Two weekends of mud can hit you fairly hard if you aren't a 'hardened' festival goer. This little festival near Welshpool in north Wales is a little revelation. As we wound on down the road, we saw a couple of signs for Llanfyllin, and before you know it, the site appears just like magic. The local town is only 5 minutes walk up the road.
We park up in the field opposite (£5 for parking) in an already lovely muddy field. We queue up to get our wristband (2 minutes walk), and it appears that the queue for A – O is somewhat longer than the P – Z one. However if you have kids you can dive straight in. We queue for an hour and talk to some of the others in the queue. A good mood all around, especially as there is no rain as of yet (muddy though). We get in and chose a camp-able spot as it is filling up quite quickly. There is a family area, and general camping. Tent up, beer in hand – let's mooch.
A few stalls (usual hippy garb) and a café area near the entrance lead us to a little bridge into the main arena. Straight in front is the Baa stage, and the first act I really listen to is The Destroyers. They are barmy, but are very tight as a band with Mr Paul Murphy doing vocals on half the songs. A mixture of jazz, ska, and Latin rhythms keep the tempo well up, and the dancing was just as fun to watch as the band. Very good, considering I had just missed one of my local favs the Cracked Actors. There are a good selection of bands, especially ska-type ones, which makes the time flow together. I was a tad munted by early evening but I made it to the main stage for Nik Turner's Inner City Unit. As an old Hawkwind fan, I knew vaguely what to expect. The tent was pretty packed, with fairly clear sound, and every hippy on the site was there. As per usual, the soundscaping was great, and before I knew it, it was over, with Nik being the last one to leave the stage. We wandered over to the café which appeared to stay open all night, and proceeded to chill until the early hours (repeated over the next couple of nights as well).
After more rain, Saturday's bands included: Baka Beyond - very good melodies, with an ace combination of world type beats. 3 minute warning – catchy punk ska, with an Iggy type stage invasion, they should be big, and thus deserve to be. Sunday's bands: Los Albertos – totally barmy. Transglobal Underground – well you know what to expect and they delivered it well, very well. These are the ones that I remember, but the selection of bands covered many different genres.
There are stalls, food café's, and a couple of bars (Organic Ale from Bath – Wild Hare!). About half a dozen large tent stages (very handy given the weather) and the Courtyard stage (local young bands). The toilets are the 'turdis' type, with urinals for the blokes, which did seem to fill quite quickly. The campsite ones were full all weekend, but they did bring some more in. Someone did a turd in one of the urinals – lovely!
There are some early arrivals who have got live in vehicles who have a side of the campsite. Lots of different types, including new edition VW campers, ambulances and buses of all descriptions. Presumably extra cost to park it up, but it made sense with the rain.
Watching the kids in the mud having the battle of their lives was hilarious, while dressed up in pirate and other various outfits. Some quite blantly just fell in the mud, and the smiles were great to see. Kids love mud, because they know that they get away with this once a year. Mind you the parents were sitting in the bar keeping an eye on them.
An issue of security is noted. There were a few of the local 'lads' jumping the fence near the little river, as well as some thieving from tents was reported.
This festival may not happen next year, as the land may be bought by developers. So support this festival, it's a great little fest. The team who run this are really committed to it. The locals support it. It's safe for kids. People are friendly, and after Glasto weekend – just what I wanted. A couple of carloads will be there next year!
Workhouse Festival 
