"I was dreamin' when I wrote this, so sue me if I go to fast…read moreBut life is just a party and parties weren't meant to last" Wow, just Wow!! Had an amazing time at the Hop Farm festival this weekend, with Prince being the icing on the cake. What a showman, he really knows how to rock a festival!! Hop Farm Festival is now in its 4th year and for the first time was extended to three days. Organised by the legendary Vince Power this festival looks set to grow and grow. The acts range from new bands to old legends, including The Eagles, Morrissey, Carl Barat, Newton Faulkner, Aloe Black, Ocean Colour Scene, Tim Booth, Imelda May, Frankie and The Heartstrings and many more. The festival has three stages, and and comedy night once the music has finished. The facilities were fantastic - the toilets were clean and 9 times out of 10 had loo roll and hand sanitiser (i know, at a festival!). The bars were numerous and well staffed meaning that you never had to queue for longer than a couple of minutes for a drink. For beer or cider you had to pay a £3 deposit for a plastic cup which was then refundable at the end of the night - a great idea to keep waste levels down. On this note, the area was cleaned on a regular basis which was fantastic. The food stands were numerous and a little hit and miss. Great hog roast, burritos and churros but the paella and Jimmy's Farm burger were a little disappointing. Camping facilities were good and not to far away from the arena. Could have done with a few more showers but at least they were hot. This is a fairly civilised festival which seems to appeal to people of all ages. A great starter if you don't feel quite ready for the madness of the likes of Glastonbury or Reading!!

Even before I started working on the Ealing Summer events, I loved them. You can bring your own…read morepicnic, your own drinks (no glass bottles please though - put your wine/champagne in a plastic bottle!) and most of the events are only £1, so its great for a cheap day out. Me and my friends have spent many a summer's day sprawled out on a blanket listening the music and sunbathing. Oh, and when you run out of your own food and drink, there's plenty of stalls to buy from too!

Not sure if it's sad to admit this but the Jazz Festival is one of the highlights of the year for…read moreme. Yes it's lazy, I live a 3 minute walk away, but hey I grab some folding chairs,make up copious amounts of pimms and laze in the park for 3-4 nights with friends getting squiffy and letting the music and ambience wash over me - what's not to like ? Been going for 20years or so now,and already booked in friends again for 2009..bring it on !

Cropredy is a beautiful, tiny village near Banbury on the banks of the Cherwell. It is an old…read morevillage, dating from before the English civil war, and it looks it (in the quaint, lovely way, rather than the rundown way!) It has a thriving community, including a school, a church, pubs, a doctor's surgery, general store and other small business appropriate to an English village and a rather spiffing website (http://www.cropredyvillage.info/index.htm) . The website will tell you all about the history of the village (including the civil war battle fought here in 1644 and its mention in the Domesday Book), the age of the properties (from really quite old to not really very old at all), the amenities, and its location (the Cherwell valley, three miles north of Banbury and Junction 11 of the M40 Motorway). Do visit the website for loads of useful information. However, I'd like to give you my impressions. It is one of the friendliest places I have ever been. The local residents are of all ages, and welcome visitors with open arms (and, once a year, they get a rather large influx of visitors, but more on that in a minute). The church warden will gladly show visitors around, and discuss the new bells installed a couple of years ago. The residents will recount the age and history of their homes. There is a cricket club, which is quintessentially English. There are moorings on the river and canal for boats. This is a beautiful village, but you might well ask how I, an ex-pat American living in London has found herself there not once but three times. You might also wonder what I am talking about when I mention the annual influx of visitors. Each year, Cropredy plays host to Fairport Conventions annual...well....convention. This is a fabulous folk festival over a weekend in August. There are many, many things that make this different from other festivals - there is only one stage, for a start, the age range tends to be older, it's folk...but what makes this festival unique is that the village positively welcomes the up-to-30,000 visitors the village plays host to. The boy scouts are on litter duty. Local lads sell programmes. The pubs open for breakfast. The cricket club opens for showers. The residents mind the inconvenience (traffic, parking restrictions, smelly festival goers) not a whit. Fairport Convention allocate a ticket to each of the 750 residents to do with as they please. Everyone is happy. An idyllic English village indeed - and one well worth visiting even if you're not a folk music fan...

Having not long since turned 18 I thought I would splash out and go with my friends to a music…read morefestival now that I could drive and legal to attend. I have always been a big fan of dance music and having read the stage line ups for the 2008 Gatecrasher festival I was tempted to buy tickets. Tickets were fairly expensive yet by comparing to other festivals for similar things (camping etc) I wasn't being doddled out of too much. Instructions on the website about every detail including maps, directions, what they offered etc were very clear and easy to follow.When we arrived by car we got there about 3 hours after the site opened yet managed to get in and park quite quickly as the staff were very efficient.However I warn you now you have a trek of death to get your camping stuff from the car to the site and find a spot! As the site is so huge it is quite an exhausting stint carrying all your belongings (or what feels like your actual house after a while) in attempt to find somewhere you can put them all away again. Security was very lax compared to how they described it on the website - evidence of this came in numerous forms as you can probably imagine. However there were large amounts of loos (essential if your a lady camper cos we frankly can't manage a bush!) yet I would have gladly donned male parts as to avoid them they were that disgusting!Food availability and essentials such as water and first aid were plentiful and visible wherever you went. Paramedics and police were constantly on standby and patrolling the main site. The fairground was a bog standard travellers set up yet makes a fun evening with your friends as you are all buzzing from the atmosphere. The atmosphere in each tent is fantastic - even if the weather outside is terrible you still end up enjoying yourself (even just by laughing at the ravers in welly boots!) Each act I saw which included Dizzee Rascal, The Prodigy, Pete Tong, Hixxy, Zane Lowe etc all put on an amazing performance and made the weekend for the thousands of festival goers.The only problems that came about was the weather cancelling a few of the live stage acts due to health and safety - although they could of managed this better and planned in case of the inevitable weather. The lack of security meant you had to be on strong guard exactly what was going on around you. I must include in my review: R.I.P to the gentleman who died during the event of natural causes and could not be revived by the paramedics.

Love box Festival isn't just a music festival, It's much more than that…read more It's an escape with all it's beery, sweaty glory. In the midsummer Victoria Park played host to a crowd of beery, sweaty, joyous, feeling the love group of people, coming to take in hours upon hours of great music performed live by some of the greatest artists and DJ''s around. A sweltering dustbowl of Victoria park was full of vivid colours, four stage, fun fair, food Stalls, merchandise. As we groove to the first tent heavy dancing and beats session was to tantalising to miss. Once that was finished, we tucked into a delicious Ostrich burger. Then stroll toward the fairground rides and after recovering from the rides and my organs had settled down from the ordeal we dancing our way into another tent where we bump into random people and started up a dancing frenzy and left.... hehehe....! Bopped over to the Main Stage in between, were Alunageogre D,anglo and Plan. B performed. Overall magnificent.

Pretty decent weekend offering in surprisingly lovely surroundings of Victoria Park, Hackney, East…read moreLondon. It pretty easy to get here (if you know the way from the station!!), just 20 minutes from Camden Road on the overground service, and only 1 pound! We had lots of fun on Saturday watching Manu Chao, Groove Armada, Lethal Bizzle, and possible Wiley! Can't give it 5 stars because of the really stupidly long bar queues, but the rest of the setup is pretty pleasant, and the atmosphere is chilled, no trouble at all.

Not advertising but this is tomorrow. Strawberry fair is a…read morefree festival in the center of Cambridge, UK. This years fair is on Saturday June 7th, 2008. It has music on several stages, stalls, food, art, crafts, kids entertainment, performers, participation and of course a beer tent. I went for the day last year and it was a hot day (rain tomorrow). If you can't get to this one put it in your diary for next year because it is good and it is free! After the event. A crowd of us went. Kings Cross to Cambridge and we got on enroute..like a rolling snowball..it had picked up other friends enroute. The trains were packed and the queueing and police presence at Cambridge station seemed a bit OTT. The festival itself was packed but the music, beer and food were good as were the selection of stalls. I got a rainstick for £1. As this is free one wonders how much longer it can run but if it is on next year then go!

The completely restored Arundel Castle, located in Arundel, West Sussex, England, was founded by…read moreRoger de Montgomery on 25 December 1067. The castle's founder was the first person to hold the Earl of Arundel title, as bestowed by William the Conqueror. The elegant castle has served as a hereditary home and, for over four centuries, has been in the family of the Duke of Norfolk. The grounds are very well maintained and the interior has many historical artifacts and pieces of furniture, art, etc., throughout. Though not all of the castle may be toured, and photography is not permitted in the interior, this historic building is well worth the time it may take to visit.

Arundel is a great town to spend the day out of London (Count a good 1h30 to go there from…read moreVictoria). The Castle itself can take most of your day as there's lots to see. The entrance ticket covering the gardens and the castle is a bit expensive (£18) but it's definitively worth it. The Castle is huge with other 200 rooms, including an impressive banquet Hall (where they shot the Young Victoria movie), a stunning library and an extravagant "private Chapel" (Still looks like a mini cathedral to me). Grounds feature lots of gardens, fountains, glasshouses (where they grow vegetables for the restaurant). The highlight of our day though was the Medieval festival with lots of people in costums showing how people live in Middle Ages. Arundel castle does that quite often so I would recommend to go visit on such an occasion.

Having spent the afternoon celebrating the Year of the Rooster in ChinaTown we were looking forward…read moreto our visit to The Magical Lantern Festival. However the heavens opened and many saved days of rain poured out of the sky. Were we dispondent? NO WAY. The gardens had been transformed into a fairyland which took us back to childhood. A childhood where rain mattered not. Footpaths, with direction signs, laid out so nothing was missed. Beautiful, artistic exhibits with well signed descriptions. Wonderful. Along the way, places to drink and eat. I felt sorry for the guys in those stalls because the rain made people walk past. Likewise the entertainment area at the end. A fantastic evening out for, we felt, a very reasonable price. A tip.....wear waterproof boots as the way can get rather muddy.

Absolutely not worth £20 a head…read more "Nice" was the word to describe it. Thoroughly meh about it. If had paid for a family night out with my nieces and nephews I would not be a happy camper. No ambience, no music or sounds. Just beige. Won't be going back.

This is truly one of the best folk festivals that you can go so anywhere in the UK. Small, without…read morebeing cramped, and busy without being at all overpowering, year after year this festival has been a highlight of my year. Here you'll find everything you could possibly want in a weekend festival. Ceilidh tents, beer tents, children's activities, camping and caravan grounds, dodgy festival showers, stalls, and stalls and more stalls. The festival takes place on the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of August every year, and never disappoints, no matter what the weather (or, indeed, he economic climate too). There is such an air of community here that there is, for me at least, a real sense of homecoming every time I arrive and set up camp. Acts such as Show of Hands, Seth Lakeman, Oysterband, Eliza McCarthy, Kate Rusby and many more are regular patrons ad performers at this event. But there are others from all around the world set to entertain. The highlight of the festival is the final night, when there is a parade of lanterns (made by festival-goers during the weekend) through the grounds and camping to arrive at the outdoor arena to be met with live music and fireworks. For a magical weekend you'll never forget, try Towersey!