Yvonne Martin went to the Big Feastival at the weekend where she ate some great food, danced and tried out axe-throwing.
The super sunny weather made The Big Feastival on the Bank Holiday weekend the perfect day out for foodies.
The music and food festival is held at Alex James’ (the bassist from Blur) farm in the Cotswolds. And this year’s line-up included Elbow, Jess Glynne, Grandmaster Flash, The Zutons and Lewis Capaldi.
Food choices
On the food side there was a combination of workshops, talks and – my goodness – a fine array of food stalls. My only problem was finding enough room in my tum to do the selection of great eats justice.
We went on the Saturday and arrived in glorious sunshine, which then continued all day. Our only concern was what to eat next and how to quench our thirst in that heat.
A cool pint
Since we were both driving home we had to forego the great array of fizz, gins and cocktails on offer.
So we were delighted, therefore, to discover the Nirvana (nirvanabrewery.com) stall, where they sold some really refreshing and tasty alcohol-free beers. We went back several times as it was nice to cool off with something that went down like a real beer.
The one I tried was in fact 0.3% alcohol but I think you’d have a job to get drunk on that! I’m not a calorie counter, but there’s no point consuming excessive calories, so it was good to see this particular one – branded as Fitbeer – only had 66 in a bottle.
Barbecue experts
Over the day we went from ice cream to halloumi fries, to gluten-free brownies – all delicious and carefully produced and presented.
But food-wise one of the highlights was the tender slow-cooked beef from DJ BBQ (djbbq.com). These fellas worked hard to produce some great food. They had my sympathy standing over those hot embers on one of the hottest weekends of the year. They were pumping out some great music from the turntables too.
Best crispy beef ever
The other find was the Farang (faranglondon.co.uk) stall, from the restaurateur, chef and author of Cook Thai, Sebby Holmes.
It’s a measure of how good this was, that – despite everything else available at the festival – we went and ate there twice!
First, for crunchy kale and spicy sauce with barbecue chicken, and later, and most memorably, for crispy beef. This beef was what I always hope to get, but rarely do, when I order crispy beef. It was perfect and has spoiled me for every other Thai meal I will ever have.
Time to unwind
There was plenty to keep us busy as well. We went to an interesting workshop on foot acupressure and discovered the point on your foot you can press to relax and unwind.
I also tried axe throwing! I was genuinely disappointed at how rubbish I was at this, as I thought I might have a knack for it.
Can’t help dancing
There came a point when even we had consumed enough food for the time being. So we lay down on the grass to relax and take in the familiar sounds of The Zutons. Then, after a rest (and some more food of course) we were ready to dance to the Grandmaster Flash DJ set and Jess Glynne.
As the sun went down the festival had a great atmosphere. Everyone chilled out, danced wildly in the Cheese Hub or ventured onto the fairground rides.
It was a smoothly-organised, fun and friendly event. The festival catered well for families too. Great entertainment and gorgeous food. Put it in your diary for next year. You can’t go wrong.
