It was more like Sister Sludge than Sister Sledge in the campsite at Castle Palooza this morning, as the dreaded rain, which started last night, built to a crescendo in the early hours of the morning, forming nice little puddles and muddy patches. There were some complaints of leaking tents this morning, and some sodden festival-goers decided to pack it in and go home, but they obviously haven’t been around for the two months of rain we’ve been having all summer here in Ireland and were poorly prepared - and are missing a fantastic day today. Others cleverly camped under the tall trees in the castle gardens and were somewhat protected from the deluge. However despite the rain, waking up under the turrets and spires of an 18th century castle is quite an interesting camping experience.
The rain dried up around lunchtime and the sun came out to make an appearance for sets from Dave’s Radio, Angel Pier and Prison Love in the early afternoon. By 4pm, the sun was well and truly shining, as were the crowd, when Cowboy X (who had just arrived from a festival in Oldcastle, Co Meath, where they played yesterday) took to the stage and got the courtyard rocking.
In the small food village, people have been sitting around on picnic tables and enjoying crepes, pies, noodles and burgers and the only time a queue has ever formed over the weekend is at the latte section of the pie stand, while the coffee-maestro warms up yet another batch of milk for the most popular revival drink of the weekend, a nice milky latte.
Parts of Charleville Castle - such as the long, elegant ballroom, where the ballroom scene of Becoming Jane was filmed last year - are open to us festival-goers to relax and socialise in and people started bringing their bacon sandwiches and coffees in from early morning, to relax on the large sofas, recover from last night and dry out some soggy clothing. Large log fires, ornately carved furniture, chandeliers and a resident great-dane dog wandering around keeping an eye on things are making this a truly special festival.
There is a latin inscription on the fireplace which translates as ‘The brave may falter but cannot yield’ - very appropriate for those of us festival goers who decided to stick the rain and are still here, reaping the musical rewards. The bands are hanging out in the ‘green room’ which is really the castle’s dining room and apparently there’s a haunted staircase, a library with a secret exit and a morning room with two pianos, in the haunted castle. The ballroom is to turn into the burlesque ‘Tassel Club’ late tonight, so it should be fun.
This is a tiny festival - only 1500 tickets go on sale each year, and some of the money goes towards the castle's restoration. The organiser thinks that keeping the festival small is one of the secrets of such a great atmosphere. As well as hot showers, real toilets, no queues and the use of the castle, there are lots of other nice touches, such as recycling. Plus, we all got amazing goodie bags, with lots of little treats like mini deodorant, shower gel, an inflatable festival seat, plastic poncho, chocolates and an energy drink - all exactly what is needed and such a nice touch.
As festivals go, this is one of the best experiences yet. Walking up a oak tree-lined forest drive, camping in the grounds of a castle with spires and turrets, climbing a huge sweeping staircase with a chandelier at the top, relaxing in front of a log fire in a huge, ornate ballroom, seeing great bands without having to crane your neck over a large crowd, using a real, flushing toilet and ordering a beer without queuing...are just some of the nicer touches. Festival organisers could learn a lot from this and the organisers of this one certainly have many things right.
Now, if only they could work on getting rid of that rain…
Yvonne Gordon is a MelodyTrip writer. View her news stories from Glastonbury 2007 at http://www.melodytrip.com/MTNews/Default.aspx?NewsID=5963