Forget the bands, it’s all about the added extras; from vintage champagne bars to, erm, shoe polishing, here’s our pick of the best festival pop-ups.
Gin O’Clock
For gin drinkers there’s only one reason (ok, maybe more than one, but you get the point) to head to The Edinburgh Festival Fringe and that’s Hendrick’s Carnival of Knowledge. Dubbed a ‘travelling parlour of enlightenment’, they’re not wrong. It’s not just about sipping cucumber-infused concoctions in the Parlour Bar (as nice as that is), there are literary workshops, days of discovery with Guerilla Science and taxidermy. Take your pick!
7-10 August, One Royal Circus, Edinburgh
Just Boot It
Beach sunsets, yurts and literary geniuses, as if Festival No. 6 couldn’t get any quirkier, Dr Marten’s are bringing a bespoke shoe shining service to this year’s up line-up. Can’t you just picture Caitlin Moran standing at the front of the queue? And it’s not just leather key-rings and nosing into the AW14 collection, their Stand For Something campaign will be presenting the Welsh premiere of brilliant gay rights-influenced film Pride (starring Dominic West and Bill Nighy) in the festival cinema on Sunday. Bravo.
5-7 September, Portmeirion, Wales
Chill Out
VIP envy? Yep, we get it at Reading festival too. But no more! Check out Tuborg Town (previously at Wireless) for fab views, resident DJs, and cider (obvs). This year also boasts a secret Born To Be Chilled zone; think giant fridge door, ice themed bar and (an even more, erm, chilled) ‘Ice Blast’ machine. Let’s just hope it’s hot enough to need the ice (ice, baby)…
22-24 August, Richfield Avenue
Film Buff
With September festivals on the rise (summer don’t stop til October – got it?) we are loving new arts weekender Oxford Oxford which separates its days into ‘film’, ‘music’ and ‘community’. How organized! The film day is Alice in Wonderland themed with a Mad Hatters pop-up bar. Cue fancy dress, and lots of eat me, and definitely lots of drink me, concoctions. Curious!
26-28 September, South Park
Fabulous, Darling
If you normally head to Wilderness for the spa days and raucous mask balls, you’ll totally appreciate that even summer’s most decadent festival is taking things up a notch. This year it’s all about the Champagne Laurent-Perrier Orangery, which boasts iron birdcages, exotic plants, white tablecloths, candelabras and pretty much anything else you never thought you’d see at a festival. Partnering with Petersham Playhouse, there’s a decidedly theatrical element; think impromptu musical chairs, poetry readings and handwritten notes, all brought to you with a smile by hostess-with-the-mostess Lady Fandameer. Chin, chin.
7 –10 August 2014, Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire