It is less than 10 miles from Balado and has also expanded to become a three-day festival where wellies are a must. But that’s about where the similarity ends between the Big Tent held on Falkland Estate in Fife at the weekend, and T in the Park, held just down the road at Kinross a fortnight ago.
Whereas T has always been first and foremost about the music with something of a self-conscious ‘green makeover’ in recent years, the Big Tent Festival now in its fifth year has always been an environmental festival with the good music something of an added bonus.
Launched in 2005 as a community response to the G8 summit at Gleneagles, Big Tent is Fife’s biggest festival and has grown in reputation year on year, winning awards and widespread acclaim along the way.
One national newspaper hailed it as ‘one of Britain’s best family days out’ while another listed it among the top 10 folk festivals in the UK. Last year the Big Tent was named Greener Festival Award winners.
The festival kept up that tradition at the weekend, offering a unique blend of music, intelligent debate about green issues as well as locally sourced and affordable food.
A family friendly affair with under-12s getting in free, the Big Tent champions the local but is also consistently multi-national, with performers, exhibitors and fans from all over the world.
But in this the Fife Year of Culture, how apt that there was a focus on Fife’s finest musicians and bands led by King Creosote, aka Anstruther-based Kenny Anderson, who headlined the main stage on Friday night. Add to that an array of local food producers showcasing their wares, and what a recipe for success.
But perhaps the biggest coup of the weekend was booking Sunday headliner Rosanne Cash. Not only is the daughter of the late ‘Man in Black’ Johnny Cash one of America’s pre-eminent singer-songwriters, her family has historic links to Fife.
All that, and the unique setting in the shadow of the Lomond hills, make The Big Tent special and surely unrivalled anywhere else in the country.
This was my fourth visit to the Big Tent and our weekend went something like this:Saturday, July 2410am The family and I leave home in Cupar to make the 12-mile trip to Falkland. This year we’ve borrowed a ‘Bongo’ camper van, so between my tent and the vehicle, we’re looking forward to camping in relative comfort.
10.30am Arrive at campsite where we’ve managed to wangle a space in the staff car park. Disappointed that we unavoidably missed King Creosote last night, but better late than never. Most people have been here since Friday night so already busy. Park up Bongo. I find a space in a field 200m away to set up my tent. Campsite is sprinkled with people strumming guitars, playing accordions or cooking. The East Lomond makes a stunning backdrop as ever.
11.30am Make our way to main festival site. Big Tent 2010 has moved since last year. Still on Falkland Estate, it’s simply moved a field away due to construction of a football pitch on the old site. First impressions? The usual eclectic array of stalls and tents including the ‘children’s zone’ and ‘body soul zone’ seem much more spread out with some only accessible via a climb up a steep hill. The main stage looks good though with the geography creating a natural ampitheatre.
Noon It’s lunchtime, so find a secluded spot to eat our packed lunch under a tree. The family friendly nature of this festival means that our four-year-old and one-year-old can clamber about in safety. A few rogue wasps are about though, so on permanent guard.
1.30pm Our wander through the site takes us to ‘A Place Apart’ the unfinished Memorial Chapel on Falkland Estate where we listen to the Mediterranean inspired music of Quixote. The acoustic five-piece have been inspired by the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca. “Imagine you are in the south of Spain,” the singer grins with one eye on the overcast skies. Here, in contrast to the stonework of the building, traditional artwork by Collessie-based American artist Marianna Lines gives an atmospheric feel.
2pm With both offspring asleep in the double buggy, we decide this is the perfect time to sample a pint of organic ale from the Black Isle Brewery beer tent. Judging by the number of parents including a few familiar faces from the Cupar area making a similar manoeuvre, decide with tongue in cheek that we should set up a new online forum ‘ParentswithPints.com’ to give ‘Mums.Net’ a run for its money. In stark contrast to past experiences on a much bigger scale at T in the Park, there’s not a drunk Glaswegian in sight and no flying pint pots. It’s an incredibly civilised affair and actually quite nice to have smaller (10,000 or so) crowds. No escaping the queues for the chemical toilets though.
3pm Spot King Creosote, aka Kenny Anderson, eating at the edge of the beer tent. He’s deep in conversation with Fife Council leader Peter Grant.
4-5pm Spread out a rug not far from the main stage to enjoy ‘Brazil. Brazil.’ Funnily enough this lot are from Brazil. It’s an energetic, mesmerising performance featuring song and dance. Would be well worth checking them out when they appear at the Edinburgh Festival next month.
5.30pm It had to happen eventually, but the rain starts tipping it down. Cue a hasty retreat to the Bongo for some beans on toast.
6.30pm The rain doesn’t last and underfoot conditions are bearing up well in the campsite. Elsewhere though it’s getting a bit muddy, but that’s what the wellies are for.
6.45pm Take a wander into Falkland village to stretch the legs. Others are doing likewise. We know the area well, but for visitors from further afield, this is their first visit and people seem impressed.
8.15pm Back on site, fill a hole in stomach with a delicious buffalo burger from the Auchtertool-based Puddledub herd. Recall an interview I once did with the young farmer and herd owner Steven Mitchell. Also recall a time when a few years ago, whilst out for a walk in the Auchtertool area, inadvertently found myself in the same field as the buffalo herd. Sample some free organic chocolate. Mmm…
8.30pm Bump into old acquintance, artist Marianna Lines. She’s eating in one of the food tents.
8.35pm Find a couple of spare seats on the hillside overlooking the main stage. It’s the perfect vantage point to take in the Celtic counds of Session A9. There’s a great atmosphere with folk jigging away in front of the stage. Loads of families still around and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.
9pm For one man though, clearly the worse for wear, it’s all too much as he falls off his seat into the mud several times but amazingly still manages to keep his pint and cigarette intact. Paramedics are also called with a teenage girl seemingly the worse for wear a short distance away. But she doesn’t seem as bad as first thought and the medics soon back off.
10.15pm The end. It’s been a great day. Time to retire to the campsite.
10.30pm The tent nearest mine has a scrawled sign outside saying: “Claudia wants to have Herbert’s babies.’. Hopefully not tonight my dear, I chuckle. Some of us need to sleep.Sunday, July 257am Didn’t sleep too well and it was nothing to do with Claudia wanting to have Herbert’s babies. The lumpy field was the main cause. There’s been a bit of rain overnight but it’s fresh and breezy as I re-emerge from the tent to that stunning Lomonds view.
7.30am Chemical toilets … always an experience.
10am Cleared up and organised, we head into Falkland village again. Leaving Falkland Estate, two young staff members with boxes strawberries ask, “How did you travel here today?” Tempted to say we towed our Bongo behind a gas guzzling 4×4, we tell them we are relatively local and have been camping. Our reward for not killing the planet overnight? A punnet of local strawberries.
10.30am Buy coffee and egg rolls from a bakery in the village a fraction of the festival prices being charged up the road. Dawns on me afterwards that perhaps I should’ve got into the spirit of the festival and asked if the eggs were organic free range and the coffee Fairtrade. But didn’t cross my mind. The need for sustenance was greater. Park ourselves on a bench to consume.
10.35am Get chatting to a local worthy who had been standing outside the bakery. He presumes we have come from afar and seems genuinely surprised when we tell him we’ve come just down the road from Cupar. As several of the free shuttle buses arrive, he reveals that some locals have been using the free service to do their shopping in Glenrothes. The man also infers that he met Johnny Cash when he visited Falkland to trace his family tree in the 1980s. He tells us he hopes to be introduced to Rosanne Cash before she headlines the festival later in the day. “If you know anyone who doesn’t have a ticket, tell them there’s plenty of places to sneak in if they go up the Leslie road,” he calls after us.
11.40am Stopping to let a three-litre Audi get past at the entrance to Falkland Estate, different staff ask us where we’ve travelled from today. We tell them we’ve just walked from the village. Cue more free strawberries!
11.50am Back on site, check out the ‘Wood Zone’. Here there are remarkable demonstrations including willow basket weaving, a mobile foundry, broom making and carvings. Children are also having fun with a giant hand carved wooden xylophone. Look at some leaflets on installing wind turbines and solar power for the home. Great in theory, but question how cost effective it would actually be.
1.30pm In the Head Zone, WWF director Richard Dixon is giving a talk on “UN big business or local action: Who’s Going to Save the Planet?” But decide to head for Pillars Cafe where we arrive just in time to hear the end of Brazil! Brazil!’s latest set on the main stage. Enjoy a bean burger. Very nice. The sun is breaking through now and its getting hotter.
2.45pm Listen to some of Aberfeldy on stage. Decide to curtail and go for a walk in the beautiful woods of Maspie Den. A central part of the Big Tent concept is ‘stewardship’ looking after local environment and heritage for future generations. Here in Maspie Den, much of this work is evident with a well maintained network of footpaths following the course of the Maspie Burn back up the hill. With fine views over the Howe of Fife, there’s also an abundance of wild raspberries growing on the higher slopes there for the picking.
5.30pm Buy a venison burger produced by Fletchers of Auchtermuchty. Try not to think about the ‘Bambi’ stories that have been running in The Courier recently. Tastes good though.
6.30pm Introduced by event compere Phil Kay, Ninian Crichton Stuart, steward of Falkland Estate, appears on the main stage to welcome tonight’s headliner Rosanne Cash. He talks about the meeting that took place between his father and Johnny Cash at a New York airport in the early 1980s, revealing that they both had Falkland roots. Falkland is the Cash’ ancestral home (names surviving today include the local farm Cash Feus). It’s a place Rosanne has visited several times and which her dad held in high affection. A key message from The Big Tent is about the importance of ‘preserving our local place in the world’, Ninian says. ‘Rosanne understands that.’
6.35pm Arriving on stage to thunderous applause, Rosanne declares that she has “come home” and is “ecstatic” to be here. I’m minded of the time I interviewed Rosanne for The Courier in Falkland shortly before her father died. She was very emotional that day and is clearly moved to be on stage today. She plays a one-hour acoustic set with her husband John Leventhal. It’s one of only two UK dates she is playing on her current tour. The new festival lay out is ideal.
8pm We head home after a throughly enjoyable weekend that Fife can be proud of.