Rosemary and I embarked on our annual pilgrimage to the Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza, this time with a twist—a pre-concert camping adventure near the charming village of Priddy. Nestled in the Cheddar Gorge, the Cheddar Camping and Caravanning offered was complete with freshly baked pastries available each morning. Priddy itself beckoned with its quaint pub and hidden charm, while a longer-than-planned afternoon hike (much to Rosemary’s initial chagrin) led me to the mouth of a mysterious cave system – a tantalizing glimpse into the subterranean world below.
Friday saw us driving through the dramatic Cheddar Gorge, past Deerleap Viewpoint with its stunning vista of Glastonbury Tor, before stocking up at Waitrose in Wells and settling into our temporary Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza campsite beneath the imposing Tor. The heavens unleashed their fury, sending some neighbours packing, but we weathered the storm, comforted by Google’s promise of sunshine for the concert.
Saturday in Glastonbury was a treasure trove of second-hand finds and antiquarian gems. We secured a pre-packed picnic supper for the evening at a local bakery. Decided we wouldn’t do so again. After a good lunch at The George and Pilgrims, we joined the throngs entering the Abbey grounds, securing a prime spot near a crowd-cutting footpath. As the clouds parted, the setting sun painted the sky in fiery hues. The Wells City Band entertained us first with their brassy brilliance, followed by the upbeat rhythm of Lightning Seeds and their anthem, Three Lions. Finally, the Scottish powerhouse Texas. Shame on me for not knowing their roots ran north of the border! The fireworks erupted in a finale of dazzling colour, and we cheered along with the ecstatic crowd before catching the coach back to camp.
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The Lightening Seeds, Texas and the firework display.
We have been visiting Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza for several years, missing the COVID years when music festivals were forbidden. R enjoys it, camping for two nights, and a half day of music is enough for her. The campsite is getting busier, the early arriving vans were packed tight to ensure there was enough room for all the booked vans. Those arriving later had more than enough room and were spaced further apart. Tents are now in a different field, and cars parked in yet another area.
It is a basic site, there are the Glastonbury Festival long drops, a breakfast van, and water points and a hand basin. So, Friday was the drive to Glastonbury, parking and (much against my better judgement) decorating the van. I walked up the Tor for a pleasant view of Hinkley Point nuclear power stations and the world’s largest crane called “Big Karl”. This year I also managed to see the Pyramid Stage. On previous occasions I had not looked in the correct direction.
Saturday, the day of the Extravaganza, we walked into Glastonbury along the main road, and then up Wells Road to the East of the Abbey grounds. Along Abbey Road there are quite a few stone plaques describing the history of strategic locations. We walked along the High Street visiting some of the shops, having a coffee and ordering an Italian picnic box for supper. We made our traditional visit to the “The Who’d A Thought It” pub for lunch. There is a lovely mural painted on the wall of the house opposite. So much detail goes into the picture. You also have the odd procession walking down the street to complete the Glastonbury scene.
We queued early for entrance to the Extravaganza, so we could get a reasonable position, once our place had been located in the queue, I went back to the Italian Deli and picked up our supper box.
Once inside we seated ourselves a little distance back from the stage, located along the path which goes from one side to the other. Spectators around us were setting up huge meals and breaking open the bubbly. We consumed a few pints of beer and Pims from the bar.
The music started with the Black Dyke Band, followed by Seasick Steve and then Paloma Faith. She did turn up to sing this year. Paloma had been booked to play in 2018. She had turned up but did not perform because of laryngitis when Michael Eavis flew in Tom Odell. an excellent replacement. He had been called up during a family BBQ supper and flown by helicopter to Glastonbury. R not keen on Ms Faith, preferring Tom Odell & Rodney Branigan.
The usual firework display finished the evening’s entertainment, and then we were whisked off by coach back to to the campsite.
Next day, I was up at 4am to walk up Glastonbury Tor to catch the sunrise and hopefully to meet Michelle Cowbourne a photographer, who walks up there most days to photograph the sunrise. I did not find her, she had been there, but from lower down the Tor. There were many people there waiting for sunrise. It was a lovely morning, mist in the fields with the golden orb of the sun shining.
I departed and made my way back down for breakfast.
We packed up quickly and headed over to see Sue and Ken for lunch. Being a tad early we made a short visit to a National Trust house called Lytes Cary Manor. It is a house you can hire as a holiday let but it does allow visitors around the gardens and chapel. It was a short visit, so we were soon on our way for lunch at the Old Inn.
Yeah, we were off to the Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 to see Paloma Faith, our third time attending and camping, AND the weather was going to be gorgeous!
The Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza is held every year, performed in the Glastonbury Abbey grounds and organised by Michael Eavis. This year it was a sell-out, and so was the camping ground. It was speculated this was because there was no Glastonbury Festival and that a few Glastonbury regulars had decided on this event. Yes, most of the campers we spoke with were Glastonbury Festival regulars.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Friday
We set off at 8.30am, forgetting about the roadworks in Bicester which delayed us considerably. We aimed for Pilton Farm office where we arrived at 11.32 for me to buy a couple of tickets for the Pilton Party. The tickets had gone on sale the week before and had sold well, but there were still a few available. Yippy! I was able to show Rosemary the carpark where we would be camping on the 31st after the party!
We drove on to Glastonbury and parked the van at the campsite. We parked at the top of the hill, sideways on to the slope. Then we walked into the town down the main A361 road. You do take your life in your hands on that road, large trucks, sometimes one of the trucks has to pull over to let one passing in the other direction pass by. The pavements are also very narrow, with poorly cut back hedges. W e made it alive! Looked at a few charity shops, bought a few CDs and headed for ‘The Who’d A Thought It’ pub. I’ve always had a reasonable pint and something nice to eat there, BUT it does seem to have gone downhill this year. Should have noticed the lack of people in the garden where it has always been busy before. Ah well, won’t be eating there again, everything seemed to have been cooked in old oil, and the craft beer was past it.
Lovely walk back by the back roads and up to The Tor before descending to the Campsite. The views were not quite as good as a couple of years ago, considerable haze, though you could still see Hinkley point. Interestingly, the fields were far greener than at home where they all look scorched. At the campsite we were asked to move our van to face up and down the hill so more vans could park. No idea why we weren’t told how to park when we arrived. We moved in the morning. At these events it is interesting walking around and checking on the other vans, seeing how they had been converted and h are being used.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Saturday
Morning, breakfast and a lovely day as we walked into town. Today we drank at the George Hotel and Pilgrims Inn. We had rejected this several years ago as it looked dirty and insalubrious. I don’t know why, it very quaint and interesting place to be in. It also had a very good selection of craft beers. We didn’t eat there, we had decided to eat at a Vegan restaurant called the Excalibur Café.
The Excalibur was very busy. We ate well, though Rosemary didn’t like the ‘fermented cabbage smelling’ shot; I did! After lunch I walked to Tesco to buy some camping chairs; . Yes, we’d forgotten they are needed at the venue. Then it was more wandering around shops before joining the queue for the show. We parked ourselves just behind the walk way from one side of the arena to the other. It’s reasonably close, and because of the walk way, you don’t get people standing right in front of you.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Glastonbury Town Band
First was the Glastonbury Town Band, recently reformed. Rosemary and I agree they chose the wrong music for the occasion, a more upbeat programme would have been better.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Yazzy
Next on there was an 19 year old solo singer, Yazzy, she had performed at the Pilton Working Mens Club and Michael Eavis had given her this slot at the festival. She was accompanied by a keyboard player and made many references as to how proud she was to be supporting Paloma Faith, and thanking Michael Eavis for the chance to perform.
Then came the bad news, Paloma Faith was not going to perform, she had laryngitis and apparently pulled out at the last moment. Yazzy implied she had been speaking with her only minutes before she had gone on stage. Were we going to be leaving early? Instead Michael Eavis had managed to contact Tom Odell. He was dragged out of a family BBQ and helicoptered into Glastonbury as a replacement. While we waited we sat, ate, drank and amused ourselves to a DJ Jason Bryant, ace photographer of Glastonbury Festival.
A performance from Yazzy, from Glastonbury Extravaganza 2018. This is her promotional video from the event..
The helicopter arrived in a nearby field, and then we were entertained for 20 minutes by blue grass guitarist Rodney Branigan, a Texan now living in Norfolk. He played Blue Grass, two guitars at the same time and had the crowd on edge. Fantastic performance.
A performance from Rodney Branigan, again not from the festival
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Tom Odell
On came Tom Odell playing piano and singing. He’s an English songwriter who won the Brits Award in 2013. He has a new album, Jubilee Road, out in October 2018. Tom, and Rodney before, were admirable replacements for Paloma Faith. Some and I won’t say whom, believe there were a much better substitute. The crowd, or at least those around us, were very pleased with the replacement. Well let’s face it, most of us had booked before we even new Paloma Faith was the headline. It’s a lovely event with lovely people and a great atmosphere.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 Fireworks
Finally, there was the usual fabulous firework display. Then it was back to the campsite on the free coach.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2018 – Sunday
Away early so we could pop in to see some friends who live near by for coffee. The idea was to have coffee with Sue and Ken and then go on home. Plans never quite go that way, so it was lunch in the pub across the road, from them, and then home. Good to see them both.
We had tickets and a campervan pitch for the Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza. There were three acts on the Saturday night, The Black Dyke Band, Corinne Bailey Rae and headliner Brian Wilson.
We drove down on the Friday, stopping off on the way at CJ Van Designs for some advice on wear on the popup roof. He recommended placing some strips of carpet over the lights in the roof before closing down the lid. We arrived at the site and parked the van, but we did not erect the awning as we were only there for a couple of nights. We sat out in the sun and drank our bottle of fizz before eating our supper which was Coronation Chicken, finished off with raspberries & cream.
The site was much as it was as the previous year, except that there seemed to be more campervans (of all ages) this time, and where we had camped last year there were now vans there. The loos were not the composting type this time, but the traditional Glastonbury long drop, a large tank with cubicles on top, open to the weather at their roofs. Even after only a day it was getting pretty stinky. There was also a van this time selling bacon butties (not that I was allowed to buy one).
Next day it was raining, but it was predicted to get better with no rain for the show. We hung around at the campsite waiting for the rain to stop, and headed into town on foot and made it to the pub called The Who’d A Thought It. Alas, as it was lunch time we were unable to sit outside, so had to drink our pints in the bar. Outside I had spotted the long queue to the Glastonbury Festival Office where tickets to the Pilton Party were on sale. When we left the pub the queue was short. Rosemary gave me permission to buy a ticket for the 1st September, so I joined the queue where I soon heard it was cash only sales. I had gone cashless, luckily Rosemary had not yet left the area and was beckoned over to supply the cash.
A couple more hours to spare was spent looking around the weird and wonderful shops in Glastonbury. After a while, we joined the queue and were soon walking into the Abbey where we sat down on our chairs on a small rise. I think next year I shall sit more over to the left of the site, this seems to be the area where Michael Eavis appears for pictures.
First on were The Black Dyke Band, a Leeds colliery band. I thought they were good, Rosemary considers last year’s school band was better.
Next up was Corinne Bailey Rae, sorry did not enjoy the performance, nothing I could sing along too. We used the time to purchase some wraps with Halloumi, salad and Hummus.
Brian Wilson came on finally with his backing band. Much more pleasant, with recognisable Beach Boy sounds. The crowd really enjoyed the performance. Brian is a bit past it, didn’t play much and only sung a little. The backing band and singers though provided brilliant performances. The event ended with a great firework display.
We left quite quickly and were on the second coach back to the campsite. Very efficient service. I sneaked in a JD in the campervan before going to bed.
The morning was a bit soggy, breakfasted and left. Stopped for lunch at 12.00 at the The Cross Keys Inn. We still had time to kill before meeting up with Sue and Ken, so we visited the National Trust house of Lytes Cary Manor. It would have been better if we had skipped lunch at the The Cross Keys and had just eaten at the NT house.
We arrived at Sue and Ken’s, Sue was in, Ken was supporting the pub which had only recently reopened, but he came back fairly quickly. We inspected Sue’s vegetable plots, chickens & cats. Good to see them.
The drive back on the A303 was a pain, Google recommended a big diversion before we reached Stonehenge. Duly taken.
I managed to persuade Rosemary to go to one festival this year, the Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza. She seems to have been further persuaded to go by one of her friends. Playing were Van Morrison, Jamie Cullum and the Wells Cathedral School Jazz Band.
The journey to Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza
We set off from home on the Friday, stopping at Avebury. The site was heaving with people. We walked around most of the ring, picnicking on the bank. The facilities have been changed since we were last there. The National Trust has opened shops, restaurants and museums. We then continued the journey to Glastonbury, passing through Pilton on the way. The trouble with Google maps for navigation was a sudden lack of mobile phone signal meant we were unable to plot a course for some time. The cached map though helped us drive in the correct direction.
Glastonbury Campsite
A special campsite for the festival had been arranged, very basic, some Glastonbury Festival compost toilets, and trough wash basins. The Festival painted oil drums for rubbish bins were also in attendance. We erected our tent by a hedge and then walked into town for some well earned beers and food. We drank at the Who’d A Thought It, which was the only pub we could find to sit outside, and went to the Elaichi Tandoori for supper. Lovely walk home behind the Tor back to the campsite.
The prelude
The following day we ate our breakfast, and went to chat with some campervan owners to see how they had done their conversions. Interesting conversation. They seem to have been long time campers and campervan owners. We then walked up to the top of the Tor where the views were staggering. We could see Hinkley Point nuclear power station on one side, and on the other side we could make out the Glastonbury Festival pyramid stage field and Worthy farm. To the North of Hinkley we could make out the Bristol Channel and Wales beyond. We met an American who had come over expressly for the Van Morrison concert and a chap who lived on Worthy Farm.
After the Tor we walked on to Glastonbury for lunch at the Hundred Monkeys Cafe. Rosemary assured me it was a Vegan cafe, and that I was not to mention steaks. The first item on the menu was beef burger. It was a rather bizarre experience, on what was going to be a busy day, the kitchen did not have a full team, so customers were being turned away from a half empty restaurant. We were seated, but did spend several hours there. A lazy afternoon ensured with a bottle of prosecco at the Who’d A Thought It.
Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza
At five we entered the Abbey grounds and found an area on a slight rise that should give us an uninterrupted view of the stage. The fun started. R was pleased with the Wells Cathedral School Jazz Band and Jamie Cullum. She did not like Van Morrison at all. I have to admit there were probably just two of his songs I recognised. Still is was a good evening with an almost cloudless sky. Even saw the International Space station pass overhead. The night was finished with splendid fireworks.
The next day
The morning after the Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza, it was raining. A very fine drizzle in the morning, meant we had to dry the tent out when we got home. We packed and went towards Pilton. Here we tried to get to Worthy Farm, but it is barricaded off. Showed Rosemary where Love Fields is. We then headed for home on the A303.
Lunch
Then Google announced a detour because of traffic congestion, and we headed off on the A36 towards Stofford where we stopped for lunch at the Swan at Stofford. We did not go for their Sunday roast, but ate from the menu. Back on the road, and followed the diversion directions back to the A303, to be met by the traffic problem caused by people rubber necking Stonehenge. At least Google had saved us a few miles of traffic problems, and showed us a reasonable pub for lunch. Time the A303 was buried out of sight of Stonehenge, should improve the traffic flow no end.
