disco until 4am.