the new Samphire Festival is small and perfectly formed

Samphire Festival, the fastest crowd funded UK festival to date, had its debut this year and turned out an eclectic mix of music and an even more eclectic mix of festival goers.

Sold as 'two days, two nights, two stages' and run by Flora, a music journalist & radio DJ, and Josh, a music collector & DJ, we had high hopes Samphire would land well, first time.  The setting, Porlock Hill in Somerset, beautifully portrayed in the photos we saw before arrival, provided a raw and expansive backdrop to our weekend.    

Before I delve into the actual festival, the journey there needs a mention. To help negate any traffic snarl ups, the organisers had set up a detour that rather than taking you directly to the site, led you past, alongside and then into the car park. Annoying? No, not at all. It meant we travelled up stunning winding roads, through thick forest lanes along the coast and past tractors trimming hedges. It was obviously a well thought out diversion. We had also picked up a hitch hiker, Rosalind, a local lady who was involved with a dance troupe performing at Samphire, so we were treated to a personal and knowledgeable tour of the country side.

On arrival we were greeted with helpers pointing us to a well-structured car park. Seeing lots of long grass made me happy as rain had been predicted and thoughts of muddy hill slides in the car had entered my mind. I needn't had worried though; it was spacious and even with the rain that did eventually arrive, the car park was completely mud-free the whole weekend.

Friendly faces greeted us at the security bag search. We had arrived fairly early on the Friday and there wasn't any queue, so we sailed straight through. Wristbands on, we headed to drop our bags in the boutique camp site. Being a 1000 person capacity festival, the whole site was within easy reach and camping was no different.  Both general and boutique were nestled together on the highest part of the festival; this gave you a stunning view over the beach, out onto the Bristol Channel and all the way across to southern Wales.  Bags dropped and with a quick addition of sequin and spandex clothing, we were set.

We made the very short journey from camping to the main site, stopping on the way at the loos. Festival toilets are always a bit like Russian roulette, I don't think I need to explain why, however at Samphire we found the cleanest toilets ever, all weekend long. I don't know how they managed this, but there was never a queue, and they were truly spotless every time we needed them.

Next stop; food and drinks. There were enough food stall to cater for all tastes, with gluten-free and vegetarian options. Friendly vendors helped us to decide what we ate each day; two massaman curries set us back £14 on the Friday and the same for a salmon omelette and breakfast bap on Saturday. Beer (proper beer actually, no watered down Tuborg here!) was £4.50 a pint and offered a choice of local craft beers and cider if you didn't fancy a lager, and water was standard festival pricing at £2.00 a bottle.

As the music hadn't quite started yet, we took a stroll through the trader area to see what was up for grabs. The most popular was Squiggles and Wiggles who seemed to manage to paint some fantastic designs on just about everyone in attendance. From butterflies, hearts, pineapples (!) and intricate flower designs, they managed to create some unbelievable designs that lasted throughout the night.

We also took a look in the Bundle Beds stall; on sale was an all-in-one roll out air mattress with pillow and sleeping bag. Great idea, but a little out of our budget. After the window shopping we found ourselves hearing some of the first acts starting so headed out for some dancing.

First stop was the Wizard Factory tent that housed the electronic music for the weekend. Jacques Adda, and Onlyz played back to back and dropped some lovely upbeat disco infused house that got the crowd going. Big smiles all round and a perfect start to our weekend.

Next up, one of our favourites from the weekend, Scarlett House DJs J & Leo. Playing the type of tracks that get the crowd pumping, they switched back and forth, mixing at the same time and giving us exactly what we wanted; bass-heavy thumping beats propelling us into the night. The London based duo played a flawless set, including their hit Bring It Back which was a definite highlight.

We had now wandered back to the Wild Stage where we caught No Go Stop bringing the crowd into an afrobeat frenzy. Some songs would not be out of place in a Shaft movie, with Marie Lister's soul fused vocals mixing with brass and percussion and culminating in a 'soundoff' finale between keys and trumpet that had the crowd of all ages swinging to and fro.
 
Saturday started with some lovely sunshine and a chance to sit out in the open at the Wild Stage where we caught pretty much the entire day's musicians, but three stood out the most.

Josh Savage played late afternoon and really caught our attention. Born in England, he grew up in Paris and has learnt to play plenty of instruments including the trumpet, piano and guitar. Hugely interactive with the crowd, he played one catchy tune after another. Bella and Lost in Paris were our top picks, and he finished off by getting the crowd involved singing along with 'Oh la la la's'.

Hunter and The Bear performed early evening and brought some upbeat folk to the main stage. There was some searing guitars courtesy of Jimmy and amazing gravel-voiced lead vocals thanks to Will. They were a delight to watch, pulling some emotionally charged faces as the high winds swept through an abundance of flowing hair and beards.    

Our final favourite was Will And The People who closed the Wild Stage to a very happy crowd. Finding a band with such a diverse range of songs is a true rarity and we found ourselves regularly swopping bemused looks as they switched between reggae, ska and some afrobeat numbers. The lyrics were super uplifting and the band has endless energy; they pulled the biggest crowd we saw the entire weekend and they stayed till the very end, despite the rain that had arrived. An excellent choice and I estimate sales of bucket hats will increase after half the band were rocking some lovely head gear.

There are a few things we think that could be improved upon, starting with the lack of much else going on other than the music. If you're no stranger to the festival scene and are used to a bit more to do in terms of creativity and interactivity – you might come away slightly disappointed. The site is plenty big enough to have more going on other than one stage, one tent and a few things for the kiddies to do.
We felt there was a shortage of the usual festival stalls too, with there only being one tiny tent for a headdresses and capes, the charity tent and a tent for getting glittered up. As a first time festival perhaps the waters were being tested this year, but it's always nice to have a bit more choice when you're looking around for weekend souvenirs or treasures to bolster up your festival wardrobe. Finally, some of the food prices were a little extortionate; paying £7 for an omelette with a little smoked salmon seemed a bit steep. This however is an on-going gripe many punters have at a lot of festivals, so nothing new here.

All-in-all though, if you are in the market for an easy going, family friendly festival in beautiful surroundings, this is the one for you. It's perfect for families and festival first timers, and people looking for a rural escape accompanied by great live music. An awesome attempt for a festival debut from Samphire, big congratulations guys! 

 

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