Enchanted Garden 2002

The Big Chill 2002 Larmer Tree Gardens
The best most wonderful, interesting, exciting, relaxing (I could go on!) festival I have ever had the luck to go to and be part of.

We left at mid day on Friday, 15 of us crammed into a minibus with assorted tents and provisions. After 5 hours of excruciatingly slow traffic we arrived at our destination in the heart of the Wiltshire countryside. The immediate impression was how small it was, compared to the biggies, Glastonbury and the like, this was tiny, one guy on the gate checking tickets and one smallish field for car parking.

Gathering armfuls of stuff we walked up the hill after no queue on entry, even though it was prime arrival time. Also absolutely no searches and very friendly staff running up to give out armbands.

Pitching our tents in the light rain we were surprised by the amount of space in the camping field. We camped in the general area, but there was place for vehicle camping, and also a quiet family space.

And off to explore the festival. One dance tent and a main “Open Air” stage, looked pretty much standard festival fare as far as first impressions go. But as we wound our way into the (enchanted) Gardens themselves this was when the site really shone. The amount of effort that had gone into the set up was amazing. Tall trees, leaves rustling in the light breeze, coloured lights wound into them. Mown and clipped lawns, Peacocks squawking and strutting about, even a fluffy baby one. The Sanctuary Stage, small and inviting. A painted mural in an alcove, spinning disco lights, the Woodland Art trail. I had expected in a rather cynical fashion that this would be a tame affair. It was far from this. A trippers dream proved more the case! Spider webs of wool in a rhododendron tunnel, inviting you to take a ball of wool and wind it through the trees all the while being lit up by UV. Light and film installations – a screen showing a landscape in which if you shouted would cloud over. An echo pool. A genie in a bottle. Dentists casts of people snogging. A spinning map of the planet. A clearing amidst the verdant greenery with four huge seashells piping out sounds of the sea, stand in the middle and close your eyes and you could be on a tropical beach. A cocktail bar in the trees. Numerous benches to sit and soak up the atmosphere. WOW.

The afternoons entertainment consisted of Pole and To Rococo Rot, both live and both excellent. Friday night chilled to the sounds of International Observer, a dubby reggae group from New Zealand. Cool. Put our noses in the door of the Dance Tent and caught a bit of Peshay’s set, I think he was having a laugh cause Kylie’s “Can’t get you outta my head” was playing, and were the crowd up for it? Too right they were! Left shortly afterwards and went back to the camp for mulled wine before bed. Aaaaaah.

Saturday, we skipped into the Gardens and the Sanctuary Stage to see the end of BJ Cole, strumming lovely ambient sounds. Next up was Bonobo who played a blinding set. Absolutely brilliant funky tunes in the sunshine, drinking beers and dancing, everyone, man woman and child laughing and smiling. Caught the end of Quantic on the Open Air Stage, then some of DJ Krush. The highlight of the evening though had to be Lamb. This was the fifth time I had seen Louise Rhodes and co play, but this was one of their best performances yet. The light show in itself was awesome and seeing one of your favourite bands playing in the open air with a crowd of people so up for it has to be one of the best feelings in the world. Such a beautiful voice and their encore was “Cotton Wool” v. nice.

We then adjourned to the Art Trail for more weird and wonderful sights. Then to the Media Mix Tent for the rather random delights of “9 naked men walking down the street” and other short films!

Crawling out of our tents on Sunday morning and feeling rather worse for wear we went yet once more to the front of the Sanctuary Stage, this place was becoming a firm favourite. Intermittent cloud gave way to blazing sunshine and a few beers later we were grooving away to the sounds of Sam Hardaker from Zero 7. Caught the end of Nitin Sawney at the Open Air Stage and hung around to see Badmarsh and Shri. Of all the musicians I saw these boys were in my opinion the most skilled. The tabla playing had everyone holding their breath and the Asian inspired jungle was downright rude.

We ended up heading off the night with Tom Middleton playing at the Sanctuary Stage under the guise “Amba”. Yet more excellent tunes and although everyone was at this point feeling rather weary, our feet just kept on dancing. He played records of those who had performed over the weekend which gave a coming full circle kinda feeling. Great.

He upped the tempo as midnight came, choosing to finish with U2’s “The Streets Have No Name” which is apparently a tradition to close the festival. With joy in our hearts and a huge smile on our faces a fantastic weekend had come to a close.

I must also mention the food, gourmet, Mediterranean salad stalls, Indian Thali, posh potato and white wine with sausages. No more expensive then most festival fodder but far superior in quality. The organic sheeps milk ice cream should also get a mention. YUM. Also big shout out to the people knitting on the Sanctuary stage on Sunday night.

The best thing about the weekend? - the overall general atmosphere – chilled, no violence, respectful but friendly. All ages, loads of children, the glorious sunshine after a bad weather forecast, the very high quality of all the music played and performed. The worst thing? Having to come home on Monday morning when I wished I could live in this small paradise for ever! Bring on Eastnor castle!

Cheers Big Chill!

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