The Secret Garden Party
July 22nd
The Secret Garden Party is not your usual music festival. Having developed a reputation for being a little bacchanalian, it is the kind of event that will charm people looking for something a little off the beaten track. Skinny-dipping at dawn, people painting themselves blue and throwing themselves onto 6ft high pianos are the norm. Taking inspiration from psychedelic artists and writers such as Dali, Lewis Carol and Coleridge, the theme is most definitely surreal.
It takes place on the grounds of a Georgian farm house near Cambridge. The location has its own lake, river and –of course – landscaped gardens.
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It started out in 2004 by four friends and attracted 1,000 so-called gardeners. Since then attendance has ballooned to more than 6,000.
Every year there is a theme and 2010 promises to be just as dreamlike. Titled ‘Fact or Fiction’, the festival will be dedicated to ‘wonderment, imagination and the impossible’.
If it all sounds a bit too trippy, there is plenty of entertainment on tap. Grass surfing, mud wrestling and a Ferris wheel are just some of the activities organised in the past.
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And the festival has also attracted some top acts. Jarvis Cocker, Peter Green and Noah and the Whale are just some of the artists that have performed in previous years. This year’s line up includes Kate Walsh and The Jessie Rose Trip.
This is definitely the occasion to let your hair down.
