Hello, hello! We've just arrived home from a weekend spent in Suffolk at Latitude Festival, our third year in a row. I won't go into much detail as firstly, I love just relaxing at the festival so I only took a couple of pictures with no intention of compiling any material from our chill out and secondly because I wrote three posts about it in 2015, one, two and three if you want to take a read.
This year's weather was a mixed bag; mostly cloudy, not particularly hot and a few little rain showers. My attempts to pack light always go wrong to a certain extent and on this occasion I would have liked more than the one pair of jeans and jumper I packed because after mid afternoon things turned chilly and I had to layer up. Let's face it, things could have been worse!
There were so many people this year, was it a higher attendance? Who knows but it felt more condensed and personally it wasn't as enjoyable. Cider in the sunshine was a lovely treat (as was getting ID checked every day - thanks for that esteem boost),
No pictures of wild flowers but we did spot this (presumably dead) Garden Tiger Moth which was a highlight.


 I was reluctant to head into the tent for anything raucous after last year's mad squash, instead oping to sit outside often. Favourite acts from the weekend were Goldfrapp, the 1975, Pumerosa, SOHN, Katherine Jenkins, Skott, All We Are and a little bit of Fatboy Slim.
Sadly, I've returned home with some kind of cold and am feeling a little sorry for myself at the moment but I'm stocking up on remedies and hope to stop whinging in the near future.
Take care,
Sophie 

My third and final post about our time at Latitude festival this summer. The sunset one evening was beautiful and as we colonised around the Lake stage the attention of some people was hijacked by the steady disappearance of the sun. It was almost as if some of them had never seen such a sight... everyone snapping away on their phones like it was some sort of unusual solar activity. C and I decided, upon a brief contemplation, that city folk just don't see as much empty sky as us country folk and therefore a sunset in a huge empty sky is a completely rare and spectacular sight indeed. I sometimes take for granted just how lucky we are with the quantity and quality of sky we live under in East Anglia.

The Lake stage was a favourite to gravitate towards during the day. On the Friday evening I was keen to see Alt J on the Obelisk stage and dragged along C, Hazel and S. I wasn't disappointed. It was amazing... such memorising music in a chilled out environment. Really memorable. The Faraway Forest was one of my favourite places to linger. I decided to go partying in the early hours, so after Alt J, took a power nap for an hour or so before layering up and heading out with a rather dubious C in tow. The forest was quieter and a little darker at night, I wandered and danced until 2:30 am before calling it a night and returning to bed.

We returned to the Obelisk stage on Saturday night for Porthishead and again, the music was almost hypnotic (although to be fair I was feeling quite unwell after being boiled in the 6 music tent listening to Catfish and the Bottlemen).. I spent a while half dozing before going for a rather determined walk for the toilets before bed.

Kate Simko and the London Electronic Orchestra early evening at the Waterfront stage on Sunday had to be one of my absolute highlights of the whole weekend. C and I, in an unprecedented spate of organisation, took a blanked to lay on, and set ourselves up comfortably under the shade of the nearby trees and enjoyed the audio gift that was bestowed upon us and the small crowd around. Such a beautiful demonstration of talent and creativity.

The festival was bursting at the seams with the weird, the wonderful and the unexpected. The yoga each morning was popular. I can only conclude they hadn't just consumed a bucket of coffee and a greasy bacon butty like their slightly more aged counterparts... The fire organ was a neat idea; fire dancing to the music (less of a practical demonstration and more of an impromptu lesson in physics but enjoyable nevertheless).

I'd love to report that I'd ridden on the helter skelter but it was part of the kids' zone which automatically alienated me from the roped off area; both well above sweet 16 and without a toddler in tow it wasn't really appropriate to dwell in there. Though why they had a woodturning demonstration in there was frankly beyond me.

So what did I wear? Well it always started with shorts. A top. And flowers in my hair. My Cath Kidston polkadot plimsolls and also my brown ankle boots. Often with glittery eyeliner, sadly hidden behind dark sunglasses (it really was super sunny almost the whole weekend). My intention was to take outfit photos each day but in fact I either forgot or gave it a miss due to feeling like I looked far too dishevelled so these are about the sum total.

Am I returning next year?

I certainly hope so.

Sophie

We pick up the tale on Friday morning when I awoke with distinctly stuff shoulders in a rather stuffy tent. After a hurried wet-wipe wash and |I'd pulled on some clean clothes a hasty exit was made into the fresh morning air. We soon felt revived after a coffee and set off in search of a bacon butty (which was to become our staple breakfast for our stay.... with varying degrees of pleasure in the way the bacon was cooked).

There is just so much going on at once that it's inevitable you will miss a few things you really want to see. Hazel bought a program book, it really was a book! We scoured the timetable for things that took our fancy and each day highlighted a few things to try to get along to see. Throughout the weekend I had about 4 things that I particularly wanted to see and the rest of the time was up for grabs; just enjoying the time in good company with some live entertainment.

It turns out that there is almost always something great going on in the Comedy and Cabaret areas; we saw loads of amusing people (mostly stand up acts) who really made me laugh. I cried with laughter at Alan Davies, he was hilarious. I'm very much a laugher, I love to be entertained and watching so many funny people was an absolute treat which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The weather for the entire weekend was unbelievably good. Warm and sunny every single day, temperatures at a perfect level with a cooling soft breeze to maintain a comfortable equilibrium. We neither burned, nor froze. Naturally we applied sun cream each day and I usually carried a jumper just in case (which also came in handy for sitting on sometimes). The blue skies say it all really. Some mornings it was cloudy to start off with and on the Sunday morning it rained on and off for a while between about 6 and 9 am which meant my vacation of the tent was delayed.

I was particularly grateful we brought along our camping stove and kettle so we could feed our coffee habit relatively cheaply on Azera (not quite as nice as our Dolce Gusto machine we have spoilt ourselves with at home) and chairs. It made for a rather Royal experience to neither stand nor sit on the floor and instead have a wonderful seat take my weight.

A pint of almost cold cider was relished on rather a few occasions. Somersby. Would recommend for all sweet toothed drinkers. I also tried to stay hydrated with plenty of water and fuelled with plenty of food. We tried to eat a variety of things on offer. My favourite being pie and mash then second favourite was pizza. Oh yum.

The Lake stage was a dark horse for music; being quite small and pretty much just part of the food wagon line up it was quite nonchalant in appearance but I enjoyed every single act we had the fortune to catch playing. Varying Rae Morris (who had a beautiful voice and we saw most of her set) we arrived at the Lake stage in time to catch the last two songs of each act before they scuttled off, never to return.

The BBC 6 Music tent was huge. Enormous. I insisted we went in for Wolf Alice. It was awesome except mother nature called loudly and I announced with no uncertainty that I had to pee NOW. Sadly, I caught my most favourite track with a lot of added reverb inside a portaloo but I guess I'll remember it at least. I kinda sung along. Catfish and the Bottlemen was another of the acts I wanted to see in the tent and they didn't disappoint. On the whole the atmosphere was pretty good; music too loud, bit hot in there but always a few idiots who think they're special enough to shove their way through a tightly packed crowd to get nearer the front (cue me repeatedly saying SERIOUSLY?)

I can't believe I'm nowhere near wrapping this up yet, there will be at least another part in the Latitude saga, stay tuned!

Sophie

Almost two weeks ago now we were setting off for our very first proper festival, Latitude, in the neighbouring county of Suffolk. I'd booked the tickets back in January without taking much time to find out much information beforehand, deciding that this year we were going to get out and enjoy a good lot of live music. It just so happens that Latitude is a much bigger festival than I imagined, with an astonishing number of acts appearing over the weekend (seriously, the mind boggles).

We rolled up in pre-meditated convoy with Hazel on Thursday afternoon and parked in a huge area filled with vehicles, with no sign of the entrance on the horizon. It was at this point I first regretted over packing. Hazel lifted her boot and I saw only two bags, which alarmed me as our boot and back seats were piled high with all manner of camping supplies and sundries. After a brief head-scratch it became apparent that absolute essentials were the priority on the first trip. Tickets, tent and the first wave of oddments. Somehow C managed an excellent impression of buckaroo and piled himself high with a selection of items, three times the quantity I could bear. The walk to the main gate was a sort of draggy-shuffle with bags rubbing against legs and gnarled fingers numbing under the weight of straps. We did make it to the check in area where there was no queue at that point. Once wristbands were secured we burst out into the camping field and surveyed the vast area in front; this was the second time I regretted over packing. With a vague idea of direction we set off in the general setting of 'away from the entrance, away from toilets' before settling on a patch in the red camping area. Being well-seasoned campers (and refreshed with a dry run the weekend before) we made short work of putting up our medium sized, very practical 6 man tent. It was a shame that we forgot the mallet, but pegs were secured sufficiently but no more (and far better than some of the rubbish attempts we saw. At least we put our guy lines out). Once we'd got this sorted I insisted we hired a trolley for the remaining two thirds of our stuff and if you ask me, that was the best £10 we spent all weekend. By the time we'd finished all that I was relieved that it was over.

The first visit to the toilets was a little alarming. In some unfortunate twist I picked possibly the one cubicle (if you can call it that) without a lock and also there was no sign of any loo roll, thank goodness I had the foresight to carry plenty on me at all times. Toilet paper is on a stand next to the toilets so you have to make a guestimate of how much you are going to need in front of a small crowd. Again, patting self on back for carrying plenty of extra in my bag.

There is something worrisome about a toilet door which shows feet and doesn't lock. The raised tin toilet blocks reminded me closely of the metal crates that cows get lined up in for milking. I was uncomfortable with the concept for a while but 24 hours in resignation took over and just not having to queue for long was a joy.

The Thursday late afternoon dissolved into evening as we walked through the 'village' and into the main arena area. The village holds a great array of places for the weekend campers, including first aid, a supermarket and the showers. We didn't make it to the showers (yuk, I know. But we used a bazillion baby wipes), the opening hours were limited and the queues were crazy. Word is that they're communal too which doesn't bother me as such. An all in one shower gel/shampoo would be best for an almighty wash down and swift exit.

Not much goes on on Thursday, it's quiet and relaxed with people milling around steadily. We took a wander around the site, trying to familiarise ourselves with the place and find our feet with a trip to the bar. Cider was my beverage of choice for the weekend. Tiredness decided we needed an early-ish night so we headed back to the tent just in time to miss all the fireworks. Typical.

As I've waffled on so much I'll have to post the rest in at least one other piece. Keep your eyes peeled.

Sophie