The Magic Loungeabout

Just been flicking through some images of last years Magic Loungeabout festival in North Yorkshire, and had a little reminisce of how nice it was. The first thing that strikes you about this festival is its gorgeous surroundings. Set on the grounds of Broughton Hall outside Skipton, the festival somehow blends in perfectly with the vast estate of this stunning Georgian country mansion. A grade 1 listed building built by the Tempest family on a 3000-acre estate in the late 1500′s surrounded with rolling hills, forests and brooks.

The festival itself is equally enriched with arts crafts and entertainment. Lazy cafes with books, board games and a plethora of teas, coffees, cakes and hot chocolates; I was flat out on Brandy Hot Chocolates in the late evenings! As you enter the main section, you can hear a constant thud of tribal drums being beat by kids and adults alike. Theatre clowns and makeup artists with small clutches of kids are scattered about the Angel Garden. There are more kids screaming as they jet down water slides in the distance, overshadowed by the huge mansion behind them.

Yoga and massage tents, a corner shop and loads of boutique food stalls line the festival edge with a brilliant food canteen at the end. Inside Howard Marks aka Mr Nice was giving an interesting chat about his exciting escapades, whilst taking questions from the crowd. There’s a lot going on.

There’s a multitude of up and coming acts on throughout the day, and as the night progresses the acts became predictably more exciting. Stand out performances came from copper capped acoustic maestro Ed Sheeran whose mixture of folk rock and banter had adults and kids pressed firmly against the front barriers. Notable also were the Brand New Young Pony Club, the Human League and Badly Drawn Boy whose comical verbal ramblings between tracks kept spirits high. ‘Any Man United supports in here tonight’, slight cheer from crowd, ‘Fuck off’, huge cheer from crowd. Brilliant!

As each night ended on the main-stage, a club marquee took over the reins for some dancing into the small hours. DJ’s such as Graeme Park and Justin Unabomber belted out eclectic electronica to an extremely varied, cheerful friendly crowd. With each of them wobbling back to one of the stunning camping areas each night. I was camped up in, the Forest. There’s something really calming about being fast asleep under the trees with CD’s and Disco balls hanging from the branches, fairy lights dotted around. Authentic Tipi’s and Yurts are also available, open grasslands for people who don’t like trees as well as a campervan area.

Overall I thought it was a brilliant festival, its charm is something a family would definitely appreciate, or even someone looking for more relaxed experience. Hardcore festival heads and wasp chewers looking for mosh pits might be disappointed. And rightly so…

I’ve been invited back to photograph the festival this year again, I can’t wait!