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Superstition-Themed Secret Garden Party Down On Its Luck As Lightning Strikes Lake Stage


Secret Garden Party 2 many DJs Regina Spektor

The Secret Garden Party 2013 lightning strike
Some Secret Garden Party artwork was damaged by Tuesday's storm

The Secret Garden Party festival has been struck by a bolt of lightning ahead of its opening on July 25th 2013.

The Cambridgeshire independent festival, which has played host to a range of musicians and artists since it started in 2004, was on the end of a particularly nasty storm last night (July 23rd 2013), and suffered a dramatic lightning strike on a large art installation that had been put up prior to the weekend event. It also damaged the Lake Stage in the middle of the lake at the Mill Hill Field, Grange Farm venue in Abbots Ripton. Event organiser Fred Fellowed informed the press, 'It was a brutal storm last night; a good watering for the garden but our lake art installation took a direct hit around 2am.' Though, he was able to look on the amusing side of their bad luck: 'I wonder if we are inviting trouble by having the theme 'Superstition' this year?'

Continue reading: Superstition-Themed Secret Garden Party Down On Its Luck As Lightning Strikes Lake Stage

Secret Garden Party Announces Line-Up Additions Plus Headliner Regina Spektor For 25th - 28th July 2013

Posted on27 March 2013

Secret Garden Party Announces Line-up Additions Plus Headliner Regina Spektor For 25th - 28th July 2013

Secret Garden Party, Huntingdon, 22-25th July 2010 Live Review


The Secret Garden Party came into bloom once more during a generally glorious July weekend. 15,000 people, or Gardeners as they are affectionately known, gathered in the fields around an ornate and picturesque lake to let their exuberant side shine for a few days. Costumes and characters were in abundance in the Cambridgeshire countryside. Demographically speaking there were more cross-dressing men than you could expect to see if you devoted a year long run of Jeremy Kyle shows to them 'Transformers', the boutique hilariously brought to life in Miranda, or whatever its High Street equivalent is, must have done a roaring trade pre-festival!

This years Garden Party theme of Fact Or Fiction was broken down into four main areas of Adventures & Inventions, Twilight & Voodoo, Edge Of The Future and Dreams & Fables. Each themed area was individually bedecked and thoughtfully accessorised. There was even an abundance of Art dotted around, from the glass and metal wave machine of Tom Wilkinson, the Kirk Simpson "phantasmagorically synaethetic installation", Fractopus, through to the mid-lake 'Blimp' constructed with the help of The Pirate Technics group. There was an Alice In Wonderland style tea party, an enormous sand sculpture that took shape over the course of the weekend, as well as a Circus for kids and an early hours 'Skandalous' casino. In fact there was so much going on it was impossible to enjoy it all. The 'Dave Off', a competition to find the best Dave, would be a casualty of my scheduling, such were the plethora of choices before me. If you wanted to ditch the music for the weekend you would still struggle to fit it all in.

Continue reading: Secret Garden Party, Huntingdon, 22-25th July 2010 Live Review

Secret Garden Party, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire Live Review


Review of The Secret Garden Party in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire 23-27th July 2009 .

Continue reading: Secret Garden Party, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire Live Review

Secret Garden Party, 2009 Preview


Secret Garden Party Preview taking place in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire 23rd - 26th July 2009.

Continue reading: Secret Garden Party, 2009 Preview

Secret Garden Party, Review


So, what do you want from a festival and what did The Secret Garden Party deliver? (in no particular order)
Easy entrance and exit? Tick!
Gorgeous setting and surroundings? Tick!
Clean toilets? Tick!
No queues for said toilets? Tick!
Chill out areas? Tick!
All night shenanigans? Tick!
Amazing line up of music? Tick!
Friendly, relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere? Tick!
Readily supply of bars and eateries? Tick!
A surprise around every corner? Tick!
Bizarreness? Tick!
The weird and wonderful? Tick
The unexpected? Tick!
Something for everyone? Tick!
A full game of cricket in front of the main stage in the middle of Saturday afternoon? Tick!
A full set from The Sunshine Underground? Well you cant get it all!

At whatever time you arrive, the space to pitch you tent is available. As you wonder down through the camp site and towards The Sanctuary you realise that the atmosphere is stress-free and welcoming, and there is an air of tranquillity. But there is no doubt that if you want to find a night of mayhem or none sleep then just follow the throb coming out of one of the many various dance tents, curiously placed around the site. As you stroll across the wooden bridge into the main music area you realise that this festival is unusual in a very special way. There are hidden treasures around every corner, peculiar delights laid across you path and surprises in every hidden nook and cranny. There are very normal people walking around, some with their families and friends just enjoying a lovely summers evening. There are also the weird. Men with horses heads, gangs of middle age men in 1940's style cricket outfits, fairies, dwarfs, giants, demons, dogs, sheep, and the stung out hippies, getting away from their normal 9-5 lives sitting in a chicken coup in an office in the middle of the city.

And, if you saw this array of characters standing in line for the toilet if would look strange. But you don't. There are NO queues. Not for beer, toilets or food. And if you want to get right up to the front of the stage, within almost touching distance of your heroes you can. In fact, go on, touch them!

Then there are the many areas of relaxation. Hale bails covered in padded fabric. Under trees, in tents, in the middle of fields, almost everywhere and, you will find it very hard not to find space available. The lay of the land is such that you can lie back all day and watch the main stage, as well as the many other performance areas, on grass banks and only have to move to go to the beer tent or the occasional (non queuing) toilet.

As for the bands, there is such a variety of music that there is something for everyone. Eddie Temple Morris led the field on the Saturday night and mixed it up in the remix tent, with not a still foot in the house. Reverend and The Makers brought there individual dance/indie style to the same tent on the Friday, proving that they are going to be a big hit, if not this year, but next as the must band you have to see live. Then the Saturday evening band trail of New Young Pony Club, followed by The Sunshine Underground meant that all NME or Guardian readers had two hours of enjoyment. Although this does bring me onto the only negative point of the weekend. The Sunshine Underground. Not them, but the supposedly bad organisation which meant they could play 6 songs. As the band before the headlining act on the main stage, everyone was expecting a full set of songs, showcasing every song off of their amazing album, but for them to walk off stage after 6 songs (and not to mention the WWF wrestler invading the stage), it was bitterly disappointing.

But not to dwell on this point, The Secret Garden Festival is a must in the British Summer Festival season. But then again, maybe not. Maybe it is worth keeping it small and allowing it to deliver everything it already delivers, without the big corporate machine behind it, hedging for profits. Maybe it is just worth keeping a secret.

Charlotte Clayton

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