WOMAD Festival 2018, Charlton Park.
One thing I thoroughly enjoy doing every Summer is experiencing new festivals and this was no different when I headed to WOMAD Festival at the end of July. WOMAD takes place in Charlton Park in the south of England, near the Cotswolds.
WOMAD is a celebration of global cultures, encouraging cross-border collaboration in a fantastic 3-day festival. It brings together a global fiesta of music, food, dance & art, a place where inclusivity is welcomed and celebrated. Their festival doesn't just happen in the UK but has been taken to over 27 countries around the world too.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this festival as a newcomer to WOMAD and I was firmly impressed.
The festival has loads of live music, dance events and workshops for you to get stuck into. One moment we were in the calm of morning Tai Chi and then suddenly we were in a tent where everyone was collectively drumming together. It really is a festival experience like no other. There weren't specific "big acts" that I knew of but I was open to the idea of seeing something new. There were huge crowds surrounding the 5/6 different stages that WOMAD managed to have within their festival arena. We particularly loved listening to Austin, Texas band, Whiskey Sours (pictured above) who really got the audience dancing along to their music. It was really the kind of music you wanted to listen to whilst sitting and sipping on some British cider.
We also loved listening to Funke & The Two Tone Baby over at Molly's Bar. We have since downloaded his albums for the car since hearing him at WOMAD (he was fantastic!) and didn't distract us from the pouring rain that intruded our festival experience.
WOMAD doesn't forget it's younger audiences and definitely has plenty on offer in the World of Children area. We discovered it whilst walking around the entire arena and couldn't believe the vast variety of workshops and activities they had for children throughout the festival.
The atmosphere at the festival felt incredibly calm and relaxed, you could tell people really enjoyed being able to have some great food and soak up such a wonderful festival. It was vibrant too! I loved checking out this wonderful installation (pictured above) at WOMAD. Ride Social was brought to the festival from Brazilian art collective, OPAVIVARA! and it proved a hit with it not being unoccupied whenever I walked past them. Ride Social is a space for contemplation, experimentation and coexistence. It's a multi-part hammock, a tangible 'social network' that invites cooperation and negotiation of its participants as people are thrown together as part of a temporary collective. It looked like great fun to get stuck into!
The only thing which let down our experience was that the heavens opened on Saturday evening and we didn't pack enough waterproofs in order to be able to enjoy the festival and the weather too. However, it didn't dampen the experience we did have and we thoroughly enjoyed being invited to experience something new. I'd definitely recommend that you check WOMAD out for 2019!
If you'd like to find out more information you can head over to the WOMAD Festival website to find out more.
If you enjoyed reading this post then you may also enjoy reading about my experience Glamping with Podpads at WOMAD Festival or heading to Timber Festival earlier in 2018.