Lowther Deer Park, Hackthorpe, CA10 2HN…read more Warning this a lengthy review - hope it has some useful information. Just spent a lovely weekend at Kendal Calling. A small (8 thousand) independent festival in a great location on the edge of the Lake District. A great time seemed to be had by all and we left the site on Monday afternoon having drunk deeply at the well (and the bar!) but feeling strangely rested and well fed!! Long drive back to Nunhead but no pain no gain. All credit to the organisers who put together a really beautiful well run site, which was kept on an even keel by a polite but efficient security team who appeared to have some sense of how to keep everyone happy and safe. Music - headliners on the Saturday The Doves played an epic set which was a joy to behold. Calvin Harris and The Coral were less successful. The Badly Drawn Boy played a blinder on the Sunday afternoon and you could feel the collective goose bumps ripple through the crowd when he brought his daughter on for a duet. As ever much of the best stuff was to be found in the smaller tents. Crossiant Neuf hosted the Kaylied tent which had a good rotation of folky, rootsy type acts during the day and a more ska, funk and house vibe in the evening. Ideally located next to the pub!! The Glow tent was the main dance area but on the few occasions I visited seemed a bit dull and lacking in volume. The House Party tent got my vote; properly decked out kitschy front room to chill in during the day and old school house party at night. Dave Haslam's balearic set was highly uplifting and typical of the music policy. A very excited Craig Charles finished the whole thing somewhere around 3 on Monday morning in the Kaylied tent with a good time funk and soul set which had the walls dripping and the crowd raising the roof. Other stuff - plenty of jazz, juggling, karaoke, very amusing and inventive fancy dress, Cumbrian olympics and a bit of theatre, Howard Marks etc, etc. Food and Drink - excellent range of small independent stalls with not a burger van on the whole site. Lovers of Mexican food were particularly well served and the Turkish chicken casserole from Johnny Baghdad was very tasty. Plenty of veggie options too. In general most main dishes were priced around £5-6 and seemed great value coming from London. Plenty of the bog standard festival bars selling Tuborg etc dotted around the site but for beer lovers the place to be was the Holy Quail pub which had an excellent selection of local ale including a Hawkshead Pale which was drinking so well it was gone by Saturday lunchtime. The Hawkshead bitter was a good alternative and was also drinking very well and ran out on the Sunday afternoon. By that time a cheeky vodka and red bull was starting to seem like a good idea anyway!! Camping - it might be small but get there on the Thursday to secure a tasty pitch. Quiet field was lively, friendly and reasonably well spaced out. The main areas were slightly chaotic but seemed to suit those who fancied being up all night. Family area was quiet and worth considering just to be able to get your car on site as it was a long hike to the camping areas. Toilets and showers - must admit I thought the toilets looked inadequate for the crowd but they seemed to be cleaned reasonably often and were still fine on the Monday morning. The thought of freestyling did not seem to enter anyones head. The 6 Eco friendly showers seemed even more inadequate but at £3.50 a go we never queued for more than 10 minutes!! The punters - pretty much all tribes welcome and a very mixed bag with a healthy dose of harmless 17/18 year olds who tended to camp in groups of about 20 and sit around all day and night drinking Fosters. Plenty of 20 to 50's with or without children. All very friendly and many thanks to our neighbours who roasted up a fine joint of lamb for all in the vicinity and passed on a top tip for how to get my car on site on the Monday morning - love those cheeky Northern monkeys.

Lytham is that kind of festival that attracts second-tier talent. You'll see young artists on their…read moreway up and legends who haven't maintained legendary status who can't fill stadiums anymore. We went because my stepmother is a huge fan of Jonathan Antoine. Luckily for me, the wildly underrated legend Billy Ocean played earlier in the week. Both shows were great. It's really built to be a local festival ... or Brits who have driven in ... having your own chairs and and picnic setup is VERY necessary. Go early to get a good area as people lay out and get comfortable. I also recommend bringing your own food (which many do) as there are limited choices there. There is a lot of soft lawn, so I imagine watching during a rain is unpleasant. We had great weather, so good luck if the rains come!

What a truely immense weekend with sunshine and some VIP free bar abuse. This festival is really…read morethe muts nuts. Get it in your diaries for next year, along with some super fine fizz, hideous porto loos and trench foot. Well maybe not the last two. Seriously beer, music and sunshine win win win!

clearly the best festival in the North of England! Free from the usual over -priced, over-hyped…read morecorruption of other UK festivals, such as Glasto, Beatherder offers laid back barminess and lancashire inspired frolics for a weekend :) Set in the rolling hills of the ribble valley one can feel free and wild, whilst wearing appropriate flat cap and ballgown. It's getting more family orientated now with lots of workshops and creativity going on amongst the ale and cider stomping. "Proper" bands/orchestra's can be seen, musical instruments and all, along with banging, stomping underground dance etc. get yer self downs there innit :) £45 early bird ticket- no excuse! Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpYE4vFIF5I

If only this were annual instead of biennial! Every odd-numbered year, puppets of the world descend…read moreon the little town of Skipton, and it's absolutely worth the journey around the globe. With the programme growing every time in proportion to the festival's reputation, there really is something for everyone - even (and perhaps especially) for people who profess to dislike puppetry. There's such a huge range of artistry and style that it's my personal opinion that not liking puppets is like not liking food; what - ALL food? ALL puppets? That's why this festival is so important: it introduces people to puppetry as an art form, as something beyond seaside Punch & Judy. There are shows for children, shows for all ages, shows you wouldn't dream of taking children to, shadow puppets, glove puppets, rod puppets, foot puppets, hand puppets, puppets that aren't even puppets until someone picks them up and moves them in a certain way... Every single show this year was a total sell-out, but the free side shows and walkabouts in the hub area at the canal basin are worth a look even if you can't get to a show. A real highlight of the weekend is the giant puppet parade. Anyone is welcome to create a puppet at one the workshops before the festival, and the whole community and all the visiting performers march down the High Street, all colours and ribbons and extraordinary movements. The time of year also means that, for the last two festivals, everything has taken place in bright, warm sunshine. There could perhaps be more happening in the hub area once the sun sets - unless you're in the beer tent or one of the marquee venues, you could be forgiven for thinking everything had finished for the day. Some live outdoor music and a couple of after-dark walkabouts would just top everything off perfectly. They're constantly striving to improve on an already majestic weekend, with feedback and suggestion forms handed out to anyone who will take them, so I can't wait to see what they'll accomplish on the back of this year's success. Again, if only this were every year. If only it lasted for longer than a weekend. The organisers manage to pull together a world-class programme every time; roll on 2015, I say!

The winter gardens in Blackpool has changed beyond recognition between my childhood and now. In 20…read moreyears this has went from a building resembling an air raid shelter with bare stone floors and a few kids rides and fruit machines to an amazing theatre building with very up market eateries and the likes. There are now some very big shows held here and the place is astounding to look at but personally I prefered the days of cheap thrills and cheap cafes to the £3 cups of coffee and staff looking down their noses at you that you get these days.

Attended here last year for a Pet Shop Boys concert, other than that have been a few times for…read morevarious conferences. The place is huge and with the most amazing decor and certainly is the jewel in the crown when it comes to venues in Blackpool. Once inside you will find refreshments and snacks quite expensive so best to take your own if you want to save a few pennies.

Lovely lunch at the Continental. Pam and I had vegetarian Banh Mi sandwhiches and a good salad…read more They have lots of entertainment on weekend which I'll be looking forward to checking out.

I had my first experience of the Conti as a gig venue on Saturday night. Not being a local, I had…read morenever heard of the place before (having only visited Preston itself a few times and those being gigs at the Mad Ferrit and the Student Union). My first impression is that parking is a wee bit of a nightmare and it's a little out of town. That being said, having seen a sample of the other options in Preston - it seems to be worth a bit of a walk. 1) It was Busy! In this day and age (with pubs being on the decline), it was fantastic to see a place so vibey and buzzing. The bar area was busy, the restaurant was nearly full and people were sitting outside under the heaters. 2) Very reasonably priced! We stuck to the Conti Home-brew (at a very passable £2.60 a pint), but a vodka and coke was around £2.70 and it hosts and enviable selection of beers, wines and spirits. The Import lagers are more pricey, but that is to be expected as they're a specialist drink. 3) The crowd was lovely! There was a mix of people in the bar due to the gig, but nearly everyone was chatting to each other and having a joke. I didn't feel like an outsider at all and had a wonderful experience shooting the breeze with many of the locals. The pub itself was clean and well presented and the gig space was perfect for a crowd of around 200 people (with mixed seating and standing). The sound was dead good for the bands and the space really lent itself to hosting small to medium sized events. I didn't have any food, but it looked and smelled very nice indeed. If I had a local like this, I think it would be a bit of a staple venue. Good job Conti!

This sports ground is used once a year for the Grasmere Sports and Show The field is literally in…read morethe fork between the A591 and Stock Lane, on your left as you drive from Ambleside. I suggest that you don't walk from Ambleside, unless you've got lots of energy to spare, it's four miles.