Buckle and Boots is a small country/Americana music festival that happens every May at Whitebottom Farm in Stockport, UK. With its first year in 2016 hosting artists like Ward Thomas and Jade Helliwell, Buckle and Boots has continued to promote and support our homegrown artists.

This year saw singer songwriter, Emilia Quinn, make her debut headline slot on the Friday night – a story sweet enough to be its own country song. Quinn first played on the Paddock Stage (the smaller of the two stages) in a daytime slot five years ago. Each year, her slots carried more weight and this year she played the ultimate Friday night, Main Stage, finish with a bang, headline slot. And the crowd loved it.

The festival is small and friendly – a place that’s perfectly safe to arrive on your own and leave with a tonne of new friends. Whether you’ve met on a haybale watching a daytime act or in the flowery bus enjoying an impromptu jam with some of the musicians, the whole site is full of people who are coming together in their shared passion – country music. I can tell you where you won’t meet someone though…the queue for the lady’s toilet. And I mean this in the best possible way because – and maybe I just got lucky every time – but there was never a queue! This almost never happens for us girlies and it was glorious.

I arrived on my own with a tent that needed at least two people to pitch it. Confident in my abilities as an independent woman, I really gave it my all but to no avail. It took roughly three minutes before my neighbours asked if I needed help – thank you girls – and the family across the way pumped up my airbed for me (I did have a pump, it just needed my car which was over yonder in the car park).

For a small festival, there was plenty of choices for food and drinks. From wood fired pizzas, to big meaty burgers and Asian cuisine – all appetites and cravings were catered for. And very reasonably priced, too. It’s easy to hoik up prices when you’re ‘trapped’ at a festival and yes, if you’re feeding a whole family, then it will be an expensive venture to eat out of the vans all weekend but, with just one mouth to feed, I very much enjoyed sampling what was on offer.

The festival runs its bars on a token system which makes queuing much quicker. There’s a kiosk at the far end of the bar where you can buy your tokens – including your cup – and then you can head on down to the bar. Tokens can be returned for cash along with cups. If you see people with towers of cups on the Sunday – that is quite possibly why. Come to think of it, my cup did go missing a few times…

You’re also more than likely to come away with some kind of new country apparel. This year, there was Vera Black, Boho Buffalo and the Boot and Hat Store kitting out patrons in the latest western wear.

And now for the music. Two stages – Main Stage and Paddock Stage – provide a back-to-back line up of top-quality UK and US country across the whole weekend. What’s great, too, is that there is never a huge overlap in the slots for the two stages, so you can wander back and forth to catch it all. The festival draws big US country names like Canaan Cox, Maggie Baugh and Dan Smalley and holds space for up-and-coming UK artists like Katie Rigby and Jake O’Neill.

Canaan Cox really brought the party to Friday night and set the crowd up with high energy songs like ‘J.O.Y’ – demonstrating his talents on the fiddle – and ‘End Up In A Song’ – my personal favourite. Cox brings his personality to the stage and the crowd loved him and his stories about his relationship with his wife.

Saturday saw the likes of Wood Burnt Red – UK country band under the management of Zimagined – put on a great show with their full band and the day was rounded off with Ian Flannigan from the US and the Red Solo Cup country club night.

Sunday brought us the gregarious Maggie Baugh – a soul so humble and fun and left it all out on the stage. Performing songs like ‘Burn Out’ and her new number, ‘Would Have Left First’ (out soon), she too demonstrated her multi-instrumental abilities and absolutely tore up the fiddle. I mean, literally, the strings on the bow were flying off by the end of her set. She made a fan’s day by handing them her bow as she finished. There was not one millimetre of the stage left untouched by her and her high energy performance.

Dan Smalley brought the show with his Sunday set, warming the hearts of his fans with songs like ‘Mr Jerry’s Ghost’ – and the impossible story that goes with it.

The weekend is also littered with great talents playing writers rounds and talking about the work and the stories behind their songs – a more intimate feel that you don’t necessarily get at the bigger festivals or the arena tours.

A real highlight of the weekend was the closing set on Sunday night – The Country Orchestra. This set invites artists from across the weekend to perform iconic songs from the genre and it was a perfect way to close out the festival. With treats from friends of the festival like Kezia Gill and Jade Helliwell, the show was non-stop energy and good vibes from all artists and orchestra members.

Not ready to go home after the final act? No problem, the barn hosts an after party every night until around 2am where you can carry on line-dancing, chatting and making new pals.

The forecast this year was bleak, with storms and a full day of rain expected for the Saturday night into Sunday. However, the gods of weather were gracious, and the sun shone for most of the weekend, with only bursts of rain on the Sunday. Even so, both stages are sheltered so, had we had the weather that was predicted, there is plenty of space to go undercover and still appreciate the music.

This was my first year at Buckle and Boots. I went alone and left with loads of new friends, received an incredibly warm welcome by those running the festival and cannot wait to go again next year. It certainly is family centred – it’s suitable for families and the whole weekend feels like an annual family get together.

I will say one thing, though, do not leave your camping chair unattended, you never know where it might end up…