Lose yourself in the Wilderness...

Looking for a festival experience that won’t leave you needing several weeks in a Buddist retreat just to recover from the horror...oh the horror! Fed up with selling a kidney just so you can afford to eat spinal column on a bap for three days? Tired of predictable line ups and unpredictable toilets? You’re not alone.

With both Sonisphere and The Big Chill biting the dust recently it’s clear that the traditional festival market (music, beer, burgers, more beer) continues to be a little tired and overcrowded. Keep the faith though people. There are some real gems out there, festivals that aren’t afraid to mix it up a little, injecting some of the magic, mystery and sizzle back in that the big corporate players have squished out a little. Last year saw the debut of one of this new breed, The Wilderness Festival (six years in the planning from the team that brought us The Secret Garden Party), a three day immersion in another world held in arguably one of the most gorgeous sites in the UK. There’s music (hell it wouldn’t be a festival without music) and this year they’re dishing up the likes of the delectable Rodrigo y Gabriela, the downright funky Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (the hardest working lady in showbusiness) and, one of last year’s big festival hits, Crystal Fighters.

There the links with most other festivals pretty much crumble to dust/mud (depending on the weather). Committed to feeding all of the senses there’s a pop up restaurant on site hosting a different chef each night including Michelin Star gobbler Fergus Henderson and seasonal food fetishist Valentine Warner. Drool. Stuffed with fine grub, you’re free to hunt out the rather glamorous midnight masked ball (which last year featured a nude conga...happily for all concerned I resisted the temptation to join in) and dance away until the sun comes up. Which it will. The Wilderness Festival bods have a deal with the weather. Honestly.

You may well be a little tired and emotional after all that so handily they’ve laid on a spa, hot tubs and all manner of pampering for the mind, body and soul near the wild swimming lake (trunks optional...actually I might be making that bit up...depends if your bits are pretty). Suitably refreshed you can head over to the Idler Academy for a stimulating lecture on Cloudspotting, the birth of gin or something equally off the wall. Or how about embracing your thespian side with the Old Vic Theatre Tunnel? Stargazing with the Royal Observatory? Chilling out next to one of the many smaller performances spaces (which last year saw intimate shows from the likes of Daniel Johnston and Fyfe Dangerfield). You get the idea. It’s not just a festival, it’s more a retreat from all the bullshit that the modern world chucks at us and a damn fine excuse to be someone else for a few days. Trust me, you won’t want to leave...


The Wilderness Festival makes the world a better place between the 10th - 12th August in Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire. Weekend tickets available from £119. Early booking for the restaurant and spa HIGHLY recommended...be warned...they will sell out...