I visited the Ludlow Spring Festival on Friday the 9th and Sunday the 11th of May. The official dates were the 9th, 10th and 11th of May. It is a three day festival, and as Ludlow often holds a different festival {each with different seasonal events} during May, August and September; the May festival of course, held specific events that weren't to be missed and best enjoyed in the Spring/Summer sun.
Upon arrival the first thing that you couldn't help but notice was the atmosphere, with people undoubtedly exited for the evening’s entertainments. This was concluded mainly of no small amount of locally brewed beer {including around 80-100 barrels}. The festival offered a very large beer menu, with an estimated total of around 150 different types of beer {collected from all the businesses}. Some of which were sampled to my view were: ‘Black Night’ – the favourite / Hung Drawn and Ported / Dark Side of the Moose. Of course, these were only three creatively-named and individually brewed beers of the other 147 that were happily being enjoyed, along-side the excitement of the bands playing right in the main tent where the majority of the drink was being served.
With the sun setting over the medieval castle at 20:00, it was a beautiful sight as the first band with a uniquely 20's style started playing their music, which included instruments such as the saxophone and washboard. They included comedy as well as good music to get everyone dancing. As all the more drinking of beer occurred, the second band with more of a celebration feel to their music took place. Some of my personal favourites that were played were:
*What You Waiting For?
*I Can See Clearly Now
*Rivers of Babylon
*Sweet Chariot
By nine ‘o clock the night led into more joyful dancing as people let loose their cares. The night held a very joyful atmosphere with people of all ages, and with the event being wheelchair friendly, child friendly and dog friendly, everyone who wanted to come was able. With everyone boogying down in the cool Spring/ Summer air, I am glad to report that the toilet facilities were indeed very well kept, as well as the festival as a whole being kept very clean, everyone was much more focused on the music!
On both Friday and Sunday, there was reliable security, as this was a festival. This included bag checks, wristbands, purchased online or at site tickets and re-entry stamps for if you were to leave and come back in; and people stationed where the sometimes heavy drinking was taking place.
On Sunday there was a much more relaxed and calming atmosphere, as this was the last day of the festival. It included more food in the middle part and exploration of the castle was opened up to guests.
Some of my favourite events included were:
*Mushroom Delicacies
*Cakes Café on The Cop
*Chocolate Crater Craft Chocolate
*Indian street food
*Ceramics interactive clay moulding and shop - showing of the maker crafting at the potter’s wheel
*Many different types of pastry
*Mini Dutch Pancakes
*Locally-sourced Ice cream
The festival had an overall ethically important and sustainable message with local food suppliers and encouraged a morally important local lifestyle. With more bands performing, it started with a singular man and a guitar, performing a range of amusing folk songs. The second band, named ‘The Shire-ish Rovers, they were indeed good, performing a range of folk and even some jazz inspired music, which all fit the relaxed summer/Spring Sunday afternoon experience. I found that even after leaving the festival, this calm atmosphere seemed to have spread throughout the whole of Ludlow!
Times for the festival were, Friday: 5pm-10pm /Saturday: 10am-6:30pm /Sunday: 10pm-5pm.
I very-much enjoyed and recommend attending this year’s Ludlow Food Festival. Although I am not a drinker myself, I can forwardly say to you that whether you are or not, this festival will be thoroughly enjoyed by toddlers through to if you’re in your twilight years. All of whom were of course on the dance floor!
Very well written. I really enjoyed looking at the pictures and hearing about the bands.