Purbeck's distinctive approach is well worth a look

When you see the word ‘folk’ in a festival title, you might expect certain things. One of everyone’s favorite folk festival things is pitch where you park. It gets the festival off to a nice easy-going start and there’s no need for lugging stuff, using a trolley or leaving those little luxuries in the car. Purbeck does pitch where you park, but it’s a bit different: the cars are parked around a central pitching area, circling the wagons style. It leaves plenty of room for the tents, the toilet tents, the gazebos and everything else you are free to bring when you only have a short walk from the car. It’s what you expect from a folk festival, but done in a different way.

Urban Folk Quartet are playing when I arrive on the site and again, it’s folk, but not as we know it. It’s a packed and swirling crowd and a diverse one too. There’s a whole range of ages, from teeny tiny to elderly. But they’re all getting down the Urban Folk Quartet, who are doing a top job getting the party swinging on the first evening of the festival. 

Purbeck Valley Folk Festival takes place on a farm, and the main venues are barns. The organizers have put in the hours making them cozy; there are straw sofas around the edges and even a bit of hay, which provides an organic, earthy aroma. There are definitely worse things you can smell on a farm, but not a whiff of them here. There’s also a special area at the side of the main stage for people who’ve brought their own chairs. True to folk festival form, you can them put them in front of the stage, and have a sit down, but at 7PM you’ll be told to take them down to prevent accidents in the dark. This seems like a good concession. There are also signs telling people not to talk in front of the stage during the concerts too, which is a nice touch. By day, they roll out big mats on which you can lie, loll and generally let the hangover subside while you soak up the music.

In another barn is the bar. You can tell it’s the bar because of the pool table and the florescent orange t-shirts of the staff. They’re selling a good range of local beers, ciders and perries which, thinking about it, gives the game away too. You can see the main stage from here and you nearly always get what you ask for. It’s the usual arrangement where you have to pay for the glass the first time you order but at Purbeck, you can’t cash it in at the end of the festival. When I try to give back my two and a half pint glasses, I’m told they are ‘yours to keep’. It’s what they’re doing everywhere now, apparently.

Possibly because of the bar, possibly because of the folk faeries messing with my passage through space-time, Urban Folk Quartet and the only act I manage to see on the Friday night. Asking around though, it seems like they were pick of the evening for many. For the rest, Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys were the Friday highlight. Cracking show, apparently. Ah well, next time.

It wouldn’t be a folk festival without Morris dancing and again, Purbeck does this its own way. There aren’t too many sides here, instead, there’s a Morris side and a Sword Dancing side and after their respective displays, you get a workshop. They’re popular events, boding well for next season’s new intake when the participants go home. Not long now... 

Whilst I’m watching the Morris, the sweet sound of Welsh harmony wafts in on the breeze. It’s coming from the Welsh singing workshop in the other barn. Not just Welsh songs but songs in Welsh. Again, loads joining in, maybe some future Welsh speakers/singers among them.

Heading away from the barns and into the field, you’ll find a man on stilts and a unicycle whizzing back and forth. They’re from the circus workshop, which is proving a big hit with the kids. For playing and singing, there’s yet more participation on offer. If you feel confident to perform to an audience, there are regular open mic sessions; just put your name down. Elsewhere there are sessions and jams taking place. If spoken word is your thing, then there’s a story tent and if competitive spoken word is your thing, there’s a poetry slam. And if singing, playing or talking aren’t your thing, fear not. Next to the open mic stage is a pizza workshop, and a bit further down the field, you’ll find a letter writing workshop, where you can get to grips with using a quill. There’s yoga too, and a big gazebo type thing for sitting under and meditating.

I’m listening to the open mic session, and true to the folk spirit, it’s good stuff, when the unmistakable sound of trad wafts in from the far end of the valley. It turns out to be Yarmouth Town performed not by a festival act but again, by the festival crowd. Folk Orc are running this workshop and they turn out to be a worthwhile festival find. They have a tent, around the sides of which hang musical instruments of various kinds. These are available to borrow. There’s a bunch of musicians on stage; they shout out what the chords are and when to change, and you don’t need much experience, if any, to join in. There are grown-ups, children, families playing together; sound of music style, and everyone’s having a blast.

We’ve all seen those ukulele sessions that look like so much fun but only for ukulele players, and I for one have been disappointed in the past, showing up at a festival with an instrument only to find out that you had to print out a tune book and learn about 25 tunes to have a chance of joining in. Folk Orc are an ingenious way of plugging the gap between those two extremes, and I for one hope to see them at bucket loads of festivals in the future.

Saturday brings good weather; sun, fluffy clouds and a gentle breeze wafting the leaves. I wonder if the faeries have been at work again, because the music seems intentionally curated to enhance the vibe. Crooked Weather are playing Hares on the Mountain in the barn. They’re managing to keep it breezy and haunting, despite the harsh acoustics of the venue. That must take some doing.  If I was going to make a 1960’s festival movie about Purbeck, on super 8, all primary colours and sunshine flaring into the lens, I definitely have them on the soundtrack. It’s that kind of vibe, if you get me.

It’s the same in the other barn. They’re having a songwriters’ session, and they’ve put out the mats to lie on. You soak up the songs, then soak up the sun, maybe stopping to soak up some cider along the way... 

Later, Ninebarrow introduce Prickle eye Bush as the cheeriest gallows song ever. Seeing no need to be morose, even in the shadow the gallows, Ninebarrow are an ideal soundtrack to the Saturday sun and the leaves swaying in the breeze. Like the festival itself, it’s folk but not as we know it.

Over in the field, the poetry slam is up to the semi-finals, and as a bonus, the next stall has some of the best vegetarian food you’ll find at a festival. It’s an hour well spent, lying in the sun listening to poems, and stuffing yourself with vegan delights, by chance I catch the eventual winner, Sukie Smook. All good things must end though. I discern a crowd is on the move and decide to follow them... 

As ever, the crowd knows where the good stuff is: O’Hooley and Tidow are drawing them to the main stage. O’Hooley and Tidow never fail to stir the emotions, and not just because you’ve picked the wrong side in the singing contest. Again.

In the other barn, Gadarene are doing it their way. Again, it’s a different way to everyone else and again, it seems to be working out well as far as the crowd is concerned. 

Saturday night presents a bit of a dilemma, as Pilgrim’s Way are on at the same time as Molotov Jukebox. Trad is never as much fun as with Pilgrim’s Way, but everyone has been talking about Molotov Jukebox since Friday and they’ve pulled in a huge drunken crowd. The organizers have again kept an eye on the details, and the programme is nicely staggered, so you can do a bit of both if you want. Pilgrim’s Way do a fine job of keeping their crowd from skulking off. It’s a feat repeated later by Patch and the Giant who are up against the mighty Richard Thompson. Quality options all round.

On Sunday there’s an ethereal mist coming up the valley. It swirls around the festival, then leaves it alone. After the party of Saturday night, you might want a mellow start to the day, and the organizers have thought of this. You can lie on the grass and listen to the Carrivick Sisters in the field, then lie on the mats and listen to Jenn and Laura Beth in the barn.

 

After that, you might have perked up enough for a bit of joining in. The Morris workshops are giving their performances in the other barn, followed by Folk Orc. Getting people from beginner to performer in just 3 days is going some, but they’ve managed it. It’s a relatively local crowd here so it’s a late finish on Sunday. Beth Orton headlines and you get a second go at Pilgrim’s Way if you missed them yesterday. It’s another of the little touches on display here, that imbue Purbeck with its’ own clear identity among folk festivals. And as such, it’s well worth a visit.

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