What else is there to see and do?
It may seem a very strange thing to suggest, given the vast array of musical talent on display, but it is entirely possible to spend five days at Glastonbury and not watch a single band and yet still have the most spectacular few days of your summer. If Groundhog Day were a reality you could attend the same Glastonbury every weekend for many months & still not see the same thing twice. Glastonbury is a “Performing Arts” festival after all and as such there is none better – Anywhere!
There are commercial music festivals in this country which might sometimes give you more bang for your buck in the way of big name headliners. But none of them can ever come close to the diversity of entertainment on offer, or the sense of escapism, or the totally immersive experience one gets at Glastonbury. So here is just a brief summary of a few of the other attractions which make Glastonbury so much more than just another Music Festival.
Next door to West Holts you will find a field which used to be known as “East Holts” but was renamed “
Bella’s Field” in 2008 in commemoration of Arabella Churchill. Besides being Winston Churchill’s granddaughter, Arabella was one of the founders of Glastonbury Festival and remained a huge influence within the festival’s organisation right up until she passed away in 2007.
The main attraction in Bella’s Field is the
Cabaret Marquee and a visit here is a must. There is always an impressive line up of comedians and cabaret artists and the matted flooring makes this a great place to lay back, relax and enjoy the entertainment on offer.
You’ll find several additional venues in Bella's Field. The outdoor
Sensation Seekers Stage is tucked away in one corner and close by you will also find the
Poetry and Words tent which transforms into the
Mavericks burlesque venue after midnight. Other attractions here in 2023 included the World's smallest picture house, The Sol Cinema.
Head across “Bella’s Bridge” at the bottom of the field, where numerous buskers and street performers will entertain you at
The Pavement and
Crooners' Corner, and you’ll find yourself in the
Circus Field where a huge and impressive
Circus Big Top is the main venue. The Big Top attracts circus acts from around the World to delight all ages and you can see a video of some of the jaw-dropping performances which took place in 2022
HERE.
Additionally in the Circus Field in 2023 there was an outdoor aerial trapeze and there are also several smaller outdoor venues where you can discover lots of entertainment from jugglers, escapologists, tightrope walkers, acrobats, magicians, sword swallowers, unicyclists, stiltwalkers and the like as well as musical entertainment from many of the lesser-known bands who tour around the festival's smaller stages over the course of the weekend.
The Circus Field is also home to the
Glastonbury Free Press where a 7-ton vintage printing press produces a festival newspaper on the Thursday and the Sunday as well as posters which you can purchase to take home with you.
In addition to all of these, there is the ever-growing army of
"Demons & Doppelgangers" which are little clay images festival goers have made of themselves down the years.
A quick stroll on up the hill from the Circus Field brings you into the
“Glebeland” Theatre Field. Once again the centrepiece here is a large indoor venue which previously was known as the “Belle Epoque” but was renamed in 2008 as the
Astrolabe. This is the only indoor venue at the whole of Glastonbury which has proper tiered seating so if you fancy resting those weary limbs while a full schedule of theatrical and comic performances roll out before you then head in this direction.
More theatrical and musical entertainment can be enjoyed at
The Glebe while you sit back and relax in the surrounding deckchairs. Lekiddo Lord of the Lobsters makes a daily appearance here. Check him out. "Pinchy Pinchy Kiss Kiss"
Also at the top end of the field you will find the
Gateway Riser Stage for even more al fresco performances from the likes of the Magnificent Kevens in the picture here.
You will see lots of walkabout performers both here and also elsewhere around the site and many of these will give you a great opportunity to join in the fun and become part of the entertainment.
There's another great official video of all the weird and wonderful goings on in the Circus and Theatre Fields from Glastonbury 2019. You can watch it by clicking HERE.
Glastonbury retains its environmental ethos in the
Green Fields and you simply must make time to spend at least a few hours of your weekend wandering around the several fields which make up this area.
There are numerous displays of traditional trades such as wood turning and stone masonry in the
Green Crafts field and you can also participate in various workshops and turn your hand to creating something from wood, metal, stone, pottery, willow or even LED lighting. You can make jewellery, learn survival skills or how to play that Didgeridoo before you decide whether you really want to buy it!
In the
Green Futures field there are presentations from numerous organisations who aim to raise awareness over various environmental and humanitarian issues. You can learn about renewable energy resources and observe alternative green living techniques. There are always several impressive sculptures and some of these are created during the course of the festival so you can watch them develop over the weekend.
At the
Speakers Forum there are speeches and debates about environmental and political issues interspersed by performances of spoken word.
Festival founder Michael Eavis often comes along to give a speech here at some point over the weekend.
There is also a
Science Futures area which is organized by a collaboration of several different Universities, creating all sorts of different exhibits which enable youngsters to learn interactively about the World about them.
In one secluded corner is a
Permaculture Area where you can learn about various plants and their culinary and medicinal uses. There is a small wooden cabin here which has an edible roof and you can also enjoy a relatively cheap vegetarian meal at the Permaculture Café which is tucked quietly away among the trees.
In the
Healing Field you can learn about different faiths, alternative medicines and healing techniques. You can also indulge in a massage to revitalise those aching limbs or start your day at one of the yoga or meditation sessions.
This video from 2016 gives you a good idea of the tranquility that can be found in the Greenfields area, even in a muddy year when everything isn't quite so green.
Greenpeace have their own field where they promote their worthy cause and there are lots of examples of how to make creative use of recycled materials. They also encourage you and the kids to get active, and have things like climbing walls and skateboard ramps - all made from sustainable timber of course - as well as musical entertainment on the
Greenpeace Sun Stage and late night DJ sets at the
Rave Tree.
Greenpeace pick a different theme of environmental concern each year and in the past they have highlighted the destruction of the jungles, the melting of the ice caps, the poisoning and over-fishing of the oceans and the plight of bees and the overuse of pesticides. In 2023 their theme was the interconnection of the environment and how it affects everything around us.
In 2019 this installation appeared, which is reckoned to be the World's biggest bug hotel. In 2023 this in turn played host to
The Rizosphere with multi-sensory exhibits demonstrating the importance of soil to mankind.
The
Green Kids portion of the Greenpeace Field is where you will find the "Cadmus" pirate ship. This was built in 2010 to replace the previous wooden “Rainbow Warrior” which was a permanent feature for many years but unfortunately had become too rickety to repair safely. The replacement ship was built entirely from recycled materials and incorporates slides and other activities for the kids between 8am and 7pm. Teens and adults are allowed to climb aboard for a couple of hours of swashbuckling adventure between 7 & 9 each evening.
There's plenty of other activities here for kids to enjoy as well including an old fashioned camera obscura.
This is
The Tunnel which leads beneath the disused railway track between the Greenpeace and Green Futures Fields. It's one of the many little corners of the festival which people often won't have discovered, even after several visits.
There are further opportunities to participate in all manner of workshops and activities both energetic and more relaxing in the
Humblewell area, which you can find at the very top of the Park, just across the way from the Bimble Inn. The Ice Man, Wim Hoff, even showed up to give a talk here in 2023.
For many years there used to be a large outdoor Cinema in the Woodsies field which is now occupied by the stage of the same name. This showed films every night from Thursday to Sunday. Unfortunately, due to licensing issues, the screen hasn’t been present since 2008 but there is still a large marquee known as the "Pilton Palais" in the same field as the Acoustic Tent, showing films right through until 4am each night.
On my first visit to Glastonbury in 1999 I arrived with a couple of mates at about 2 O'Clock on the Thursday morning. We put our tent up in the dark and decided to take ourselves off for a wander before we headed for bed. Within just a few minutes of leaving our tent we had stumbled through the mist and campfire smoke, over a little bridge and into the
Tipi Field, just as the first glimmers of the new day came flickering through the valley. It was very quiet and utterly surreal and I knew at that moment that this thing called Glastonbury had well and truly got its hooks into me and wouldn't be letting go for a very long time.
In 2008 the Tipi Field was moved from the small tree lined field it had enjoyed as its home for many years, in order to allow for the expansion of the late night areas in the South East corner. It’s now situated towards the top of Pennard Hill Ground which I have to say does make it seem rather more detached from the festival than was previously the case.
You are welcome to wander through the Tipi Field and participate in the activities which take place there. However please note that camping in the Tipi Field is reserved for people who are able to provide their own accommodation and many of the people who bring their tipis actually live in them for a good proportion of the year. If you want to experience living in a tipi for the duration of the festival but aren’t able to bring along your own then please head back to the "Can I Stay In A Tipi?" Section in Part 3 for more info.
If you find your way to The Park and have a look a good way further up the slope towards the fenceline and just to the left of the big GLASTONBURY sign, you will spot
The Crow's Nest nestled into the hillside. This is home to the
Free University of Glastonbury where lunchtime lectures and discussion sessions can be enjoyed with the likes of Dr Alice Roberts, before musical entertainment takes over later in the day. Some reasonably well known bands play at the Crow's Nest and it's always amusing to watch them lugging their gear up the hill in order to play their sets there.
I'm an old hippy at heart and I always try to spend a bit of time at some point over the weekend chilling with the
Hare Krishnas. Their tent has been shifted to several different locations over the years but in 2023 you could find them at the top of the Pennard Hill camping field, close to the entrance to the Sacred Space. They go walkabouts and generate more of a celebratory atmosphere at night with crowds of people gathering to join the chanting. They've only got one song and the words are very easy to learn.
You can find more details on a variety of different faiths and spiritual groups which are represented at the festival
HERE and there is a multi-faith church marquee called
The Sanctuary at the top of Big Ground close to the farm, where daily services are held.
In 2019 The Sanctuary was the venue for the first baptism to have ever taken place at the festival. - photograph courtesy of SJ Smallpage
In the Park, close to the Ribbon Tower, there is usually a very impressive exhibit of sand sculpture from
Sandalism. The creations they come up with are always somehow topical to current affairs or something which is happening at the festival that year. Having said that I struggled to work out what the mushroom toothed dragon we had in 2023 was supposed to represent, although to be fair I guess it probably hadn't been finished when I took this photo.
At the southern tip of the festival site you will find the Kings Meadow, otherwise known as the “
Sacred Space”. Here you will find the famous
Stone Circle, which is a hive of activity at night but during the day it is generally a very quiet and peaceful area where one can chill out and take in the fantastic views across the site.
There are several small and tranquil gardens around the perimeter of the Sacred Space which are perfect places to sit, relax, contemplate and generally get away from the madness and thronging crowds at the main entertainment areas. This Peace Garden was created especially for the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2015.
This is
The Water Dragon. You'll find him cooling himself in the wooded stream which runs down between the Sacred Space and the crew camping field which bears his name. He’s one of several elemental dragons to be created at the festival over the years and in 2024 he will be celebrating his 29th birthday, which is getting on a bit for a Water Dragon, so I understand he's recently been given a bit of a face lift.
In 2008 the South Western fenceline was extended uphill above the Park and the Tipi Village to provide the fantastic
Lounging Area, where you can take in even more spectacular views across the whole of the site than those you can enjoy from the Sacred Space. The fenceline was pushed back even further up the hill in 2014 so if you’ve never been to Glastonbury before or if you have failed to make it to the top of the hill over the last few years I recommend that you make every effort to do so this year.
If you can possibly resist the temptation, don’t turn around until you get to the very top and then prepare to be amazed as you take in the awesome spectacle of the whole festival laid out before you. It’s absolutely the very best way to truly appreciate the vast scale of Glastonbury.
There are a couple of Nature Reserves on the site. The main one of these is simply called
The Woods and it can be found between Webb's Ash camping area and the Woodsies field.
You are able to walk the paths and aerial walkways through the cool wooded area, which are decorated with some interesting artwork and sculptures, some of which are interactive.
Since its creation in 2019 we have been treated to a new attraction close to The Park in the shape of a 60 metre seaside pier entitled
Galstonbury-On-Sea. Here you can enjoy all the fun of the fair with dodgems, pinball machines, a Punch & Judy Show, a robotic band, fortune telling, deckchairs and candy floss.
You could even buy a stick of Glastonbury-On-Sea rock or other souvenirs to commemorate your visit.
You can watch a great little video HERE which will give you a flavour of what went on at Glastonbury-On-Sea in 2019.
The Williams Green area can be found near to the Tony Benn Tower and the Central Meeting Point. In past this area has hosted the Leftfield area and more recently the Williams Green Stage. In 2023 a new attraction appeared here courtesy of Joe Rush and his Mutoid Waste Company.
Carhenge is a throwback to the anarchic days of Glastonbury in the 1980s and in its modern incarnation incorporates 24 vintage cars into a Stonehenge-like creation. Enhanced with fabulous lighting and music from across the genres it proved to be a great new place to spend an hour or two, especially after dark.
You can find
Rimski's Yard close to Pedestrian Gate C and opposite the top of the Theatre Field. In his crazy little scrapyard venue Rimski and his friend Handkerchief will entertain you on their Bicycle Piano and Double Bassicle, together with lots of other madcap goings on.
Also close to Gate C You can find the
Atchin Tan which translates as "Stopping Place" in the Romany language. Here the Traveller Awareness Campaign is promoted with talks, music, storytelling and roaring fires.
At several places around the site you can buy Glastonbury themed
Postcards which you can then post home to your sober self when you get home from the festival.
Can I get married at the Festival?
Not officially I’m afraid. People supposedly celebrating their matrimonials at Glastonbury is one of the many popular myths that have sprung up in connection with the festival over the years. You used to be able to have a "wedding" in the boxing ring of the Chapel of Love and Loathing in Lost Vagueness with The Reverend Larry Love of Alabama 3 and some rather scantily clad nuns officiating but it was all just a bit of fun.
It isn't possible to be legally married at Glastonbury because the site isn't licensed and doesn't have the necessary full public access for any potential objectors. But SJ Smallpage of the Glastonbury Festival Fans facebook group contacted me recently to point out that if you are due to be married either before or after the festival, you can have your nuptuals blessed at the Sanctuary at the top of the Big Ground camping field, overlooking the Pyramid Stage, where a minister will provide a service for you free of charge.
It seems that nobody remembered to bring any confetti so they just ended up chucking straw at one another instead. - photograph courtesy of SJ Smallpage
It is also possible to have a hand-fasting ceremony in the Greenfields. There used to be a bona-fide pagan druid who would do the honours in the Stone Circle provided you could find him in a state of comparative sobriety. But he disappeared a few years ago and so I removed this question from the FAQs until I stumbled across this place in the Healing Field which offers hand-fasting services courtesy of
Cloud 9 Ceremonies.
Will they be showing the football?
This has become something of a joke question on internet message boards but every alternate year Glastonbury usually coincides with either the World Cup or the European Championships and naturally, with the dates for the 2024 festival falling in the middle of the European Championships in Germany, there will be a lot of people attending the festival who would also like to see the football. England's final group game against Slovenia takes place on the evening of Tuesday 25th of June, so I plan to watch it in my van in the Campervan Fields. If England progress from the group phase their first knock out game will be played on either the Saturday or Sunday of the festival, so until anything official is announced we have to look back at previous experience to have an idea of what arrangements might be made for fans to be able to see the game.
The World Cup in 2018 fell on a fallow year and in 2016 European Championship games involving England fell conveniently on the days before and immediately after the festival so again we didn't need to worry.
In 2014 the festival announced in advance that, in the event that England were to qualify from the group stages of the World Cup, their game in the last 16 knock out round would not be shown live. This was due to the fact that the game would have kicked off at 9pm on either the Saturday or Sunday of the festival and would therefore have clashed with the headline performances on either day. As it turned out England had already been eliminated and were on their way home before the festival even started.
Previous experience has been that if England are playing at other times during the festival then provisions are generally made for anybody who wishes to see the game. In 2010 England’s World Cup group game, also against Slovenia, was played on the Wednesday afternoon and a huge crowd crammed into the Pyramid Stage Field to see the game on the big screens. The same thing happened during Euro 2004 when England were knocked out by Portugal in a penalty shoot out on the Thursday evening.
Obviously the Pyramid Field can’t be used to show any games played on the Friday, Saturday or Sunday as live acts will be performing on those days but alternative arrangements were made in 2010 when a large area of the Bushy Ground camping field, and also an area outside the fence near gate C, were set aside to cater for as many as 40,000 to witness England’s disappointing 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Germans.
In 2019 we were able to watch England's 3-0 victory over Norway in the Women's World Cup quarter final when it was shown on the screens at the West Holts Stage on the Thursday evening.
Games involving other countries and other sporting events haven't generally been shown in the past, although you might find some of the bars have TV screens and you may be able to get the bar staff to show specific matches if you ask very nicely.
What happens at night?
Despite there having been some curtailment on late night noise since the anarchic pre-superfence era, Glastonbury is still very much a 24 hour event and although a lot of people may head off to bed after the headline acts finish, many more party on throughout the night. When the main stages shut down there is still plenty of stuff going on and places like the Stone Circle, Shangri-La, Arcadia, Block 9, The Common, the Unfair Ground, Silver Hayes and some of the smaller venues in The Park and the Green Fields don't really start to come fully alive until after midnight.
At the
Stone Circle you will find groups of people gathered around fires with impromptu drumming sessions and fire poi experts showing off their skills while people wait to greet the sun as it peeps out from behind the King Oak to start a new Glastonbury day. -
photograph courtesy of Connor Ledger
"Lost Vagueness” was an area which was developed by the traveling fraternity and, for many, was the place where the traditional Glastonbury party vibe remained at its strongest. But it was getting a little long in the tooth and was the subject of some rather silly politics and in-fighting. So in 2008 Lost Vagueness was replaced by the amazing concept of
Shangri-La.
The storyline here is an ever evolving and mutating one. There have been assorted variations on Heaven and Hell in recent years and following on from that the area has incorporated a heavily environmental and political theme with several huge installations made from all manner of discarded trash.
There are always numerous interesting venues to explore in Shangri-La. The open air
Truth Stage is a dark and imposing creation with some fairly big name acts entertaining the throngs into the daylight hours. There are plenty of pyrotechnics to enhance the debauched atmosphere as well as some anarchic ad-hoc performances from members of the crew.
This was one of my favourite discoveries of 2023. Panic Shack, the all-female Welsh post-punk quintet with their quirky lyrics about clipper lighters and the perils of dating a man who deems it appropriate to put the milk in first.
Across the way from the Truth Stage you can find an area called
Nomad which includes some very impressive art installations like this huge suspended sailing ship structure as well as debates during the day and DJ sets at night.
Nowhere was a new dance area introduced to us in 2023 where DJ sets from Annie Mac and The Blessed Madonna in a live broadcast for Radio 1's Essential Mix took centre stage on the Saturday night
Other venues to be found in this area in 2023 included
Sistxrhood, which is a space reserved specifically for female, non-binary and trans customers and is commited to promoting gender equality in the music industry and beyond.
Platform 23 is the latest of several venues in the South East corner to have been created around a disused London Underground tube carriage.
The
Rocket Lounge and the adjoining
Deluxe Diner are the last throwbacks to the old Lost Vagueness days. The former always has a great line up of predominantly live bands whereas you can dance the night away to DJs next door.
On top of these there are little doors to knock on in order to enter the tiny and bizarre venues hiding inside.
Although a number of the bars and venues in Shangri La and the other fields in the South East corner are only open after dark it’s worthwhile having a wander round here earlier in the day in order to truly appreciate the imagination and effort which goes into creating this area. I often sack off the headliners on one night of the weekend so that I can enjoy the environment here in relative peace before the hordes descend after the main stages have shut down for the night.
You can see a great video created by some of the artists who built this amazing space at the 2022 festival
HERE.
For several years now the original Lost Vagueness Field has been occupied by the
Unfair Ground where lots of weird and wonderful funfair sideshows can be found as well as
Blind Tiger where Drum & Bass and Jungle seem to be high on the list of genres played. Next door is the
Flying Bus with a mixture of live acts and DJs playing beneath the iconic flying horses in the picture below.
There's also loads of weird and generally very risqué burlesque type stuff going on in
Salon Carousel which is probably my favourite venue in the whole of the "Naughty Corner".
Here's a Short Video which gives you an idea of what goes on in the Unfair Ground.
The Common had an amazing venue created as its central focus in 2011. Some disused lock gates from the Kennet and Avon canal were donated to the festival and these were used to create the Latin themed "Campo Pequeno" bullring, complete with La Tomatina tomato fight. The most fun I've ever had with fruit in a non-sexual capacity.
In 2013 the venue was rebranded as The Temple with more of an aztec influence and some really impressive video projections around the walls. Then in 2017 it was extended to massively increase its capacity and although La Tomatina is sadly no more, those perennial festival rascals Bearded Kitten have been known to organise a UV paint fight on the Sunday night to make up for it.
The
Rumshack is another of my favourite Naughty Corner venues. It's a bit like a large wild west saloon bar with a really eclectic mix of live acts and DJs playing at ear splitting volumes.
The opening of another field in 2010 introduced us to
Block 9. Here you can venture into the recreated 1970’s gay bar at
NYC Downlow where facial hair is obligatory. You can however buy a false ‘tache for a small donation to AIDS charities if you don't have a genuine lip caterpillar of your own. Expanding on the gay theme another venue, dubiously named the
Meat Rack, was added to the delights on offer in 2016.
2013 saw another attraction appear in Block 9 with the creation of a breathtaking outdoor dance venue called
Genosys, or "Generated Oxygen System" to give it its full name. This phenomenal structure was designed to look like a huge machine incubating plants which have been harvested in order to replicate the oxygen producing function of trees in a post-apocalyptic World.
However the Genosys that we knew and loved didn't survive the Covid enforced break and since 2022 it has been replaced by the Genosys Sound System, which is basically just an old bus and, as you can see, is nowhere near as visually striking. So I'm leaving the original picture here for now in the hope that we get something like the old venue back in all its Acid House glory in 2024.
In 2019 Block 9 was extended into a second field and a huge new dance venue called
Iicon made its debut. The DJ booth sits in front of an enormous human head in a state of repose. After dark the whole thing is illuminated with the most mesmerizing computerized graphics.
There is a great 30 minute video which gives some really interesting insight into how Block 9 and its various venues have developed over the years, as well as lots of footage from the 2019 festival. You can see it
HERE although you might find that some of the scenes may not be entirely office or family friendly.
Please note that in order to reduce congestion in the south east corner a one way system comes into operation between 10:30pm and 3am every night. Between these hours the only entrance is via Bella's Cabaret Field with the disused railway track only available to people wishing to exit the area. Large illuminated signs will guide you if you are not sure of how to find your way there.
Arcadia first came to many people’s attention in 2008 when they provided the pyrotechnic centrepiece for what used to be known as Trash City and in 2009 they were deservedly given their own field in order to spellbind us with their gas fired apocalyptic displays. Over the following 3 festivals they upped their game even further and moved into a different location each year in order to safely accommodate the thousands of people who wanted to witness the spectacle. Finally in 2014 they relocated again to their current and apparently permanent home close to the main entrance to The Park.
In 2019 Arcadia's iconic spider structure was supposedly retired from Glastonbury and in its place we were introduced to a brand new installation called "
Pangea", which was basically an old shipping crane, salvaged from the docks at Avonmouth. We were told that the 2019 version of Pangea was just the embryonic stage of a 5 year project, but the cost of dismantling and reassembling the structure every year proved to be prohibitive and planning permission for it to remain in situ permanently was refused. So instead a stripped down version of the spider has returned in 2022 and 2023 and we wait with baited breath to see what surprises 2024 holds, given the huge crowds this area attracted for performances by Chemical Brothers, Hybrid Minds and Wilkinson among others.
In addition to the Spider, Arcadia have the mobile
Bug stage which did a couple of tours round the site in 2023 with dancers and entertainers from the Notting Hill Carnival.
There are several small stages with live acts and DJs playing tunes in the Park. The
Bimble Inn is a huge elongated tipi with a stage at one end and oversized versions of games like Jenga and Connect 4 available for all to play. You'll also find a well stocked bar here with a decent selection of real ales and ciders.
On the Thursday evening the
Stonebridge Bar is always rammed for the Baggy Mondays indie disco and there are quirky venues such as the tropical disco themed
HMS Sweet Charity and also the
Rabbit Hole (pictured) where you are invited to solve the White Rabbit's riddles in order to discover what lies behind the secret door.
Sadly it has been announced that, having been a permanent fixture in The Park since it first incepted in 2007, the Rabbit Hole will not be returning in 2024.
In addition to all of the above, previously described stages such as Leftfield, The Levels, WOW!, Lonely Hearts Club, Firmly Rooted, The Glade and Glade Dome, The Astrolabe, The Cabaret Tent, The Circus Big Top, Croissant Neuf, Small World, Toad Hall, The Mandala Stage, Babylon Uprising, San Remo, Strummerville, Sensation Seekers (pictured), Ancient Futures, Mavericks, The Greenpeace Rave Tree and the Avalon Café all have live entertainment and DJ’s playing long after the midnight curfew on the main stages.
Where can I get information at the Festival?
A team of hard-working and friendly volunteers, like my dear late friend William and his partner Deb here, are recruited from members of the local CND branch and run five Information Points around the site. Their positions are indicated on the site maps. As well as supplying toilet rolls, bin bags, sun cream and condoms, the Info Teams will be happy to help you out with bus and train times and assistance in locating pretty much anything you need to find on the site. They are also the first port of call for lost property although any items which are handed in will eventually find their way to the Welfare area at the Farmhouse.
The main Information Point can be found at the central meeting point opposite Carhenge. This is open 24 hours a day from Wednesday morning right through to 5pm on the Monday afternoon. The other Info Points are open from 8am until midnight from Wednesday to Sunday.
There is also a further Information Point in the Greenfields which gives specific information about all the things to be found within that area of the site.
When is the best time to leave?
You won't want to leave but all good things must come to an end. Some people leave on the Sunday evening and by all accounts get away fairly quickly and most of the buses for people who bought coach package tickets are scheduled to leave early on the Monday morning in order to keep traffic disruption to a minimum.
But there is still plenty of entertainment and partying going on throughout Sunday night and the majority of punters leave it until the Monday to make their return to reality. As a result the queues, both in the car parks and for the free bus transfer to Castle Cary station, build up very quickly on the Monday morning and I've personally been stuck in the car parks for more than 6 hours before I could finally start making my way home.
Traffic management does tend to be a lot better nowadays but many of the stalls stay open on the Monday until at least lunchtime and there are some bargains to be had so if you're not in a rush to get home it’s worthwhile hanging around for a while in order to avoid the worst of the queues.
However, be wary. As the camp sites start to clear the "tatters" move in. Most of these guys are genuinely on the lookout to salvage and recycle stuff which has been left behind. But there are always an unscrupulous few who will help themselves to tents and contents which obviously haven't been abandoned. So if you are leaving your tent standing on the Monday afternoon it's best not to wander too far away from it.
Alternative Resourses
When I first started compiling these FAQs way back in 2004 there was relatively little in the way of information available online for the Glastonbury festival goer. As a result the "Ask Infoman" message boards, which were affiliated to the official Glastonbury website, were overrun with people looking for advice and they literally had to be manned 24 hours a day in order to keep up with the avalanche of largely repetitive questions in the lead up to the festival. Hence these pages were conceived in an attempt to lighten the load.
Thankfully the Information Pages available on the official website are much more extensive and regularly maintained these days, so please make sure you have a good read through them before you come along to the festival for all the latest news and updates.
For a less official source of information there are a number of lively facebook groups for you to get involved in. I spend far too much of my time on the "Glasto Chat", "Glastonbury Festival Fans" and "Glastonbury Tips" groups where you will find there are loads of people willing to offer up answers to any questions you may have, albeit that some of the responses you get may not always be entirely serious.
The Glastonbury Forums on eFestivals are another great place to discuss the festival with regular attendees who eulogise over the festival and discuss the various line up rumours all year round.
At Glasto Fest Feed you can get regular updates and tips or alternatively, if you prefer to get your information in audio format, there are some wonderful podcasts you can listen to which have been created by some infectiously enthusiastic
Glastonbury regulars at Glastocast.
Acknowledgments
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you've found it to be useful and informative and that it helps you to get even more out of your Glastonbury experience.
I'd like to express my sincere thanks to the following people for allowing me to embellish this piece of work with their superb photography:-
Bob Rose, Flash Bristow, Dawn Fletcher-Park, Connor Ledger and SJ Smallpage.
I'd also like to express my very special thanks to Flash Bristow for her kind input and assistance in bringing this project into reality, for hosting it on her website and for putting up with my never ending updates for the first four years of its existence. Sadly, Flash passed away in 2020 and her enthusiasm for all things Glastonbury related will be greatly missed.
My huge gratitude goes out to Paul Holmes for ensuring that these FAQs live on as part of his GlastoEarth project and I’m very proud that he has asked me to present my own contribution to the Glastonbury community in tandem with his work.
I would also like to give a special mention to Stephen Abrahall aka "Infoman", who gave nearly 30 years of loyal service to Glastonbury Festival and who helped countless thousands of people by applying the personal touch for anybody who had a question to ask about the festival. Stephen taught me most of what I got to know in my first few years of going to Glastonbury. Without his knowledge and guidance these FAQs would never have been possible and I consider myself to be deeply honoured and privileged to have known and worked with Stephen for several years.
And finally if you take nothing else from my advice, please just remember to love the farm, look after one another and, most importantly of all, have a Very Happy Glastonbury.
Cheers
Tort
There is also a Science Futures area which is organized by a collaboration of several different Universities, creating all sorts of different exhibits which enable youngsters to learn interactively about the World about them.
Arcadia first came to many people’s attention in 2008 when they provided the pyrotechnic centrepiece for what used to be known as Trash City and in 2009 they were deservedly given their own field in order to spellbind us with their gas fired apocalyptic displays. Over the following 3 festivals they upped their game even further and moved into a different location each year in order to safely accommodate the thousands of people who wanted to witness the spectacle. Finally in 2014 they relocated again to their current and apparently permanent home close to the main entrance to The Park.
In 2019 Arcadia's iconic spider structure was supposedly retired from Glastonbury and in its place we were introduced to a brand new installation called "Pangea", which was basically an old shipping crane, salvaged from the docks at Avonmouth. We were told that the 2019 version of Pangea was just the embryonic stage of a 5 year project, but the cost of dismantling and reassembling the structure every year proved to be prohibitive and planning permission for it to remain in situ permanently was refused. So instead a stripped down version of the spider has returned in 2022 and 2023 and we wait with baited breath to see what surprises 2024 holds, given the huge crowds this area attracted for performances by Chemical Brothers, Hybrid Minds and Wilkinson among others.
In addition to all of the above, previously described stages such as Leftfield, The Levels, WOW!, Lonely Hearts Club, Firmly Rooted, The Glade and Glade Dome, The Astrolabe, The Cabaret Tent, The Circus Big Top, Croissant Neuf, Small World, Toad Hall, The Mandala Stage, Babylon Uprising, San Remo, Strummerville, Sensation Seekers (pictured), Ancient Futures, Mavericks, The Greenpeace Rave Tree and the Avalon Café all have live entertainment and DJ’s playing long after the midnight curfew on the main stages.
A team of hard-working and friendly volunteers, like my dear late friend William and his partner Deb here, are recruited from members of the local CND branch and run five Information Points around the site. Their positions are indicated on the site maps. As well as supplying toilet rolls, bin bags, sun cream and condoms, the Info Teams will be happy to help you out with bus and train times and assistance in locating pretty much anything you need to find on the site. They are also the first port of call for lost property although any items which are handed in will eventually find their way to the Welfare area at the Farmhouse.
There is also a further Information Point in the Greenfields which gives specific information about all the things to be found within that area of the site.
But there is still plenty of entertainment and partying going on throughout Sunday night and the majority of punters leave it until the Monday to make their return to reality. As a result the queues, both in the car parks and for the free bus transfer to Castle Cary station, build up very quickly on the Monday morning and I've personally been stuck in the car parks for more than 6 hours before I could finally start making my way home.
However, be wary. As the camp sites start to clear the "tatters" move in. Most of these guys are genuinely on the lookout to salvage and recycle stuff which has been left behind. But there are always an unscrupulous few who will help themselves to tents and contents which obviously haven't been abandoned. So if you are leaving your tent standing on the Monday afternoon it's best not to wander too far away from it.
When I first started compiling these FAQs way back in 2004 there was relatively little in the way of information available online for the Glastonbury festival goer. As a result the "Ask Infoman" message boards, which were affiliated to the official Glastonbury website, were overrun with people looking for advice and they literally had to be manned 24 hours a day in order to keep up with the avalanche of largely repetitive questions in the lead up to the festival. Hence these pages were conceived in an attempt to lighten the load. 
For a less official source of information there are a number of lively facebook groups for you to get involved in. I spend far too much of my time on the "Glasto Chat", "Glastonbury Festival Fans" and "Glastonbury Tips" groups where you will find there are loads of people willing to offer up answers to any questions you may have, albeit that some of the responses you get may not always be entirely serious.
I'd like to express my sincere thanks to the following people for allowing me to embellish this piece of work with their superb photography:-
My huge gratitude goes out to Paul Holmes for ensuring that these FAQs live on as part of his GlastoEarth project and I’m very proud that he has asked me to present my own contribution to the Glastonbury community in tandem with his work.
