What is Glastonbury Festival?

Glastonbury Festival of Comtemporary Performing Arts is the UK's largest music festival, and a whole lot more - it's a one off! What makes it so special is the vibe - vibrant, but mellow.

While you may have experienced other festivals, such as the Reading/Leeds Festival, or the V festivals, there really is no comparison.

Firstly you have the setting - 1,200 acres in a beautiful valley in Somerset. The site is HUGE - about a mile and a half across (it always takes a good hour to get from side to side during the Festival), and a perimeter fence of about 8 1/2 miles. Everything is within the fence - camping and entertainment - unlike other festivals, there is no arena to (queue up for and) enter each day.

Then you have the people - these are what makes this festival special (see here for some particularly great personal insights). Like all festivals, the more you put in yourself, the better time you'll have - try not to be just a passive visitor expecting to be just entertained. Interact, or add to the event (even if its just by displaying an up for it attitude and a huge smile), explore the whole site and check out at least one show at every venue.

Along with the paying ticket holders (more than 130,000), there are around 45,000 staff and performers. The enthusiasm is such that the Kidz Field Crew are issued with written instructions saying "if in doubt, SMILE" - a good plan for a great time.

Further down the list comes the music, theatre, circus, cabaret, Kidz Field (kidz aged 12 and under are admitted free), information on how you might improve your life and the world around you, shopping in the vast markets of over 700 stalls with their fantastic variety of clothes, crafts and food; the enlightenment, the mime artists cutting the grass with nail scissors, the mad butler with his tray of drinks, the tea ladies on tour ......

Glastonbury Festival is undoubtably the place to spend the best times of your life!

As well as a great time, the Festival also aims to raise money and awareness for good causes - see here.

festival information by: Neil Greenway