Womad, 2023

Womad has travelled the world since 1982, bringing artists to twenty-seven countries and entertaining over one million people but last weekend was the first we'd been to.

Non-food traders had the option of arriving on either Tuesday or Wednesday and after consulting the weather forecast, decided Tuesday looked like the best option. We got to Charlton Park in Wiltshire at 11am, an hour and a half after leaving home, and by 9pm & fuelled by cheese sandwiches & the odd cheeky alcoholic drink, our roaming retro boutique was ready to rock and roll. After an early night, we spent Wednesday morning catching up with our trader mates before rain stopped play. By 3.30pm it was so wet, cold and miserable we zipped up our awning and spent the remainder of Wednesday reading and drinking whilst wearing all the layers.

Although the main arena wasn't due to open to the public until 2pm on Thursday, by midday we'd already made a few sales to excited punters. The weather was mercifully kind. Although rain had been forecast it stayed dry and warm enough to wear a skimpy lurex off-the-shoulder crop top (that's me, not Lord Jon!)

It wasn't so busy that I couldn't escape for half an hour, collect friend & fellow trader Jan and have a quick rummage in the Oxfam tent. Although a lot of the stock was quite pricey (we spotted a vintage Welsh wool blanket for £180 & some worn Birkenstocks for £47), I scored a beautiful early 70s Anokhi midi skirt for an absolute steal.

Trade continued at a decent pace until we rolled down the shop front at 10.30pm, just in time for the heavens to open. I'd expected Womad to be like Cornbury and for the main arena to be dead by 11pm but I couldn't have been more wrong. The soundclash from the hideous screams of someone being chainsawed to death emitting from the Ghost Train combined with the din from the drum 'n' bass tent went on till gone 3am and like idiots we'd forgotten to pack our earplugs!  

Despite the lack of sleep the previous evening, on Friday it was horns at dawn.

Having heard numerous reports about Womad being over-traded, we were pleasantly surprised by the steady stream of customers and, as always, hugely flattered by the positive feedback and love for our "proper vintage". It's such a boost when people tell us it's obvious that our stock is lovingly handpicked and not bought by the kilo from wholesalers.

The Womad festival goers are a stylish bunch - check out Cathy's outfit. Isn't she fabulous?

After rolling down the shopfront we had another early-ish night and although the Ghost Train and Drum 'n' Bass were still blasting out into the early hours, we both managed a decent night's sleep.

Despite a drizzly start to the day, Saturday turned out to gloriously warm and sunny and the thermometer in our awning measured a very pleasant 26°C. The sunshine brought out the shoppers and we were rushed off our feet for most of the day, we were so busy that we didn't even open the bar till 3pm! The organisers had emailed earlier in the day to warn of high winds, the festival trader's nightmare. Fortunately for us we always bring loads of ratchet straps & extra tent pegs and survived the 40 mph gusts unscathed  - unlike a poor food trader behind us who lost his gazebo!

On Saturday night we closed at 10pm and ventured out. 

Womad by night is gorgeous. We wandered through the wonderfully tranquil Enchanted Forest (aka The Arboretum). After such a glorious day, it absolutely pissed it down but it would take more than a deluge to ruin our fun.

 

We wandered through the cleanest festival campsite we'd ever encountered and joined the queue for the Museum of the Moon.

UK artist Luke Jerram's travelling artwork, The Museum of the Moon, measures seven metres in diameter and features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface. At an approximate scale of 1:500,000, each centimetre of the internally lit spherical sculpture represents 5 km of the moon's surface.

Soaked to the skin but totally chilled after such a serene experience, we warmed up with mugs of tea and tumbled into bed in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Sunday went from Womad to Whoa, mud!! The rain started at 10am and continued for the rest of the day. A tad optimistically I trudged to the traders' compost loos in my Tevas but we both changed into our wellies (always stashed away in the van) when the water started seeping through the flooring.

We expected business to be abysmal but Womad punters are a hardcore bunch and it was another cracking day for trade.

This Christian Audigier for Ed Hardy sequin-embellished, tattoo-print eyelet maxi was a £3 find in the clearance chazza and got lots of love. Several women told me I'd inspired them to go back to their tents, change into something fabulous and say to hell with the mud.  

Good old British Summertime...and people question why we travel abroad so often!

I'd planned to take photos of all the fabulous stalls but only managed one, near neighbour Holi Moli. Em sells some gorgeous block printed clothes and Indian textiles, all made in Jaipur. 

After rolling down the shopfront for the last time, we threw a few cans of gin into my Glastonbury tote bag and headed in the direction of the music.

We were thrilled to discover that Soul II Soul were headlining on Sunday night (the poster I'd shared on my last post made no mention of them). Mercifully they were on the Siam Stage, which was undercover and there was just about enough room for us to squeeze inside.

What a show! 

We wandered over to the main stage to watch some of Femi Kuti's mesmerising set and spotted Joe, our trader neighbour from Glastonbury but at Womad as a punter, rocking the white 1980s ski suit he'd bought off us earlier.

Back at the Kinky stall we packed up the stock, had a mug of tea and set the alarm for 6am the following morning, in the hope that we could break the stall down and get everything in the van before the forecasted rain arrived. With a few interruptions to help push fellow traders' vans out of the quagmire,  we managed to get off site just after 1pm and were welcomed home by a very happy William a couple of hours later. 

I nicked this off the Womad Facebook page - this is the festival campsite on Monday afternoon. No litter, no mess, no abandoned tents. Weather issues aside, Womad really was wonderful but, if you're still unconvinced, read The Guardian's review HERE. 

Let's hope I can get all the mud-soaked stock washed in time for our next festival and yes, before you ask, the earplugs are already in the van....

See you soon!