mud at Glastonbury Festival this year causes sticking point

It's well known that Glastonbury Festival organisers have been looking to try out another site, to see if it's possible to move the event at any time in the future, so that they have somewhere to fall back on should the current location at the Pilton farm be unable to host the event for any reason.

West Country farmer Michael Eavis has made it clear he wanted to have Longleat Safari Park as a potential back-up should the Festival have to relocate in an emergency for any reason. The Festival organier believes they need a back up site to keep the longevity of the event safe, by having a location as an alternative for the long term.

However, over the weekend came news that plans to use the Longleat estate following talks with the Marquess of Bath, had fallen through after the aristocrat’s son Ceawlin Thynn, Viscount Weymouth vetoed the plan.

Eavis has revealed the deal is pretty much sunk in the mud, as the clean up operation would effect Longleat operations for too long.

Festival organisers had invited the viscount and his wife Emma McQuiston to visit Glastonbury Festival this year, which was one of the muddiest years. It would appear it was the mud that became the sticking point. Eavis is quoted (here) saying, "Ceawlin and Emma don't like the mud. They saw the mud at its worst. They were supposed to come and see it all cleaned up on September 1, but they didn't turn up."

The deal had appeared to be almost sealed earlier this year when Eavis had said the site at Longleat was the best in the whole of England, with loads of space and more room and only one landowner, whereas Eavis only owns the middle bit of the current Festival footprint and has 22 other landowners to deal with when putting on his Festival. There are reports that land ownership issues are causing issues in staging the Festival at Worthy Farm, and the Festival looks set to take a year off in 2018.

This weekend Eavis added, "Longleat probably won't happen anymore. Lord Bath is really keen. I went to him because I knew him when he was a boy. But he and his son aren't agreeing, and they don't speak very much, so it's hard to make decisions. I haven't been able to sit down with all of them at the same time."

Mud similarly put paid to another West Country even in 2015 when the land of Lord and Lady Arran, who hosted the Somersault festival decided not to hold the event as the effect of heavy rain took too long for the land to recover. As reported (here).

Eavis, has similarly been told that the time it takes to recover from has buried the deal, adding, "They let me down gently about their decision. I went round to their house and we had a very long discussion. They said to clean up all that mud, they'd have to restrict the whole of the operations at Longleat for about three months and it's too expensive."

Emily Eavis, the farmer's daughter, and fellow organiser of the Festival, told eFestivals in April that, "We are looking at two sites at the moment. Rumours are obviously just on Longleat, but it's way too early to say. Also it's completely wrong that Glastonbury Festival is moving, the truth is we are planning a new event for the year off. Same team, different event."

So while a search continues for a back up venue to host a new event in a future fallow year, possibly at the second venue Emily hinted at, it's clear that the Pilton farm is the Festival's home, and it's probably the best place for it. We know from Emily that 2018 is likely to be a year off, and there are plans for 2019, although the location for that is currently up in the air, either Worthy Farm or somewhere else.

The tickets on sale dates have not yet been confirmed for next year's Glastonbury Festival. It's expected that Festival goers will be able to book a ticket by paying a deposit, with the balance payable in the first week of April 2017. As part of the Festival's continued commitment to green travel, coach + ticket packages are expected to be sold in advance of the general sale.

As Emily Eavis has said both ticket options will go on sale in October it could mean the coach tickets would go on sale Thursday 6th October with the main ticket sales the Sunday of the weekend after. Alternatively organisers may stick with the date of the main ticket sale being Sunday 2nd October with coach tickets on sale the Thursday before that.

Ticket details and prices are expected to be announced this week.

To prevent touting Festival goers must register in advance for tickets which are non-transferable. Each ticket features the photograph of the registered ticket holder with security checks carried out to ensure that only the person in the photograph is admitted to the Festival.

Anyone who would like to go to the Festival must register, and that includes children aged 13, 14 and 15.

Any ticket deposits for which the balance has not been paid in April 2017 will be automatically refunded to the card on which they were booked; with an administration charge retained and all tickets for which the balance has not been paid will be cancelled.

Glastonbury 2017 which will take place at a farm in Pilton, Somerset over five full days on the last weekend in June, that's from Wednesday 21st to Sunday 25th June 2017, is now open for just a few more weeks (when registration will close until after the main ticket sales).

Online registration for 2017 can be carried out by clicking here. 

Anyone with a registration submitted prior to 2010 will need to re-register, for free, before they can purchase tickets for the 2017 Festival (unless they already have a valid registration from a later year).

You can also check your existing registration by clicking here, and edit the details here.

Registration does not reserve or guarantee you a ticket when they go on sale, but if you don't register you will not be able to buy a weekend ticket for Glastonbury Festival 2017.

Tickets for this year's event sold out in in just under 33 minutes.

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