FESTIVALS - (in fields, with camping)

No camping but am going to a Chilli Festival this weekend.

Hope your come-down isn't too vicious. 

There were two Storytelling marquees with stages. The larger with amplification and the smaller without. All the sessions were programmed, with most sessions lasting an hour. The events all kept to time, with a large clock at the back of each marquee for the storyteller to observe. In most sessions, the teller told several stories of varying lengths, usually themed or linked. There were a few epic sessions of just part of one very long story. It was all in English although international storytellers mixed in their own languages (Portuguese, Dutch, French, Welsh). There was also a marquee for Music, mainly Folk or related, and a smaller one for Workshops and open Story Rounds, with everyone seated in one circle. And a Children's Tent with a fifth programme.

Like at any Festival, everyone keeps encountering new people and old acquaintances as they visit the venues or buy food or drink or crafts, or just wander about the site. The venues were dispersed across the whole site, including the two camping fields. As I took down my tent, I saw that one of the storytellers had been camping two tents away from mine.

There was no difficulty getting a seat at anything I selected - unlike at other Storytelling Festivals I've attended which have included some indoor venues with limited capacity and which quickly fill up.

Most of the Music sessions were one-offs but each Storyteller gave up to four full sessions each, with no repetition of programme, so you could choose to "follow" storytellers through the weekend, or decide that once was enough.