Summer of Love - The Cornbury Festival 2019

 With a turnaround time of just twenty-four hours, Wednesday morning saw us driving south yet again, this time to the Cornbury Music Festival in the heart of the glorious Cotswolds. We squealed with delight at seeing our festival trader family again, some of whom we'd only said goodbye to a couple of days ago at Glastonbury. After spending eight hours setting up - and chatting excitedly with our friends - we collapsed into bed just after 9pm, Glasto had all but wiped us out.

 After an eleven hour sleep marathon we tweaked the stall a little more and then went off for a wander around the site. There's something magical about being at a festival before it opens its gates to the public, the energy is almost palpable as the crew frantically rush about putting the final touches in place. 

The afternoon was spent lazing in the sunshine, interrupted only to make a few sales to crew members and fellow traders.

 Cornbury opened to the public at 10am on Friday morning and, with the temperature already hitting the heady heights of 24°C, we were ready for them.

My psychedelic print cotton maxi was a gift from Ann & Jos and the 1980s sequinned bustier a car boot find five years ago (apparently after the age of 50 bustiers are a massive no-no - you can see how bothered I am). Jon's 1950s Banner shirt used to be on the Kinky rails until he saw sense, his Levis' Pantella shorts came from a flea market in Goa a decade ago and the 1950s Stetson trilby was embellished with feathers we'd found on yesterday's adventure.

Just as in previous years we were visited by roving entertainers.

Kinky Melon was visited by Echo and the Bunnymen earlier in the day so I thought I'd return the favour, collecting neighbours Donna and Winnie from Red-Leb and catching part of their killer set on the Pleasant Valley stage where they reeled out the classic trio of ‘Bring On The Dancing Horses’, ‘The Cutter’ and ‘Killing Moon’instantly transporting me back to Sixth Form . Jon & I had last seen them live in 2007 and I'm happy to report that they were just as good twelve years later although I get the feeling that a lot of the crowd didn't understand Ian McCulloch's strong Liverpudlian accent.

We were further spellbound by a group of hot air balloons gently passing overhead during the Bunnymen's set.

Friday night's headliners were The Specials who were phenomenal although many of the ultra posh people in the crowd didn't know what to make of them dedicating The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum to Boris Johnson (although we loved it!) After watching the set us and End of the Road festival  Shaun from Shilpa Silver hit the Disco Shed for some late night dance action (not all that late though, the arena closes at midnight).

Unusually for Cornbury, Saturday was dull and overcast with rain forecast for the afternoon. In the five years we've traded there it's always been glorious. Not that it hindered anybody's enjoyment. The kids (and their parents) threw themselves into the drumming workshop in the kids' field opposite.

  

Trevor Horn and his band played the Pleasant Valley stage on Saturday afternoon treating the crowd to everything from Slave To The Rhythm, Rubber Bullets, The Power of Love and Relax. We didn't need to venture from our pitch to hear the set perfectly.

 Remember last year's Scooby-Doo gang? This year they'd come as cheerleaders. One of the gang bought a vintage military jacket from us which they think may be inspiration for next year's theme.

Photo taken by Andrea and borrowed from her Facebook page.

As promised the rain made an appearance but it failed to dampen our (or our customers' spirits). On Saturday Jon wore the shirt Ann & Jos had given him when we met up a fortnight ago and I wore one of my Dollyrockers dresses.

Emma decided to leave wearing the pink Anokhi dress she'd bought from us, Suzy and Sharon came away with a tan leather coat, 1960s suede skirt, fringed cowboy boots and the twin to the Dollyrockers dress I'm wearing in the above photo and Laura bought this 1980s Anime-inspired sailor dress.

 The lovely couple on the left came back to show us how happy they were with the 1980s leisure shirt and Moroccan leather belt they'd bought the day before, Annabelle from Jack FM bought this 1970s Prova maxi and this cool dude was so happy with his 1960s batik shirt that he returned with a gang of friends so that they too could rummage our rails.

The psychedelic 1960s hooded robe went to this gorgeous lady who brought her brother back to try on the 1960s raincoat, Andrea's wearing a vintage Mexican handloom cotton blouse and Mary a 1960s Lurex cocktail top in baby blue and Vronni's  rock star brother Julian bought this 1970s Indian block print shirt to wear on stage for his headline set with Steeleye Span.

The lovely Hairy Biker, Dave Myers and his wife shopped with us last year & we were thrilled to see them again. This time Dave bought a super loud 1980s Yves St Laurent shirt and invited us over to see Si's band, Little Moscow play the Campsite Stage at 11pm. Andrea's wearing a vintage midi skirt and Mary's wearing a psychedelic headscarf (tied by me - all part of the Kinky service!)

The rain stopped just in time to catch Saturday night headliners Keane play the Pleasant Valley stage to a crowd packed with adoring fans. Si's band was great fun, just as Dave had promised they would be.

Walsall friends Liz and Adrian came to visit (Cornbury is their first ever festival) but, as they both had to be at work on Monday morning, left on Sunday afternoon.

Traditionally Sunday is a slow trading day for us as most people like to buy their vintage at the start of the festival and wear it all weekend, but after a slow start trade was brisk. 

The sun made a welcome return and we and our trader friends were able to bask in the sunshine.

Cornbury's not Cornbury without a pair of cat ears.

Donna and Mandy (from Chameleon) with Sammy & Nicola from Lick.

I ran down to the main stage to catch a bit of the Beach Boys featuring co-founder Mike Love and long term member Bruce Johnston, a wonderfully mellow end to another fabulous weekend.

Yesterday we packed up the remains of our stock, took the stall down, waved goodbye to our trading friends, several of whom we won't see for another year, and got back into the house late in the afternoon. After unloading the van, tackling a week's worth of washing and trying to tame a garden gone feral over the past fortnight we're fit to drop - thank goodness we've got this weekend off!

Thanks Cornbury, you've been amazing! See you next year.