The Big Feastival is always one of our favourite festivals to go to. Just 45 minutes drive from where we live in the heart of the cotswolds, it feels pretty local and we always feel at home there.

The Big Feastival is always busy but that doesn’t ruin the experience in any way. We always head straight for food first. It’s a feastival, that’s what you’re meant to do!!! There are so many options obviously so it was pretty hard to settle on what we wanted but in the end we opted for the Japanese Rice Bowls and didn’t regret it!

We went for Steak Teriyaki and it filled us up. Very tasty and very hot as we added the Layu Chilli oil.

Next up we headed to The Smokery to settle down at The Sundown Saloon! The Sundown Saloon is The Big Feastival’s new Country Music Stage. I believe that this is the second year it has been running! We were there last year and were so glad to see the return of it this year!

This year, the stage was much improved by being bigger and better! So many acts we know and love were on across the weekend but we were only able to attend the Friday!

The first act we caught was Thomas Ashby! A Folk/Blues/Jazz artist. Ashby performed a solo acoustic set and was met with a good crowd! A sensational voice and a really warming personality, Ashby’s performance was full of stunning songs that were played to perfection. Even Percy The Pig (from M&S Percy Pig Sweets) made an appearance and applauded his performance.

If you like artists such as Damian Rice and Newton Faulkner then Thomas Ashby should be right up your street. We will certainly be taking a listen to his music from now on! A cover of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon closed a fabulous set of original material which included songs such as Clouds are Clearing, Better and Vicarious.

Next up on our list to see was our friend Katy Hurt. Now we have only known Katy for about a year and this, can you believe it, was our first time seeing her live!!!! What have we been doing all of this time? Katy was an excellent booking, so well done Big Feastival.

Katy Hurt was flawless from start to finish and more than exceeded our expectations. What I love about a non-country music festival is witnessing new fans of the genre being born! Katy drew in a large crowd which kept getting bigger the more people heard her sing. A UK artist who grew up in the US for a long period of time, Hurt’s accent was adorably all over the place, making it hard for people to place her.

A Blend of Pop/traditional country at its best, Katy, for us, was on par with the US country female artists who are killing it in the genre right now! Fun crowd interaction moments came from See Ya Later, energy came from Revved Up and emotional moments came from Sounds Good In A Bar and What Have You Got To Lose.

Katy has a gorgeous, natural, country tone to her voice and her fun performance won the hearts of many which included some young girls in the audience who really looked up to her!

Hurt is massively underrated! Her and her band are exceptional performers and her music is really high quality!

Taking a music break, we ventured off to take the kids on some fairground rides. This does get expensive but is expected at festivals. We only managed to do about two rides due to this! We went on the carousel and the swinging chairs.

The kids spent so much time in the Little Dude’s Den where we found a craft tent. The Craft Tent was perfect for both our kids (7 and 3) as had something for them both to do. You could also change nappies there where they provided nappies and wipes which is a really nice thought. Parents can get caught out by running out of nappies or one parent going off with the nappy bag, so this would have been very useful for many people. In general, there is a lot to do at Little Dudes Den such as hay bale climbing, BMX’ing, circus skills, story time and more! Organix were back this year too offering free samples of their products to kids.

We caught Jake Shears (of Scissor Sisters fame) set next and had a great time dancing to his music. He was a lot of fun with so much energy! The kids found his music very enjoyable and were having the time of their lives.

Last up for us on The Sundown Saloon was the lovely Harleymoon Kemp. Another first for us, Harleymoon wowed the audience with her sassy songs, sweet personality and relatable stories that she made comical at times.

A dramatic appearance from the smoke machine during her song Lucky, which she wasn’t expecting, caused her to have a coughing fit but she handled it like a pro along with her brilliant backing singer who helped her along.

A highlight was from her closing number, a song she referred to as her “dirty stop-out song” Can’t Take My Damn Self Home. This, I believe is her next single.

We finished the day with our kids dancing crazily to Example and having a bit of food from The Caribbean Fried Chicken place which was delicious!

Overall, it was a very full on, brilliant day! The Sundown Saloon is an absolute must!!! It has such a great atmosphere and a wonderful stage. We would have loved to have stayed for the Dolly Parton Experience which many people were excited for but the kids were very tired! We love that The Big Feastival has made a home for country music with its own dedicated stage. It sits perfectly in The Smokery which holds many Americana Food vendors, Axe Throwing, a Hot Dog eating competition and so much more! This wonderful stage, is going to get more and more popular as the years go on and we can’t wait to see who will be on next year! We personally recommend Demi Marriner, Foreign Affairs, Motel Sundown and Jordan Harvey!!

Bring on The Big Feastival 2024!!!