Tuesday 17 July 2018

May The Fourth Be With You - The Cornbury Festival 2018


Have I mentioned how much we love the Cornbury Festival? Previous years have been brilliant and this year, our fourth, was phenomenal. I'm pretty sure most Brits will recognise Si and Dave aka The Hairy Bikers who were running a pop-up restaurant on site for the weekend. I'm delighted to say that they were absolutely lovely in real life, totally down-to-earth and funny and they made a point of stopping by every morning on their way to work to say hello and to browse our rails.


Dave was desperate for a waistcoat. 


Although we'd been at Cornbury since Wednesday morning, the festival itself didn't open to the public until Friday. Just like last year business was full-on and our neighbours didn't see us until late in the afternoon. We soon made up for lost time.


Saturday was another busy day with lots of visits from customers old and new. I can't tell you how much it makes our day when people call in wearing (and still loving) clothes they bought off us four years ago. No such thing as throw away fashion when you shop Kinky Melon.


Gah! I never got round to taking any photos of the interior of our stall - I'll try and do better next time.


Beautiful yoga teacher Alicia is a blog reader. It was lovely to meet her. If you're wondering our green wristbands are crew passes, the paying public wear different coloured ones.


Another reason why I love Cornbury - people leave their inhibitions at the main gate and just have fun. This gang popped in a few times over the weekend both to buy stuff and to show us their phenomenal outfits. If only I'd packed my Scooby Doo dress!


Lili is married to Hairy Biker Dave. She's a dressmaker and has incredible style, I was thrilled when she bought a few pieces to add to her collection.


And then it was Sunday! We met stunning Annabelle from Jack FM last year when she bought a Grecian blue and gold linen dress with wizard sleeves from us. This year the vintage Wrangler turquoise suede cowboy boots went home with her,


After we'd opened up I went for a walk around the site as I hadn't been further than the staff loos since Thursday.


By 10am the thermometer in our awning was 41° - no surprise that most of the festival goers had left their sweltering tents early to go and seek some shade.



The Hairy Bikers Festival Feast was sold out months in advance. Those lucky enough to dine said it was a truly wonderful experience and well worth the £55 price tag.



The Alpaca Sol girls are our neighbours at End of the Road, strange to think that the next time we see them we'll probably all be wrapped up against the Autumnal chill.







Meanwhile back at the Kinky pitch Jon was selling up a storm. I'm not sure how many times our male mannequin had the clothes sold off his back. 


I was offered silly money for my outfits - but I wasn't selling. Several long-time blog readers recognised dresses from my personal collection adorning our rails and snapped them up. What a compliment! 


We were so busy over the weekend that by Sunday night (other than the acts I quickly photographed on my walk around the site) I hadn't seen a single band! When headliners Squeeze were announced I left Jon in charge and ran down to the main stage to catch some of their set. 



I really do have the best job in the world I thought to myself as I sat alone and barefoot on the parched grass in my silk ballgown watching the sun sink over the Cotswold Hills listening to Squeeze perform Up The Junction






We got up early yesterday morning, packed up and took down the stall, drove home, restocked, washed, went food shopping, made 30 wired headbands, banked the cash and repacked the van .....and it all starts again at 6am tomorrow when we head down to Salisbury for the Larmer Tree Festival...wish us luck!

See you next week.

Linking to Patti & the gang for Visible Monday.

32 comments:

  1. Wow, that looks like a fun festival-and you've had such great festival weather if even a bit too hot? Is that even possible?

    ReplyDelete
  2. don't know who I like better: the matching orange and purple people or the silver ladies on stilts. Or the wrap around windmill slide!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can feel your excitement bouncing of my screen. What a fabulous first festival for 2018. Hope the others are as good xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. What fun! I'm glad Cornbury lived to see another year, and that trade was brisk in spite of the heat. But how tiny you look between those two big Hairy Bikers! It's good to hear they're as nice in real life as they seem to be on the telly! Wishing you good luck and lots of fun at Larmer Tree Festival. xxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. That looks amazing Vix.
    Lucky you to be sandwiched between the Hairy Bikers.
    So glad you had a good time....and good luck for the next one.
    Hugs-x-

    ReplyDelete
  6. here is for tons of luck!
    cornbury looks gorgeous! perfect weather and nice people who love to shop at kinky melon - and you look so cool in every photo!
    xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. You really do have the best job in the world! Good luck with the rest of the festival season.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You are a brilliant advert for your shop! I'm glad it went so well but you looked so fab you must've drawn all the punters in.
    Cornbury seems like such a relaxed festival and Kinky Melon is looking gorgeous, I love the floor!!
    Hope the next one's good. xxx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Have an amazing time at your next festival! You do have the best job in the world. And you and your sewing machine are wonderful. I think your ideas for repurposing clothes are always spot on!

    ReplyDelete
  10. So much fabulousness here, Vix! You look like you've been busy, and happy to hear you did so well at the festival. Lovely pictures! Glad to hear so many people are getting on the vintage bandwagon! Good luck on the next one!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Where on earth do both of you get all of your energy from? I need to tap into that well.

    Hope you have another brilliant festival!

    Suzanne
    http://www.suzannecarillo.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. You don't *have* the best job... you *do* the best job! It's amazing how well you look while you are doing it too!

    ReplyDelete
  13. So glad you had another fantastic year at Cornbury, it would be wonderful to be there, so many lovely people! Squeeze would have been excellent, Glenn Tillbrook has played in Canberra previously and is great live. All the very best with your next festival, I look forward to the next update!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Fun in the sun! Your set-up seems huge! And what wonderful rugs -- but one hopes Jon allowed a local wizard to levitate them into place.

    It's good to see you surrounded by smiling faces and repeat customers, Vix. I do like the look of Lili's straw hat!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Your booth, your dresses, your friends - all so fab. You guys work hard, and seem to love it all. That's the life. xox

    http://notdeadyetstyle.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. You look so tiny next to the Hairy Bikers. Glad it all went so brilliantly , the weather was glorious . Your set up is fabulous , no wonder it was such as success. Best wishes for the next one. No need to tell you to enjoy yourself, you will.xx

    ReplyDelete
  17. How fun that you met up with the Hairy Bikers, they aire that show here in Australia too! What a fab time, I would have loved to buy a thing or two from your wardrobe! Have fun doing it all again tomorrow. Xxx

    ReplyDelete
  18. You may have the best job in the world but you work damn hard at it. Glad you had such a blast and good luck for the next one. xx

    ReplyDelete
  19. I always love your festival posts, particularly this one is so damn fabulous!, you look gorgeous, the stall looks really appealing and the people looks fabulous!, everything and everybody is colorful and put a smile on my face!
    besos

    ReplyDelete
  20. It all looks simply amazing and the outfits, yours included, looked fabulous! How brilliant you have wonderful weather too....
    xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  21. Phew I feel worn out hearing your account of Cornbury. It looks great though, not too crowded, lovely folk and great music....Squeeze! Hope the next one goes just as well. xx

    ReplyDelete
  22. Oh it sounds fab! So busy- hope you made some good money for all your hard work!

    You're going to Larmer Tree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went there for a wedding in April- it is sooooooo beautiful! All the peacocks! We stayed at a lovely B&B just up the road there- so nice!

    ReplyDelete
  23. That looks fantastic! I hope the Larmer Tree goes as well for you. (People offered you money for your outfits? Some big repro firm should give you the chance to design a Vix range for them, each garment with extra buttons or trim so no two will look the same. COLOURS FOR EVERYONE.)

    How nice to hear the Hairy Bikers are such decent chaps too. It's always good when people who are famous turn out to be as nice in person as they come across on screen.

    ReplyDelete
  24. thats a great a pic of you with the hairy bikers, you like tiny too! great dress. What a great job you have indeed although I don't doubt it's very hard work and long hours.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Lucky you meeting the hairy bikers. I always watch their show when I can.
    That looked like a glorious colourful weekend. Good luck for the next !

    ReplyDelete
  26. The biker feast sounds like it would of been tasty. Your outfits were amazing!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  27. What's the secret behind your enviable endless supply of energy? You look fabulous as usual and the festival looks like it was a blast. And you got to see Squeeze! Love em.

    Theresa

    ReplyDelete
  28. Sounds like an amazing and very busy weekend! Lovely that you get to meet so many blog followers when you are out and about.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I seriously
    enjoyed reading it, you might be a great author.I will ensure that
    I bookmark your blog and may come back very soon. I want to encourage one to continue your
    great posts, have a nice day!

    ReplyDelete
  30. You DO have an amazing job - getting to meet all kinds of interesting folks, watching them find something on your rails that makes them smile - sounds good to me. I can't believe how hot it is over in England. 41 degrees is insane! We've had a few days with 40 degree humidity and it is GROSS.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hi Vix- you have an amazing job and great lifestyle! I just sent my friend Richard to say hi to you at the Larmer Tree festival and to tell you I love your blog. He said you said to say hi so here I am! I'll be sure to comment in the future.
    I look forward to your festival posts as I'm a keen festival goer but as we live in France only get to one or two a year.
    Love from the Languedoc!

    ReplyDelete
  32. It seems that Cornbury was a lot of fun! I'm not surprised you refused to sell your outfits. I think when we really get attached to clothes, it means we are meant to keep it.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading and for leaving a message. Please don't be anonymous, I'd love it if you left a name (or a nom de plume).

Lots of love, Vix