Green Man 2014: The Welsh Beer

The Green Man Festival does not invite commercial sponsorship. From this decision, much that is good follows. There is little in-your-face commercial branding, for instance, and the bars are not obliged to sell just sponsor’s beers  – as happens at festivals sometimes (wrongly) considered to be equivalent to Green Man. Instead, Green Man organises a Beer and Cider Festival, in The Courtyard Bar, with 99 real ales, ciders and perries from independent Welsh producers (and a few from just across the border).

Here you will find beers from a dozen innovative breweries, with distinctive brews like Artisan Brewing Co’s Baltic Porter Espresso and Smoked Lager, Great Orme Brewery’s Welsh Black and Heavy Industry’s Pigeon Toed Orange Peel, alongside traditional ales of all types.

The house beer at Green Man is Growler, available in nearly all the bars for several years now; brewed by the Wye Valley Brewery, whose Butty Bach is also popular in these parts.

The Babbling Tongues programme got underway on Friday lunchtime with Pete Brown, who has been voted Beer Writer of the Year on more than one occasion by the British Guild of Beer Writers. In his talk, he light-heartedly matched some of the 99 beers and ciders with bands playing at the festival, while introducing some scientific thinking about how music might alter our perception of flavour. He did a version of this talk at last year’s festival, but on Sunday afternoon when most of the beers he wanted to mention had run out. This early slot ensured most of the audience got to sample the six drinks, while listening to selected tracks from festival bands.

Pete started by noting the long relationship between beer and music, with pubs from the 1840s incorporating stages. Some of these venues became so popular that the stages were expanded and music hall was born. Through to the present day, countless singer-songwriters and bands have started out playing pubs.

Artisan Brewery Co’s Bavarian Wheat beer was matched with (Fisherman’s Blues era) The Waterboys (folky); Great Orme Brewery’s Celtica was teamed with First Aid Kit (summery); Williams Brother’s Splanky cider was tasted while we listed to some early Mercury Rev (acidic sharpness); and Waen Brewery’s Chilli Plum Porter (“dark fruit, rich toasty flavours with green chilli tingle”) was matched with Anna Calvi.

A key point was the difference between taste and flavour. Taste is fairly basic, with the interplay of sweet, salty, bitter and sour, to which umami can be added. However, flavour is far more complex and subjective, with aroma playing a major part. In fact, the smell before ingesting and retronasal olfaction (odour molecules using a back entrance from the mouth to the nose) are crucial for the perception of flavour. It is flavour that can be influenced by environmental factors, including music.

Cognitive priming is a non-conscious form of human memory concerned with perception. Particular sounds, for example, can prime us to perceive flavour slightly differently. Pete Brown quoted research that demonstrated people giving a higher rating to wine if classical music was playing. The differences in perception can be surprisingly large in these experiments. Furthermore, the same vocabulary can be used to describe flavour and music (e.g. sharp, rough, smooth, jazzy etc). The type of music we are listening to therefore may alter our perception of the beer we are drinking.

Other scientific findings may also have a bearing on our perception of beer in different environments. Cross-modal perception involves interactions between two or more different sensory modalities. The shape and colour we see matter, for instance; people find food sweeter on round plates and fizzy soft drinks sweeter if more red colouring is added. In terms of beer, this has relevance to the straight glass vs tankard debate, for example, and to beers with distinctive hues.

Ambitiously, Pete tried to "blind test" us with two beers and two styles of music. Two tracks by Toy, one angular electronica and the other much more melodious, were tasted with what we later learned were Heavy Industry’s Nos Smoked Porter and a contrasting brew from Great Orme Brewery. The test was inconclusive, but thought-provoking.

Pete Brown even suggested the prospect of ‘beer and music terroire’, comparing the brews (e.g. Old Tom) and music (e.g. Joy Division) of Barnsley, for example, as indicative of the character of the town at a particular time.

How do you attempt to sample 99 real ales and cider over a weekend? My approach is to focus on one brewery at a time. This year, apart from the Growler, it was Brecon Brewing offerings, with Jazzy Beacons (“unofficial beer of the Brecon Jazz Festival”), Welsh Beacons (golden-hued Welsh Pale Ale), Three Beacons (CAMRA’s Champion Bitter of Wales 2014), Red Beacons  (red-hued IPA) and, in particular, Orange Beacons (a wheat-style beer brewed with fresh oranges that was awarded People’s Choice at Green Man 2013). Next year, another brewery!

Pete Brown’s lively beer and cider blog (from where you can also purchase his books):
http://petebrown.blogspot.co.uk/

My review of the music at Green Man 2014 for newsoundswales:
http://www.newsoundwales.com/live-review/green-man-festival-2014/

Green Man 2014: The Food
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/green-man-2014-food.html

See also:
Green Man 2013
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/green-man-festival-2013_20.html

Green Man 2012
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/festival-food-green-man-2012.html

Green Man 2011
http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/uncategorized/green-man-2011-festival-review/

http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/green-man-good-food.html

Green Man 2014: The Food

Most reviews of festivals like Glastonbury, Latitude or WOMAD focus exclusively on the music. However, the best British festivals offer far more than just music. The Green Man Festival this year, for instance, offered cult cinema, comedy, literature talks, theatre, circus and more. Moreover, the choice of food and drink at festivals is turning them into something approaching local food festivals. It’s all a long way from the limited burger-based diet at festivals a couple of decades ago. This post looks at what food was available to visitors to Green Man 2014.

Approaching the main site near the main (Mountain) stage, you will encounter the volunteer-run Green Man Trust Café selling hot drinks, bacon and sausage rolls with profits benefitting local organizations and projects. The meat is made from animals that roam the Glanusk Estate – the site of the Green Man Festival. Also in this area, the Ethical Chef (the Carmarthenshire vegetarian chef Deri Reed) was making his first Green Man appearance, fresh from winning the People’s Choice and a Sustainable Green Traders Awards at this year’s Glastonbury Festival; his award-winning chilli was served here. Also, in this area, you can visit the fresh fruit and smoothies stall, maple-smoked pulled pork stall (also ribs, frankfurters etc.) and a Vegan and Vegetarian food outlet by the steps over the wall into the main arena.

On entering the site near the Mountain Stage the first food stands you encounter are Soup-a-Juice (say it out loud), Hall’s Dorset Smokery (see link below) and Pasta Pizza; all fairly self-explanatory. Next to these is The Mountain Bar. Up the steps, through the terraces looking down on the main stage, you will some of Green Man’s most popular regular food outlets.

At La Grande Bouffe (or The Big Nosh) this year I had the excellent tartiflette (cheese/cream potatoes) topped by a French sausage with white wine gravy, all cooked in their large pans. We also purchased some tasty food next door at Pura Vida Mexican Vegetarian Restaurant: enchilada and burrito, in its second year at Green Man. Also returning for a second year was Mac’n’Cheese, bringing southern US-style street food to the Mountain’s Foot area.

Shepherd’s offered its usual wide range of Welsh ice cream flavours, though the queues were not as long as during last year’s hotter and drier Green Man weather. Moving along the top terrace, the Chai Shop Organic tent, with its carpets and low tables, again had one of the best ambiences for sitting down and eating; not for the first time, I had some of their handmade falafels. Newcomer Harefield’s Bakery and Roast, with its London street-front façade, offered British carvery baguettes and roast dinners; it’s owned by Davey Chambers, a previous Great British Bake-off contestant. Next door, Joho Soho, operated by the Cinnamon Kitchen, was specialising in slow-roasted lamb and other Indian dishes. The ever-popular Jamon Jamon again offered Valencian and Seafood paellas, and like many stands also did a good line in breakfasts (my best meal of last year’s festival was bought here – see link below).

Across the way, at the top of the hill by the house, is The Table Top, a pop-up Welsh Coffee Co outlet, making its first appearance at Green Man. Walking towards The Courtyard, there are some notable regulars on your left. Poco is a café operated by Bristol-based eco-chef Tom Hunt; with fish grilled outside the tent. Here you have a choice from a distinctive menu that includes mackerel wraps, halloumi, kebabs and salads, with an emphasis on Moroccan cuisine. Next door is the Pieminister van. My Pieminister pie this year was The Free Ranger. Meat was to the fore at the Taste of Wales van, with burgers and breakfasts among the offerings.

Turning into The courtyard, first up is Superstew, with simmering pans of good-looking spicy stews. There also a Coffee and Donut van, before the bar selling 99 Welsh beers and ciders (later).

The Walled Garden, where you can find the Green Man Pub and Walled Garden stage, hosted a good mix of food outlets. First up was the Grilled Cheese Sandwich stall operated by London’s Morty and Bob. Next door was the Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company, specialising in lobster, crab and freshly-made flatbreads. I had a cockle and bacon flatbread with laverbread, a pleasingly different and substantial beach food. The Roaming Patisserie has roamed between different sites at Green Man over the years, but has found its perfect location here; breaking up a whole roast chicken between friends is what it’s all about. The Welsh Venison Centre, based nearby at Beacons Farm (about a mile down the road), does a great job of selling venison as the burger of choice to festival-going foodies. Beyond the Green Man Pub: The Hippy Chippy van, selling chunky chips. Also in the Walled Garden, were vans selling Shepherd’s ice cream and homemade chilled drinks.

Walking towards Babbling Tongues, you pass two of Green Man’s most popular perennial food stalls. The Goan Seafood Company ("Goan recipes, Cornish fish") I have written about previously (see below).  Moorish: North African & Arabic Souk Food supplied the best food I ate at Green Man 2012, namely spicy lamb in a deep-fried filo-pastry parcel. You expect to see queues at both of these, festival regulars know what they want.

In the Babbling Tongues area (book-related talks and comedy), The Tea Stop is a converted red double-decker bus selling breakfasts, teas and cake. The Speak-Easy Bar in this area specialises in cocktails and gin.

Walking up the hill to the Far Out zone you enter the final grouping of food outlets. French & Grace do flatbreads and salad boxes; we were impressed by vegetarian flatbreads here last year. New to us was the wonderfully-named Spanish Stew and the Wild Dogs from Monmouthshire. Chorizo stew with made from local Trealy Farm produce, but on this occasion I had a wild boar hot dog with the hot festival pickle. The silver trailer of The Flaming Cactus was parked next door, serving Mexican dishes. Next up was a vegetarian café. Barnaby Sykes Piemaker had plenty of pies for sale, from traditional steak and ale, more unusual steak and stilton, and the vegetarian spicy butter bean and mature cheddar. Manna was selling Asian street food, with Cambodian chilli pork, Vietnamese lemongrass chicken and beef Osaka tofu among the tempting dishes. The Casa Portuguesa was offering Portuguese-style BBQ, including piri piri chicken, and all-day breakfasts. Turning around the block at The End Up Bar, you will see another Pasta and Pizza outlet in the Chai Wallahs tent. Down the other side of this block, you’ll find hot grilled wraps at Wrappers' Delight, with the accompanying Smoothie Delight next door. The Grazing Shed offered “super tidy burgers”. The Seacow traded in good old-fashioned fish and chips.

I have probably missed a few stalls (apologies), but you get the picture. You can eat your way around the world, but there is a focus on local food suppliers. Early risers will have seen the vans coming in from St Mary Bakery, the dairy, butchers and other local businesses. This is a festival out to support the local economy. See you there next year – I already have an idea of what I want to eat!

My review of the music at Green Man 2014 for newsoundwales:
http://www.newsoundwales.com/live-review/green-man-festival-2014/

See also:

Green Man 2013
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/green-man-festival-2013_20.html

Green Man 2012
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/festival-food-green-man-2012.html

Green Man 2011
http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/uncategorized/green-man-2011-festival-review/
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/green-man-good-food.html

Hall’s Dorset Smokery
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/festival-food-halls-dorset-smokery.html

Goan Seafood Company
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/festival-food-goan-seafood-company.html

Green Man Festival 2013

This year was one of the best-ever Green Man Festivals. Held in a beautiful location every August near Crickhowell in the Brecon Beacons, it’s about far more than just the music (though the music is great), with the good food being one of the attractions.

This year, four new stalls joined the regulars. One of the newcomers was London-based Anna Mae’s Southern Street Food. Founded in 2011, they offered their signature mac n cheese.

 

A new discovery for us was French and Grace, who are based in Brixton Village Market. I really enjoyed my F&G chargrilled halloumi Lebanese flatbread wrap, which included fresh mint leaves, a pickled chilli, ‘slaw and tahini dressing. The company is run by Rosie French and Ellie Grace, and their first cookbook ‘Kitchen and Co’ was published last year. I had a flip-through at the stall and it looked good.

We were camped near another newcomer, The Hurley Burley. This campsite Theatre Café proved very useful for morning teas and coffees. Alongside a range of breakfasts and appealing vegetarian food options they had live music, with the staff taking time out to do a few song-and-dance and circus routines. It’s one to watch out for in future years. Other breakfast (and late night hot drinks) needs were met by Cwmdu Community Stall, as they are every year.

The first essential artist at Green Man 2013 was Patti Smith on Thursday night. She ate at the Rotisserie Chicken (Walled Garden) before her set and pronounced it very good from the stage. What higher recommendation could this Green Man regular want?

During their set, before singing their song ‘Kingfisher Pies’, the singer of Midlake said he was making for the Pieminister van afterwards. I don’t have the info on what was ordered. However, this year, my festival Pieminister pie was the Matador (beef, chorizo, olives).

I enjoyed a coconut chicken curry from Roots Caribbean catering, while listening to some soul in Chai Wallahs (the stage with global, jazz and urban music). The curry was very good (dark rum, spring onions etc). Other options included jerk chicken, braised mutton and Shropshire beef, served with sides of rice, plantain, dumplings or coleslaw.

A vegetarian falafel hit the spot one lunchtime - falafels deep-fried in filo pastry served with lemon, hummus and salad - from the Café Moor, who specialize in North African and Arabic Souk Food. We didn't get around to the Goan Fish Curry outlet this year, so that will be high on the list next time!

On the last night, having set up the youngest (a vegetarian) with a vegetable chow mein from the Oriental food stall, I found room for a vension burger (with onions) from the Welsh Venison Centre. I also helped the kids finish a fine vegetarian pizza from Green Pepper Red Tomato in the Mountain’s Foot area; some tasty Mexican food from Bristol-based Poco Loco; and some tomato and basil pasta from the Pizza and Pasta outlet in Chai Wallahs.

The family vote for best chips at the festival went to The Hippy Chippy in the Walled Garden ('Frozen Chips? No Thanks').

The ice cream of choice was Shepherds, who are based in Hay-on-Wye (est. 1978). The youngest always goes for Chocolate, but I decided to explore the more adventurous end of the menu with a Mango Chilli ice cream. This was an enjoyable, albeit one-off, experience: creamy mango with a delayed chilli kick. The two Coffee and Cake stalls (Walled Garden and Courtyard) kept us in coffee and doughnuts.

I mainly drank the excellent Growler, the Wye Valley Brewery ale brewed especially for the Green Man Festival. There were 100 artisan ciders and beers, largely from Welsh breweries in the festivals beer festival tent. The queues at this bar were the largest, with so many barrels for the staff to negotiate and people asking for samples before buying the unusual perrys; so although I would have liked to work through the list, I tended to seek out the Growler in the quieter bars.

The best meal I had at Green Man 2013 was [drumroll] a Seafood Paella from Jamon Jamon. This Green Man regular on the hill looking down on the Mountain Stage consistently delivers.

Not surprisingly, I managed to put on weight during Green Man 2013!

My favourite music acts included Stornoway, Patti Smith, Lau, Midlake, Band of Horses, Rozi Plain, Johnny Flynn, Kings of Convenience, Jon Hopkins and British Sea Power.

Previously:

Green Man 2012
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/festival-food-green-man-2012.html

Green Man 2011

http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/green-man-good-food.html

 

Festival Food: Green Man 2012

The best thing I ate at Green Man 2012 was probably the Spicy Lamb Bourek from Moorish: North African & Arabic Souk Food. It was a deep-fried filo-pastry parcel containing meat and goats cheese; served with a spicy tomato and pepper sauce, and salad (£7).

This was the tenth Green Man Festival. It has one of the most beautiful festival sites in the UK, on the Glanusk Estate in the Black Mountains of Wales.

Highly recommended are the home-made falafels served in the Chai Shop Organic tent. We shared a falafel platter (£8).

Chai Shop were again in prime spot on the top of the slope looking down to the main stage. In the nearby corner, in what seems to have become a guest spot, was Vegetarian Mexican, who did a good curry (there’s a whole family buying and sampling food here, not just me).

An interesting addition this year was Trealy Farm. They sold bread and smoked meats. I would like to see Green Man include more Farmers’ Market stalls, selling fresh fruit, breads, cheeses and meats; maybe even a Farmers’ Market area.

We have an annual trip to the Pieminister van at the Green Man. This year we bought Moo Pie! and Chicken of Aragon (made with tarragon) pies.

Our final evening meals were pretty good too. Bake and Stew in the courtyard served up an appetising Malaysian Chicken, while the ever-reliable Paella concession at the back of the main arena hit the mark with its chicken paella.

My breakfast coffee, as in previous years, was from the Community Café run as a fund-raiser by the local Cwmdu church and school (see link below); they also do good-value bacon baps.

Also enjoyed were ice creams from Shepherds of Hay-on-Wye, who use sheep’s milk in their ice creams. My choice of flavour was the coffee and hazelnut (our youngest, predictably, went for the chocolate).

My food was washed down with real ales from the bar, mainly the festival’s own brew – growler from Wye Valley Brewery) - and some Otter ale.

Among my music highlights this year were Van Morrison, King Creosote & Jon Hopkins, Feist, Dexys, The Walkmen and Michael Kiwanuka.

 

My Review of Green Man 2011 (last year) for Buzz:

http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/uncategorized/green-man-2011-festival-review/
 

More Green Man Festival Food

Cymdu School:

http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/festival-food-cymdu-school.html

Iechyd Da:

http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/festival-food-iechyd-da.html

Goan Seafood Company:

http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/festival-food-goan-seafood-company.html

Hall’s Dorset Smokery:

http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/festival-food-halls-dorset-smokery.html

Festival Food: Cymdu School

Each year at the Green Man Festival, Cwmdu Church in Wales School, located in the nearby village of Cwmdu just outside Crickhowell, sets up its café stall by the gate into the main arena. Volunteers run the stall, which is a fund-raising venture.

The stall is always popular and it's open all around the clock (the Green Man also has a 24 hour bar). This year, I had my usual bacon roll (generously stuffed with bacon) and tea from the stall for breakfast. They also cook a range of locally-produced sausages. Soup is usually available. Along with the teas, coffees and hot chocolate, there is a constant supply of home-made cakes. It’s one of the best-value places to eat at the festival, and the welcome is always very friendly.

When you see this type of stall at a festival, it is indicative of the festival organisers working closely with the local community.

Fiona Stewart, Managing Director of the Green Man Festival, told me in a recent interview: “The support we get from local people has always been brilliant. With so many people coming to the area there is a boost to the economy which is great. We suggest to local business to stock up on the kind of goods that people attending buy each year to optimise opportunities.” She adds: “We think it’s great that Green Man stimulates tourism and boosts the economy”.

Cwmdu School:
http://www.cwmdu.powys.sch.uk/

Festival Food: Hall’s Dorset Smokery

Like many of the food outlets that tour the UK’s festivals, Hall’s Dorset Smokery has gained something of a following among music fans.

Halls’ unique selling point is that for the past six years they have smoked food on-site, using a Hot Smoking technique that involves smoking food over smouldering wet oak chips. After Hot Smoking, the food is chilled. This prevents overcooking and enables the smoke residue to marinade into the meat.

They offer lightly smoked salmon, bacon, chicken and brie, in wraps and bagels. Their bacon, brie and cranberry bagel is especially well thought of (if social networking sites are anything to go by). At some festivals they also smoke mackerel.

At the Green Man Festival last weekend, I had the smoked salmon bagel with pepper and lemon juice (£5). The lightly smoked salmon tasted delicious and the bagel oozed cream cheese. It was very good.

Hall’s source their pork, cream and cheese from Dorset, their brie from Somerset, and their salmon from Scotland.

Owner Richard Hall is used to dealing with Environmental Health Officers and keeps a very high standard of food hygiene (he passes weekly checks at different sites with flying colours: see the interesting article on rising food standards at festivals below). Apparently, Glastonbury in 1970 was the first rock festival to be reported on by environmental health inspectors. Those inspectors would have been amazed by today’s festival food standards.

In addition to Green Man, Hall’s Dorset Smokery’s summer 2011 tour has taken in Glastonbury, Sonisphere, Download, The Big Chill, the Rhythm Festival and Womad.

With their expertise in freshly smoked food, Hall’s has the “boutique” festival circuit’s smoked meats needs well and truly covered.


Source for Hall’s Dorset Smokery and food hygiene info:
http://www.cieh.org/ehn/the_chilling_fields.html

Festival Food: Iechyd Da

I remember going to music festivals as a youngster where the only food available was beefburgers, hot dogs and greasy chips. Times have certainly changed for the better, and today’s best festivals offer appetizing cuisine from around the world. Catering operations have vans that specialize in festivals during the summer months – it appears to be a thriving sector of the catering industry.

This is the first of a series of posts on festival food, based in particular on the Green Man Festival, in the Brecon Beacons, from which I have recently returned.

It’s not all tempura, Thai fish curries, paella and Mexican, of course. Local food is always represented at a good festival. At the Green Man, for instance, you can sample a range of Welsh foods.

Swansea-based Iechyd Da is a family-run business that was one of the first to tour traditional Welsh recipes around Britain’s music festivals. At Green Man, Iechyd Da were serving Faggots and Pies, Beef Stew and Dumplings, Cauliflower and Broccoli Bake, Chicken and Leek Casserole, and the usual range of teas, coffees and cakes (including Welsh cakes, of course).

I went along one morning for the Full Welsh Breakfast (served until 2pm). For £5.50 this included free-range bacon; pork and leek sausage; free-range egg; baked beans; laver bread; buttered bread (white or brown) and coffee. The laver bread (seaweed) is optional, but having lived in south Wales for a few years now I am getting a taste for it. A vegetarian breakfast was also available, with homemade Glamorgan sausage and mushrooms.

Iechyd Da’s summer tour 2011 has also included gigs at Wychwood Music Festival, Glastonbury (stage crew and artist catering), Ely Folk Festival, Lamar Tree Festival, and Shrewsbury Folk Festival.

In Cardiff recently, it was revealed that takeaways often score 0 or 1 out of 5 in Food Hygiene Ratings (conducted by the Food Standards Agency). Out in the festival fields, Iechyd Da displays its rating: a perfect 5. In fact, most of the food vans that tour UK music festivals look like they keep to an altogether better standard of hygiene than you would encounter in chippies and kebab houses along the average high street.

Brian Murphy & Rebecca Jones
Iechyd da Catering
8, Sardis close,
Waunarlywdd,
Swansea,
SA5 4RZ

Website (includes their recipes for Glamorgan sausage, Welsh cakes and faggots):
http://iechyd-da-catering.co.uk/4.html

Green Man: Good Food

Today I was writing a preview of the Green Man Festival (18-21 August 2011), based on an interview I conducted by email with the festival’s Managing Director Fiona Stewart.

One of the many delights of the festival is eating at the food stalls. Indeed, it is becoming known as a bit of a foodie festival. Hot drinks and hot dogs are sold by the local school to raise funds, the Pieminister van sells a full range of their pies, the rotisserie chicken smells and tastes great, the Moroccan food tent is always interesting, the paella stall consistently good. There's crepes and pizza, fish'n'chips and chinese take-away. A market selling fresh fruit was a welcome addition last year. There are artisan cordials and ice creams, and several bars with a good range of real ales and cider.

This area of the Brecon Beacons has a good reputation for food. Crickhowell has several top restaurants, including The Nantyffin Cider Mill Inn, close to the festival site, as has Abergavenny, which also hosts one of the UK’s best food festivals.

Increasing numbers of people are staying the week on the Green Man Festival site on holiday tickets, to make the most of the area. Fiona Stewart told me, “It’s great to see the pleasure people get from discovering the attractions in the area. From the smiling faces it’s evident that they have a lot of fun, and the opportunity of meeting like-minded people has led to friendships forming and groups now return from year to year. Primarily it’s the incredible beauty of the area which I enjoy exploring on long walks with my dog Walter. During the festival build a group of us walk up to Table Mountain each year, which we all look forward to.” She adds: “There are great places to eat in the area and the welcome and warmth we always receive in Crickhowell when we eat out is a life-saver for bedraggled exhausted crew.”

You will be able to read my full interview with Fiona Stewart in the August edition of Buzz magazine (and below), which will be hitting the streets of south Wales at the end of this month, when it will also be available to read online:
http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/

http://www.greenman.net/

Here’s a time lapse film taken of the main stage area at last year’s festival:



26 July added:

FOUNDED in 2003, the Green Man is one of Britain’s best-loved festivals. It first moved to its beautiful setting in Glanusk Park in 2006, the year that Fiona Stewart became its Managing Director. Green Man won the Best Medium Sized Festival Award in 2010 and aims to be even better this year.

“There are eight stages offering music, comedy, literature, science and film, as well as a great kid’s area so there should be something for everyone,” Fiona tells me. This year’s top acts include Fleet Foxes, Noah and the Whale, Bellowhead, Laura Marling, Explosions in the Sky, Squarepusher and Gruff Rhys. The festival also supports new and emerging talent, with many unsigned artists playing. The opening band will be Will and the People: winners of Green Poll (the festival’s battle of the bands competition).

“Although music is at the heart of Green Man, it is also filled with the kind of unexpected experiences and areas which change a concert into a festival,” explains Fiona. “The people who come to Green Man are very discerning and their ideas are a great resource,” she notes, “Feedback shows audiences want to have the immersive experience that only a festival can offer and getting this right is integral to the success of Green Man.” According to Fiona, “originality, authenticity, eccentricity and the unexpected” are essential ingredients.

This year sees some new features take their place alongside old favourites. “We are developing the Nature and Nurture massage and therapy area,” says Fiona, “so if you fancy a relaxing therapy between acts then it’s definitely worth booking in early. Also there are some great new surprises and bonkers experiences in Einstein's Garden - the art and science area.”

Simon Armitage, Howard Marks and Joe Dunthorne are among the bill in the Literature Tent; Tom Wrigglesworth and Tony Law perform in the Comedy Tent. The sing-a-long {Wicker Man} is a typical happening in the Cinema Tent. Chai Wallahs is like a festival within a festival, which takes place in a massive Bedouin marquee with food and music from around the world. Green Man stays up late, with the Far Out After Dark stage running to 4am. Tim Minchin will be performing on Thursday evening, for those arriving early, while the festival concludes on Sunday night with the burning of the green man.

The Holiday Ticket option, where people came for the week leading up to the festival, is becoming increasingly popular. “It’s great to see the pleasure people get from discovering the attractions in the area,” Fiona says. “Primarily it’s the incredible beauty of the area, which I enjoy exploring on long walks with my dog Walter. During the festival build a group of us walk up to Table Mountain each year.” The area is noted for its range of great places to eat (and the festival itself is also gaining a reputation as a foodie event). “Local accommodation is booked out and more and more businesses offer supplies or other services to the festival,” Fiona notes, “We think it’s great that Green Man stimulates tourism and boosts the local economy.”

The Green Man Festival has grown, while maintaining its independent spirit. It is refreshingly free of big corporate sponsors, even though this makes it harder to finance. “We feel that sponsorship should add to the experience for festival-goers not detract from it,” says Fiona. “If a sponsorship deal brought in something that would really add to the festival from a company that we all felt happy to be associated with, then we would consider it; but that has not happened so far.”

One high-profile festival has been cancelled next year, due to logistical problems arising from the Olympics (portable toilets and suchlike). However, Fiona has few concerns on that front: “All our suppliers have reassured us that they will be supporting us next year and that is good enough for me. So happily Green Man will be back in 2012 and for as long as you want us”.