3 is the magic number on the opening day of Beyond the Border

Beyond the Border 2014

Friday 4th to Sunday 6th July 2014
St Donats Castle, St Donats , Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, CF61 1WF, Wales MAP
early bird £90 for weekend with camping

Once upon a time there was a festival reviewer who by chance happened upon a magical place. Nestled into a hillside on the South Wales coast was a beautiful castle, surrounded by trees and overlooking the Bristol Channel. It was a place where for 3 days life was breathed into fables of trolls, or stories of African kings, or angry, vengeful giants..... How's that for a start to a fairy tale? This place exists and it's awaiting you.

Beyond the Border is the coming together of a few thousand people for an intimate gathering of storytelling, poetry, music, singing, theatre, circus, puppets, films and with the stunning St Donats castle as the venue it could hardly be more perfect.

Now in it's 21^st year I could hardly believe I'd never heard of it, especially as those who had attended spoke about supporting it with such vigour and passion.

It seems fitting that my first day at the story telling festival is worthy of a story of misfortune itself.

And so to sound dramatic and in true storytelling style, my journey, no no, my quest!, to the festival began one Friday afternoon as I travelled from Devon where I could see my destination only a few miles across the channel all the way towards Bristol, facing many hardships such as extreme rainfall and painfully laborious queues of traffic, and then back west, past Cardiff and onto St Donats thus arriving at the magnificent site. But there my hardships had not finished for as I pulled out the tent that I had acquired from a friend (an item from a previous quest) and opened it I gasped and saw that it was a one man tent and not as I requested to borrow.

I clearly remember the conversation. “Mate can I borrow that massive 3 man tent with the porch that you had all to yourself at Glastonbury while the rest of us squashed into tiny tents” I recalled distinctly saying.

“oh yes I know the exact one you mean.” he replied. It seemed a goblin had been playing tricks on me.

Oh well, we are both fairly small I said to my partner trying to sound undefeated, I'm sure the two of us can fit in there. I set it up and pulled out the mattress. A double!!! Of course a double in this tiny tent. I worked out that I could push the tent walls out to get the mattress in and inflate it, right, where is the pump..... great it's electric and it has a mains plug not a car adapter. Unable to find anyone with a blower upper (is this the technical term?) I resorted with great determination to lung power which I managed in less than 20 minutes and only passed out once. With the mattress in, it pushed the tent so far sideways and the fly sheet above us so close to our bodies that it took us 10 minutes to feed a duvet across ourselves. I've never been so claustrophobic.

Okay enough of these tales of woe, most fantasy stories have a happy ending don't they, so more about the festival itself! Walking onto site is a pleasant experience in itself. From the quiet, uninhabited campsite it is a 5 minute walk through a copse of trees, across a field that overlooks the ocean entering the site at a clearing below the castle's gardens. The venue itself was mesmerising and most of the festival goers seemed to be performers themselves, all cherishing the festival and speaking to each other as dear friends who would meet at the event annually.

Threading my way through adults and children I found the venue (there are six stages in total) where Daniel Morden was performing. This was to be the highlight of my evening as I listened to him expertly weave stories together for modern ears while drawing heavily on classic story telling themes. Of course everything happened in threes. There was always three bothers, or sisters, always 3 things to find or do and nothing could ever be resolved without something happening three times. Who would dare to meddle with the time honoured formula!!

As I night fell I watched satisfied adults and gleeful children retiring to their beds at a respectable hour eager for the performances of the following days.

review by: Richard Potter

photos by: Richard Potter