Anyone live or lived in Pilton?

[Ayrshire Chris]

We wandered around the village last week, visited the pub and the local shop and folk seemed to just be getting on with their lives. The heavy traffic all seems to be going into the site via the red gate outside the village. Bit more light vehicles on the lanes than usual. 

[Led festivals]

Just watched the doc. It was fascinating. What struck me was how alien that well-to-do Christian middle class deference to authority and conformity now seems. I had family from down that way, and the  neighbour really reminded me of my great Aunt. Does this version of little England exist anymore?

[gooner1990]

1 hour ago, pilton digger said:

its not really a problem, but it is something that intrudes on a lot of village life for most of the year. Actual direct festival activity that starts to impact in some way starts around April and ends around August. This year it has seemed to be a few weeks or more ahead of normal, AA signs and other signs started appearing in April, normally May.

 

There are security dudes on all entrances to the Farm since late April when it is usually mid may, and we can't access the farm now. Normally we run the farm until thrown off about 2 weeks before the festival. Security has been beefed up for this year in lots of ways.

 

Last year a 40 foot arctic heading for the festival turned down a narrow lane, grounded and blocked the A361 by the pub.  Had to be dragged out by guys who work at Worthy with 2 telehandlers in a chain as the police were feckin useless. We now have security on entrances to the village to stop festival commercial traffic turning into the wrong road and to avoid a repeat.  Poor bugger has been sat outside for 10 hours a day on weekdays for the last three weeks.

 

There are some who don't like it, usually have moved in next to it and then decided to be a pain in the arse. On the whole it is no real problem for us, it has put massive amounts of money into village life and will continue to do so.

 

There are Pilton Party auditions for a few months, the actual party in September.  There are Pilton Stage auditions for bands to play at Avalon for a few months. There are regular liaison meetings with GFL for people to address concerns and review what happened. It is a very large thing that is involved in everything in some way, loads of people work for it either full time, seasonally or as a volunteer.

 

One pain in the tits are the self absorbed w*nkers who go down closed roads to try and avoid traffic, or use routes that look good but where festival traffic shouldn't be. The local roads are where the locals get to work / school / hospital during the chaos. Kids have missed GCSEs because of some c**t blocking a road.

 

The place would be poorer and duller without it.

just out of interest how long have you lived in Pilton?

 

did you move to the area because of the festival or were you already there? 

[pilton digger]

4 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

just out of interest how long have you lived in Pilton?

 

did you move to the area because of the festival or were you already there? 

Festival was not a factor, we wanted the mid Somerset area for work reasons. We finally found a barely affordable near slum within our small budget and with consideration of the huge mortgage rates available. 

[GNR]

50 minutes ago, The Orgazoid said:

I watched it a long time ago, but i believe the main woman in its son, with the cross on her land now runs glamping from it, so the festival and her decision to buy in Pilton in the first place turned into great legacy for her family, financially speaking.

 

Her daughter has used the land for the tangerine fields since I believe 2010 

[MrZigster]

4 hours ago, kalifire said:

I've not (yet) seen the documentary, but the entire dynamic does seem utterly fascinating to me. It cannot possibly be the case - legally - that in order to buy a property in Pilton, you also have to accept that 25% of the year, your quality of life is going to be significantly disrupted. It could also be construed as bribery that the festival try and pay their way to peace locally. There must be a very delicate fine line that locals will be able to speak to much better than anyone else.

3 hours ago, irnkrtn said:

I think about this all the time! I suppose its a bit like living near an airport. I wonder if it impacts on the prices?

3 hours ago, gfa said:

 

Adding on to this - this is particularly the case because theres very limited housing stock in Pilton - vs a million homes that get impacted by say Heathrow

Try South East Kent. Where every Bank/School Holiday entire towns and villages get cut off completely for a day or so at a time because Dover Harbour Board and the ferry companies think it's somehow OK to use the roads of Kent as their own private businesses car park. People literally can't get to and from work. We're talking complete gridlock in and out. It's not like they even give anything back to the area these days, what with most of the crews not being sourced locally any more.

[timbrass]

6 minutes ago, MrZigster said:

Try South East Kent. Where every Bank/School Holiday entire towns and villages get cut off completely for a day or so at a time because Dover Harbour Board and the ferry companies think it's somehow OK to use the roads of Kent as their own private businesses car park. People literally can't get to and from work. We're talking complete gridlock in and out. It's not like they even give anything back to the area these days, what with most of the crews not being sourced locally any more.

Alas the people of Kent voted for Brexit....so they got what they wanted!

[Neil]

45 minutes ago, timbrass said:

Alas the people of Kent voted for Brexit....so they got what they wanted!

they wanted the brexit bonus they're still waiting for it.

[Lucy92]

2 hours ago, MrZigster said:

Try South East Kent. Where every Bank/School Holiday entire towns and villages get cut off completely for a day or so at a time because Dover Harbour Board and the ferry companies think it's somehow OK to use the roads of Kent as their own private businesses car park. People literally can't get to and from work. We're talking complete gridlock in and out. It's not like they even give anything back to the area these days, what with most of the crews not being sourced locally any more.

Operation stack and it cocking up my commute was one of the big reasons I left Kent. I do not miss the m20! 
 

I think I’d love pilton. We’re not that far and we love living in the south west. 

[MrZigster]

5 hours ago, timbrass said:

Alas the people of Kent voted for Brexit....so they got what they wanted!

4 hours ago, Neil said:

they wanted the brexit bonus they're still waiting for it.

All brexiteers had their own individual deluded fantasy of what brexit they thought they wanted. The whole country's going to sh*t and the more sensible people are having to suffer with them.

2 hours ago, Lucy92 said:

Operation stack and it cocking up my commute was one of the big reasons I left Kent. I do not miss the m20! 
 

I think I’d love pilton. We’re not that far and we love living in the south west. 

It really sucks. Worried it could become a permanent thing when biometric checks come in.

 

On the bright side I'm arriving Tuesday this year so should avoid any Wednesday snarl ups. Though I don;t think that's happened since 2016. Aiming to arrive at ten so will inevitably hit some rush hour traffic on way.

[The other Bellboy]

15 hours ago, Jacko45 said:

I'm completely obsessed with the "Showdown at Glastonbury" documentary. 

 

Think it's completely fascinating, the whole idea of Pilton fascinates me tbh. 

 

I live in a village of a similar size one that has tourism but to imagine my small village for one week a year being invaded by 200,000+ people. 

 

Basically a city appearing next door is a crazy concept to me.

 

Would love to hear what it's like for people in the village and closely surrounding villages. 

I love this too, and this is why we have booked a week in an house in Pilton from the Monday after the festival. We tried to get some time there before it too, but that didn't work out. Really want to understand the vibe if the village and how it is affected by the festival 

[The other Bellboy]

13 hours ago, gooner1990 said:

 

For all the fact that its a well run event now, it hasn't always been the case and some of the travellers etc did cause a lot of issues for ME and the locals around the farm at the time.  Thankfully it came out the other side fine for the next generation of Glastonbury goers to enjoy as I think it was heading towards not being allowed on anymore....

 

He does seem to handle it very well I agree!

I've said before, that ME was very selfish and focused in those early years and in the end it appears that he was right to be that way and many many people have benefitted from that - it must have been extremely difficult to stick to that and many of us would have probably called it quits a long time ago. For some of the original local older folks it must have been a nightmare, like most things its down to timing and outlook - I can see that the festival has caused a lot of pain to many and potentially a lot of joy (emotional and financial) to many too. No one can say what's right or wrong in the end. These days the festival is an undoubted boon to the whole Somerset area but it has taken a toll on many to get there.

PS. I want to live in Pilton one day - even if i'm then too old to still enjoy the festival.  

[The other Bellboy]

14 hours ago, pilton digger said:

not significantly, mild inconvenience at worst. The festival puts money into the area because ME cares about the place,  It is not for PR. The festival chose to pay a huge amount to level the football pitch and build a new pavilion to improve village facilities. Hardly something that constitutes bribery.

It is very clear that ME truly loves the village and has gone way above what anyone would do just for commercial reasons. The festival has made a massive improvement / investment into the local area that will never be surpassed.

[suzie sue]

Amazing to see Michael’s patience with the woman in the documentary. Surely he was only spending so much time with her for the filming and publicity, I’d have thought he would run a mile from her 

[Jacko45]

6 minutes ago, suzie sue said:

Amazing to see Michael’s patience with the woman in the documentary. Surely he was only spending so much time with her for the filming and publicity, I’d have thought he would run a mile from her 

 

Well it actually felt like they did kind of like it each other at times.

 

I certainly felt like and (this is total assumption) that she often wanted Michael's attention after losing her husband sadly. 

[gooner1990]

As for the people featured in the film from what I understand..(and someone correct me if I'm wrong)

 

Jim and Anne Dowling sold their wine vineyard in 2000 and moved to Bath.

 

The Williams brothers both passed away in the early 2000's, their farm was sold to a family/company that now operate Camp Kerala on the farmland.

 

Anne Goode passed away in 2004, her daughter still lives in the farm house and allows 'Tangerine Fields' to be used on their land during the festival.

 

Bill and Jean Wootton - unknown, but given their age in 1992 I'd be surprised if they were still alive 32 years later.

Edited May 29 by gooner1990

[gooner1990]

On 5/28/2024 at 11:52 AM, Jacko45 said:

I'm completely obsessed with the "Showdown at Glastonbury" documentary. 

 

Think it's completely fascinating, the whole idea of Pilton fascinates me tbh. 

 

I live in a village of a similar size one that has tourism but to imagine my small village for one week a year being invaded by 200,000+ people. 

 

Basically a city appearing next door is a crazy concept to me.

 

Would love to hear what it's like for people in the village and closely surrounding villages. 

 

Might be of interest

 

‘This valley belongs to God!’ The Somerset locals who nearly shut down Glastonbury Festival (telegraph.co.uk)

[Chimps]

An example of the kind of thing the festival do for the village. 

[Neil]

i was told by someone who knows that there's no one living in Pilton who was there before the festival.

[Chimps]

48 minutes ago, Neil said:

i was told by someone who knows that there's no one living in Pilton who was there before the festival.

Good one

[Johnnyseven]

59 minutes ago, Neil said:

i was told by someone who knows that there's no one living in Pilton who was there before the festival.

 

There's at least 1.

[irnkrtn]

On 5/28/2024 at 3:31 PM, gfa said:

 

Adding on to this - this is particularly the case because theres very limited housing stock in Pilton - vs a million homes that get impacted by say Heathrow

Ha yes I wasn't very clear was I! 

 

When I meant living by an airport, I was thinking - well you knew the airport was there so stop complaining about it 🤣

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Neil said:

i was told by someone who knows that there's no one living in Pilton who was there before the festival.

 

😀 Michael and his brother maybe? Also I know of at least five other 'pre-festival' residents.

[Neil]

4 minutes ago, Ommadawn said:

 

😀 Michael and his brother maybe? Also I know of at least five other 'pre-festival' residents.

that statement is excluding Michael.

[irnkrtn]

On 5/29/2024 at 12:13 AM, MrZigster said:

All brexiteers had their own individual deluded fantasy of what brexit they thought they wanted. The whole country's going to sh*t and the more sensible people are having to suffer with them.

It really sucks. Worried it could become a permanent thing when biometric checks come in.

 

On the bright side I'm arriving Tuesday this year so should avoid any Wednesday snarl ups. Though I don;t think that's happened since 2016. Aiming to arrive at ten so will inevitably hit some rush hour traffic on way.

We arrived about 1pm Tuesday last year - some traffic but absolutely nothing like  Wednesday arrival.