I have a lovely group of girls that I always do festivals with and every year we like to choose a new
festival to try. This year was one with a difference…Gentlemen of the Road Stopover in Lewes, near
Brighton.
Hosted by the epic Mumford & Sons, the global
series of events began in 2012 and toured small cities and towns around the
world, creating a unique experience for everyone involved, and this year was no
exception. Staying true to the spirit outlined by the band…it was a music
festival that celebrates local people, food and culture, where everyone pitches
in and everybody gets something back.
Music highlights include the soulful tunes of Bear's Den, playing
‘Isaac’, an uplifting rendition of ‘Home’ by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, a throwback to my younger years with Vampire Weekend’s ‘One
(Blake’s Got a New Face)' and of course the headliners of the weekend
Mumford & Sons with a rousing performance of Babel.
The site of The Convent Field was relatively small, but
included all you could need in terms of food stalls, with the biggest queues
forming for the hog roast. You may have struggled to find options if you were
vegetarian as there was a lack of veggie stalls, however the main attraction
was the popular Higgidy Pies stall which was a lovely addition to the feel of the festival.
On the second day we decided to bring our own picnic food (read Jane's recent blog post for picnic inspiration!) and laid our picnic blanket out right
in front of the centre stage and enjoyed the gorgeous music of Bear's Den. This not only allowed us to save money but summed up the laid-back feel
of the festival which is hard to find at other festivals I have been to in
previous years where the crowds are claustrophobic and you are more worried
about losing your friends forever because you need to queue for the portaloo!
This was the most relaxing festival experience I have ever had.
We decided to use a new app to document the fun of the festival
called Time Lapse, an app you can use to take photos that can be later
rendered as a video with a backing track of your choice. You can choose to
manually snap your images or program the app to take a snap every so many
hours, minutes or seconds. For our first efforts, we ended up with a funny memory of the weekend set to the backing track of Mumford & Sons of course! A full Katie & Jane review will be
available soon.
When booking the tickets we were told the on-site camping had
sold out and after a lot of calling round the local area, we booked to stay in
the pretty coastal town of Eastborne in The Guesthouse East, which was £30 a night
between 4 of us, we stayed in a fully-equipped suite with shower facilities and
most importantly a comfy bed to rest our weary dancing legs! We pre-booked taxis to pick us up from
Lewes after the festival which we had no trouble in picking up, and we
travelled to Lewes every morning by train.
Overall Mumford & Sons seem to have packed a festival with
everything they love and shared it with the world, I can’t wait to see where
the next UK stopover for 2014 will be, but I would love to visit one of the US
stopovers next year. It was such a unique experience, and really inspired me to
look out for new, smaller festivals because they might be smaller in terms of
its line-up but it packed a punch where it needed to, the music, the atmosphere
and the friendly town of Lewes!
Stopovers in Simcoe, Troy, Guthrie and St. Augustine still to come this year so make sure you head to the main site to check the
line-ups for each festival here.
After each festival I love to purchase a little memento to put
up in the apartment, and this One Must Dash print from Bodie & Fou is just
perfect to remind me of the Gentleman of the Road printed onto the flags welcoming us to the friendliest festival on the planet! Click the image to find out more...
Katie x
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