All at Sea, Beautiful Days 2025

We're back from Beautiful Days, the festival founded and run by The Levellers, the anarcho-punk band who, in 1994, performed on the Pyramid Stage at Glasto to a record crowd of 300,000 and who take their name from the 17th century political movement which rose to prominence during the English Civil War, fighting for equality, tolerance and universal suffrage (amen to that!) First held in 2003, Beautiful Days has no corporate sponsorship or branding and has been described as the festival that sells out ... by not selling out.

We left home just after 7am last Tuesday, rocking up at Escot Park in Devon three and a half hours later. After what seemed like an absolute age, by 1pm the following day we were finally set up, making our first sale (some red leather biker boots) to one of the crew.  

As usual, we were sited directly opposite the main stage. Trading up a hill has its challenges, every rail has to be lashed down with heavy duty stakes with cable ties arranged at sporadic intervals along the rails to stop the clothes sliding to the front. It takes a lot of patience (and much swearing) for Jon to position the van on chocks and even then we still roll out of bed and wake up with our faces pressed up against its side panels but it's a small price to pay to be right in the centre of the action. A couple of years ago, in a scene reminiscent of The Prisoner, one of the paper lampshades we used to suspend from the ceiling fell off and rolled down the hill with me chasing it all the way to the main stage! 

 

On Wednesday, after we'd finally got everything how we wanted it, we had a wander around the site, catching up with our trading family. 

Tuesday had been scorching, Wednesday had been cloudy and cool and on Thursday morning we were treated to torrential rain but, by the time the gates had opened to the public it was gloriously warm and sunny. 

We'd never known a Thursday at Beautiful Days to be so busy and we'd covered all our costs before closing time. 

Wanna look round the shop? 

Friday was glorious! 

Vintage psych skirt courtesy of Ann & Jos, lurex crop top courtesy of Liz

Not a cloud in the sky!

This was the temperature in our shop! 

Jon's one of those influencers...Shaun loved the vintage Stetson he was wearing so much that he bought this 1950s Dunn & Co. beauty from us.

 

The Levellers open the festival, performing in the Big Top, on the other side of the main stage.

It takes a very determined shopper to reach our stall - but somehow they do! 

Frank Turner ( I know my friend Sheila & L are huge fans - this is for you!) headlined on Friday night but, for us, Terrorvision was the highlight...Tequila, it makes me happy....

That's until we caught Pete Doherty's set in the Big Top after we'd closed. I didn't think I could love him any more but when he introduced that Mike Joyce was on drums and then him doing a cover of Panic, this long-time fan of The Smiths couldn't have been happier. 

Saturday was another scorcher. When I came back from the portaloos at 8am there were already people camped out under the shelters, keen to get a good spot for The Sex Pistols. 

Photo-bomb!!!

The Kairos opened the main stage, they were amazing, a great sound with all the swagger of Oasis.

The line-up was phenomenal - we didn't have a programme so I can't remember everyone who played the main stage but Panic Shack and Kula Shaker were brilliant and Shed Seven blew me away especially when they covered There is a Light That Never Goes Out. 

How beautiful was our neighbour, Marie? She wore a different wig every night, Saturday's look was definitely giving off some Cher vibes.

Me, Marie and Michelle from Chillo, our BD neighbours for the last three years. Marie's 1980s black leather jacket was a Kinky Melon purchase. I'm racking my brain trying to remember the name of her stall....arghhh!

Liz's mum reminded me of this skullcap my mum often wore in the 1970s - she made it in homage to Odyssey and wore it loads. 

This fella had us in stitches, he was throwing shapes for hours and was still at it the next day.

The Sex Pistols didn't disappoint...Frank Carter brings so much energy and it's clear his bandmates adore him. I reckon ex-punk Ann (Polyester Princess) would have approved, too! 

After the main stage closed we headed up into the woods with a picnic blanket and a bag of booze. Just like last year we bumped into pals, Ellie and Jim from Karma Gear and sat beneath a spectacular blood red crescent moon sharing travel tales and festival trading adventures until we realised it was 2.40am and we had to be up at 8am.

Despite the lack of sleep we were up before the alarm. Sunday at Beautiful Days means dressing-up day. This year's theme was All at Sea.

Jon didn't join in with the theme, going off-piste with a punk cowboy mash-up.  His vintage bondage trousers were replaced by shorts a couple of hours later as, despite a coolish start, it was another HOT one. 

I was a horny mermaid. Along with the mirror, the fridge and the changing room stool, my trademark head dress also broke on the journey to Devon - thank goodness AsBeaAu were onsite so Kathryn could fix it for me! Several regulars were disappointed to see me without my horns when they popped in, I'm known as Horny Lady at Beautiful Days!

I spotted this sequinned fishtail maxi on Vinted, it still had the original £160 Karen Millen price tag attached (I paid £8), my Botticelli Birth of Venus corset was £2. 

With a pair of tickets for next year's festival up for grabs, the Beautiful Days crowd go all-out with their costumes. It was hilarious to see sharks, jellyfish and sea anemones going wild in the mosh pit to Therapy? 

Talking of Therapy? when they said that they were going to play a traditional Irish folk song they'd sung at school we thought we were in for some fiddle-de-de music (Jon's worst nightmare), turned out it was a song that went...James Joyce f*cked my sister....hilarious! 

We love these guys - how fab do they look?

The glamour of being a festival trader! 

And all too soon it was Sunday night and the grand finale, The Levellers closing the main stage followed by the fireworks. 

After the crowd had made their way from the main arena to the bars (or back to the campsite) we cracked open cans of mojitos and sat under the stars till way too late chatting with friends Jenny and Michelle.

On Monday breakdown took us just under six hours and, leaving nothing but an indentation on the grass (and binbag full of cans in the recycle bin) we made our way back up to the Midlands, arriving at Gloucester Services three and a half hours later for our traditional almost home posh pie. 

Beautiful Days, we loved every minute...this time next week we'll be at End of the Road. 

GOAT, Self Esteem, Caribou, Viagra Boys, Black Country, New Road and The Throwing Muses...bring it on!

 

If I don't post again before we go, I'll see you in September!