the National Forest is home to a terrific Folk weekend

Approaching the festival's location near Overseal in South Derbyshire there is scant evidence of Folk Festival or Forest. This is likely to change. Saplings planted over a decade ago when the Forest was commissioned have grown and spread their roots. This event, which started life at the Moira Miner's Welfare Club, has similarly developed. Since 2009 it has taken place at Conkers – the National Forest's visitor centre, just over the road from Miner's Club.

This year the organisers have arranged a line up of well-established performers to take the stage beneath the covering of Conker's secluded amphitheatre. Big name acts such as the Ade Edmondson & The Bad Shepherds, Lau, Eliza Carthy & Saul Rose, attracted national media attention with positive features in the Guardian, Independent and Telegraph. More importantly the event was attended by thirty score or so adults from twenty to seventy with a cohort of teenagers and countless rugrats. After the last bottle of whiskey was raffled on Sunday afternoon following an enjoyable The Demon Barber Roadshow most would say they'd had a fine time. The days were sunny, the nights warm, and the vibe decent.

Having one stage with a seated audience gave a personal feel to the weekend. Songs of tragedy, nightcalling and the otherworld from likes of Pamela Wyn Shannon, Dan Walsh, and The Shee were big crowd pleasers. It wasn't all songs though, with plenty of amazing tunes from likes of Lau, and The Kathryn Tickell Band. Feet tapped, sometimes people even got up to dance. Many of those danced as they were told by Amy Thatcher and the Monster Ceilidh Band. More, how they liked with the Peatbog Faeries. After the show, merriment continued as musicians, singers and punters congregated in the Miner's football club on whose beautifully kept pitch we stayed. In the 'Wendy House' harp, trombone, banjo, fiddle and guitar played into the small hours whilst the campers and caravaners slept. The road resurfacing work next to the site at six in the morning was somewhat more intrusive, as were the midges.

Friday night Headliners The Bad Shepherds could have captured the theme of sad songs, top quality musicianship and late night silliness, but didn't seem to connect. Some of their songs from the 1980s suburbs do say more about our lives than those from the rural 1890s, so maybe we were bad sheep. It took twenty genre-bending Punk, New Wave and Ska numbers together with four dodgy jokes to get the gig going, but in the end who could resist Talking Heads' 'Once in a Lifetime' followed by Sex Pistols 'God Save the Queen' developing into the traditional 'Davy's Reels'? Only the most hard-bitten folkie, of which there weren't too many.

On Saturday Pamela Wyn Shannon delighted. Her collection of beautifully sung "not funny" traditional English and Gaelic songs was well appreciated by the audience and passing birds and butterflies. Nicely psych-y.

Clawhammer Banjoman Dan Walsh took a more upbeat approach to country melancholy giving two fantastic finger-picking lunchtime sets over the weekend. Of course he does Bluegrass, but also a great version of 'You can call me Al' and a wonderful sixteenth century song of filth and leaving (title unknown).

Kathryn Tickell Band gave us a feel of the cold, clear air of bleak Northumberland with massively evocative instrumentals. The landscape around Rothbury has become familiar as Police searched for Raoul Moat this week, but Kathryn gave us the essence. Varying between apocalyptic laments, tunes for her dog Fluffy, lively reels and a Miners work song this set was an absorbing, honed performance.

Famed for their musicianship, award-winning Lau delivered a sublime "fanfare of jollity" to an entranced audience. Waves of accordion harmonies break over guitar rhythms and fiddle melody like a North Sea storm breaking over some lonesome Rock. On a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon in England these tunes could be out of place. Looking at the faces of engrossed audience this didn't seem to be the case.

Saturday's evening show features more crazy Scots. The Shee are an unexpectedly funky all female six-piece featuring an impressive purple harp. If you know the Drunken Duck in Cumbria, apparently you should check this band out. Peatbog Faeries are less of a surprise package. The volume goes up to 11 and the kilts come out. Brass section blasts over a thumping bass line with strains of bagpipe and fiddle still audible. It takes just two numbers to have the front of stage bouncing with revellers enjoying soul horns and stomping. There's a lightshow projected onto the amphitheatre's roof for those still seated. It even has different coloured lights and movement!

Sunday afternoon's show from Eliza Carthy & Saul Rose was the highlight for me. Despite being together since the Cretaceous and with no new material to perform their stock of tunes to is superb. A farmer's wife fools the Devil in one song, washing a baby's feet is the subject of another. Caribbean carnival king Mighty Sparrow gets a plug and a play as calypso meets folk. Saul & Eliza demonstrate how enjoyable traditional music is when not taken too seriously.

Sunday's closing act The Demon Barber Roadshow have a familiar set and were quite worn from their first European tour in Germany. Fortunately being a champion rapper team and having youthful clog dancers to hand makes their set very easy to enjoy. Songs with pirate captains, magpies, poachers or the King of Faeries as subject matter seems to help. Throw in a beat-boxer to execute the drum and bass section with invisible sonic weapons halfway through and the formula is complete!

The festival could improve in some areas, particularly catering. Steak rolls were delicious, the grill's smoke smelt great, but was only lit in the evening. Chips from the visitor centre sufficed during the day, from other sources at night. Alternative food options included waiting twenty minutes for expensive soup, or driving to the Co-Op in Overseal. The customary folk festival selection of real ales was limited to two from the Burton Bridge Brewery. More toilets and water points were needed on the campsite. Waste recycling wasn't an option, all the more surprising given the Visitor Centre's ethos.

That said National Forest was terrific weekend for £52, including train rides and barefoot walk. The happy, friendly crowd contained a reassuring contingent of twenty-somethings having a top time. Helpful, well-organised, but not overbearing stewards kept the event moving along. The Stalls had some interesting bric-a-brac and cloths. A great line up, setting and crowd easily made up for loo queues, no spicy food and yeasty beer. And the folkies kept quite a tidy campsite. I'd come again, if they'd have me.

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