Glastonbury - The 2014 Edition

Glastonbury 2014 - the festival that nearly never was. We failed to get tickets on the general release date, missed out again on the April resale day but, in the end, our fabulous friends Stuart and Kim discovered a secret sale and snaffled us a pair.

Stuart and Kim with Lee and baby Lily (at 2 years old this was already her second Glasto)

Because our tickets were on resale all the campervan spaces had gone so we had to camp and do you know what? We feckin' LOVED it! Our friend Jon couldn't come this year so we borrowed his tent, he was greatly missed but at least his tent got to see some festival action!

So, what is Glastonbury? Its only the world's biggest (and best) music festival. I won't bore you with the facts but you can read more HERE.

The Pyramid Stage

We travelled through the night, meeting up with the gang on a service station car park in Somerset at 6am on the Wednesday morning. We drove in convoy to Worthy Farm, parked up, strapped our belongings to our back and joined the queue of thousands waiting for the festival gates to open at 8am, trudging the longest 2 mile hike in our lives. We found a space big enough to accommodate our six tents, pitched up and walked back to our cars for the rest of our stuff. The rest of the day was spent lounging in the sun, drinking cider and chatting.

1960s Lagos-made maxi (from darling Curtise), floral headpiece hand-made by Kerry @ House of Harrie Hattie, sunnies, Melissa sandals and tooled leather bag (all charity shopped), Parasol (India, 2011)

Thursday was glorious. We roamed the festival site and basked in the sunshine.

Outside the Acoustic Stage

Thursday night was cold....but the cider flowed freely.

The festival officially started on Friday, opened by The Kaiser Chiefs and swiftly followed by Blondie, a band I've loved since 1978. It rained but did we care? Hell, no!

The Other Stage

The rain stopped, we went vintage shopping (poor us, always working), bumped into people we knew, totally mad considering that that there's over a quarter of a million people crammed into a few acres of farmland.

Hindu tee (India, 2014), charity shopped shorts, vintage cord trilby (belonged to a mate's husband)

We got filmed by the media, papped by the press and asked to pose for photos despite not owning a pair of Hunter wellies (the celebs' choice) between us.

1960s floral playsuit (Krista-licious), vintage high-heeled wellies, sunnies, feather boa and hair flowers (all second hand), Glastonbury '14 tote (given away free at the gates) 

We watched De La Soul and Rudimental, whose incredible set sadly got cut short after the Pyramid Stage was struck by lightning. We managed to make it back to our tent before the torrential rain took hold.

Skrillex on The Other Stage

After a sleep and a restorative Jon-cooked Chana Jalfrezi we watched some of Paolo Nutini's set before Skrillex took to the stage. His performance was our Glasto highlight. We LOVED it.

Afterwards we stood outside one of the many bars on site drinking our pre-mixed gin and tonic watching the world go by until well into the early hours.

Paolo Nutini

Saturday morning saw more torrential rain but it eased off in time to check out Royal Blood (rockin') and Fat White Family (fantastic!) over at the John Peel stage. We were in good company, Paolo stood next to us, such a lovely, down-to-earth chap.

Royal Blood play the John Peel Stage

What's a bit of rain anyway? 

Mac, waistcoat, tee shirt and shorts (bought second hand), Old skool Dunlop wellies (eBay, 2005)

No British music festival would be the same without a bit of mud and in between the showers it was gloriously sunny and hot. You should see my tan!

1960s nightie (jumble sale), bag (made by me from a curtain), floral crown (handmade by Kerry)

After Lana Del Ray's set we needed a nap (sorry love, you're just not our bag). We ate, stuck on a few more layers (Kiss Me Kitty leggings and my trusty fake fur) and caught the Manic Street Preachers (used to be a huge fan but not so much these days), danced to The Pixies (ace!) and rocked out to Metallica (AWESOME!)

Jon, me, Steven, Cat & Stuart

 We met up with some of the gang and headed to Arcadia for some after hours action.

Williams Green 

Sunday brought more sunshine and warmth which dried the mud up in next to no time.

After a hike back to the van, leaving us with all but the bare essentials to carry back on Monday, we headed to the Stone Circle, Green Futures and the Greenpeace field for spicy butterbean wraps, cider and chillin' in the sun.

Entrance to Green Futures

Greenpeace field

De La Soul tee shirt & sunnies (both charity shopped), 1950s Levi Panatella shorts (Indian flea market)

The farmer's market within the Greenpeace field

The Peace Garden

Green Futures

Tony Benn's Tower of Strength

Then we joined what seemed like all 180,000 of the other festival goers for Dolly Parton's set.

The sound was pretty poor and we kind of lost interest after hearing Jolene,

   

but the people watching potential was spectacular!

Sequins, clashing patterns and floral head dresses distract from the fact I hadn't showered or washed my hair since Tuesday.

1980s sequined bustier (car boot sale), 1960s Samuel Sherman maxi (vintage fair), floral crown (handmade by Kerry) - muddy hemline courtesy of the good ol' British summer!

We managed to find the rest of the gang for Ed Sheeran (good), The Black Keys (excellent) and Kasabian (fantastic showmen but they didn't blow me away like they have done previously).

Waiting for the Black Keys

Steven & Cat

 After a few more beers back at the camp site we set the alarm for stupid O'clock and hit the sleeping bag ready for an early start. We met in Cheddar (home to the famous cheese) for a pub lunch - a Glasto tradition - and probably stunk to high heaven. 

And so ended Glastonbury for another year....

Sunset at The Pyramid Stage

6 days of not washing, using long drop toilets, queuing for water, consuming 32 litres of pear cider, existing on a few hours of sleep a night, averaging 6 miles of walking per day, cooking on a single gas ring and living under canvas....and I didn't want it to ever end.

Only 2 days until we do it all over again at Camperjam!

Linking to Patti and the gang over at Visible Monday and Judith for her Hat Attack.

PS: Not heard of some of the bands I've mentioned? Click on their names, I've linked to their Glasto performances so you can have a listen.