The Big Feastival Review: Countryoake, Swiftogedden, The Dolly Parton Experience, Family Fun, Jalen Ngonda and of course FOOD!!!!

By Hannah Compton on August 26, 2024 • ( Leave a comment )

Photo Credit: The Big Feastival Official Website

With so many options for music festivals in the UK how do you choose which one to attend? For some of course it’s the line up of music – for others, location, cost and many other factors. For us, it’s mostly about what is available at the event for the whole family and when we are there, what the overall atmosphere is like.

We love The Big Feastival! Alex James of Blur’s festival, we have been going for many years now but something about this year just felt so much more magical! Perhaps it’s down to the fact my youngest child is now old enough to actually enjoy himself and we didn’t have to carry him everywhere or push him in a buggy, but I also think it came down to just having no schedule and just soaking it all up and enjoying it!

The weather wasn’t fantastic, in fact on the Saturday (which was the first day for us) we did get caught in the heavy rain but thankfully found shelter in the media tent! Weather aside, the atmosphere was wonderful! It certainly makes a change for us to attend an all genre festival rather than just country music ones and to be honest, it was refreshing to be amongst a range of music fans and foodies and see the delight on peoples faces across various stages and events even if it wasn’t to our taste.

This year, The Sundown Saloon which is held at The Smokery was met with much bigger audiences which was lovely to see! Across the weekend the stage played host to UK Country artists such as Brooke Law, Two Ways Home and more as well as the very popular and highly in demand The Dolly Parton Experience. This was our first time seeing her and as someone who isn’t particularly a fan of tribute acts, I must say it was such a delightful set and very well done! They are the Only Dolly Parton Tribute in the World Endorsed by both Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers and when you see them, you can tell why! Sarah Jayne even had the iconic raspy laugh of Dolly down to a T. I would definitely see them again and the crowds absolutely had a blast!

Countryoake was also a great addition for the stage and also featured a large crowd. Bringing a heck of an atmosphere, they closed with Johnny Cash which was happily met by fans.

The Sunday evening delivered an epic Swiftie moment in Swiftogedden which is basically a disco of just Taylor Swift music. Swifties in their forces were having the time of their lives post eras tour! During the day my son and I handed out our left over friendship bracelets we had made for the eras tour which delighted many festival goers.

On the main stage after a morning of Bluey and Bingo (yes with the kids) on the Sunday, a special effort was made to catch the sensational soul singer Jalen Ngonda. An artist who is very unlikely to play so far down a festival billing in the future, we expect great things for his career . Jalen is a truly phenomenal artist who performs flawlessly with such sublime and distinctive vocals. His talent alongside his exceptional band drew in many passer by’s who then became completely transfixed with his artistry after one note! Celebrities such as James Buckley and Iain Stirling watched Ngonda’s entire set further proving his popularity!

This year, we were completely in awe of the Village Green! We actually had never explored this part of the festival before and are not sure why! If you want to do something with the family, especially smaller ones (ours are 4 and 8) then we highly recommend this area. A huge festival such as The Big Feastival it can get a little overwhelming and the crowds can put you off, however, The Village Green was held in a large open space that felt safe, spacious and atmospheric. First thing we did was go into one of the activity tents where you could do free things like make Swiftie bracelets, but we opted for making Tye dye socks which was £7. A well worthy cost for my sons enjoyment!

There is so much to do and see at The Village Green that you could spend all weekend there! Placed just past the helter skelter and behind the waltsers, it can be easy to miss! There was a small but welcoming food market which sold produce such as Cheese, bakery goods, crafts, spreads and teas. There was also the lovely team at Mindful Chef encouraging those who aren’t that confident to cook, to sign up to a no obligation membership to receive recipe boxes with fresh produce giving you easy step to step guides to help you make a delicious meal! We had such a great chat with them and even signed up and received a free cookery book! Thanks guys!

We tried cheeses, chocolate spreads from Joy such as Ferrero Rocher and an incredible Raffaello flavoured one and enjoyed some tea! In fact, the tea, made by Birchall was delicious and the Earl Grey tea bags in particular (which can often be weak) could be easily used across two cups of tea or one tea bag in a tea pot!

Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park were also in attendance which my children spent over an hour with the animals. They fed goats and were delighted to see chicks, Rabbits and Piglets! This was such a beautiful addition and a really lovely thing for the kids to be a part of. I believe there were opportunities for bottle feeding and such across the weekend but in general, the kids simply loved being with the animals.

Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park are hosting their own festival this September, so festivals season isn’t quite over yet! It’s a country music festival taking place at the farm on September 20th-22nd called Summer Sundown and includes tribute acts to Luke Combs, Shania Twain and Morgan Wallen amongst other artists and events.

Check out more info here

With sponsor M&S (Marks and Spencer) being heavily featured across the festival site with their pop up stores, they also held cooking sessions for both adults and children. Our children loved this and participated in the very last session of the weekend!

The Village Green is also the place to go for free samples!!!! Who doesn’t love a free sample??? M&S had cheeses and fresh fruit whilst handing out Percy The Pig and Colin the Caterpillar drawstring bags as prizes for children who completed a card of activities. Arla were handing out their Jörd range of Nordic oat based drinks and were selling frothy coffee with the Nordic Oat milk in it for just £1 which you also received a free small tub of Strawberry Oat Based Fermented Product topped with granola. They also handed our free coffee frothers in boxes. We thoroughly enjoyed their products!

We couldn’t possibly talk about our experience at The Big Feastival without talking about the food! There are a ridiculous amount of choices, it’s quite difficult to make a decision.

We began the weekend with toasties which I never do and am so so glad that we did! Melt were divine! I had one with fried chicken and have absolutely no regrets. Extremely tasty and very filling it was good value for money at £12. Every year we never manage the Cheese Hub and alas, didn’t do it this time either. Another wonderful food vendor were Hot Box in The Smokery. Very nice people and delicious food! We could have lived at the Mochi Pops stand. A divine and unique ice cream!

From their website, they describe their product as; Mochi originates from Japan and is made using glutinous rice flour, sugar and water. It is squidgy, sweet, chewy and so much more. Mochi ice cream is made when both Eastern and Western influence come together to create a fusion of textures and flavours. Mochipops is 100% vegan gelato cocooned in a delicious chewy mochi dough hand-crafted by chefs.

We always find room for a Project D Doughnut! Based in the main arena and in the Smokery, you’ll find various flavours and although costly at £4.95 each, they are very filling!

It’s also important to include the fair ground. Scattered across the festival site but mainly in the main arena, rides were not cheap but the kids loved every minute of the helter skelter, the swings and carousel! It’s definitely a good idea to budget for the rides seeing as some were £7 a person!

With headlines over the course of the three days including Becky Hill, Ministry of Sound Classical and Snow Patrol, The Big Feastival goers were definitely treated well! The headliner we caught were Snow Patrol whom never disappoint! Moments such as the chorus for Run were really emotional and atmospheric in the open aired crowd and the set list as a whole was superb!

Overall, this has without a doubt been our best Feastival yet and that’s even with the poor weather! The Big Feastival is simply just a fantastic and magical experience! It’s a place to make the experience your own! Soak up and enjoy as much as you can and just go with the flow as there is something for everyone!

Our plans for next year –