Swanage Folk Festival in Dorset was a pleasant day out despite the sogginess

We decided to have a day out at Swanage Folk Festival in Dorset away from Hopcott Mansions in soggy Somerset although it involved traveling something like 97 miles (and back) with a weather forecast suggesting it would be soggy in Swanage too.

So, enclosed in Madame Hopcott's rather snazzy and waterproof Ford Focus Zetek, instead of my usual rather beat up and leaky old transit camper, we headed for the Purbeck Hills and Hardy country.

I don't recollect ever having been to Swanage before - which probably means that I haven't been there for at least a couple of weeks given my recent tendencies to senility - but I was pleased to find it a very pleasant place which had all the best and gentlest folkie vibes.

There were lots of Morris dance sides skipping up and down and the afternoon parade of dancers was spectacular including Exmoor Border Morris and some dancers from Bradford on Avon who gave me a nice wave and a number of friendly faces from the Weymouth and Portland area that I met during Wessex Folk Festival.

We dropped into the tented area which was a bit soggy underfoot but quite negotiable and chatted with Roger of Rogers Rant in the main performance tent. Roger runs a very nice small festival I visited recently (see photo below).

The music in the tent was free and Madame Hopcott, in particular, gave it the thumbs up (I almost fell into the mud in deep shock as Mm Hopcott normally hates folk music!)

Then onward to see if there was an English session at the Crows Nest, although to be fair the programme only advertised a session to be on in the evening. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything impromptu happening but we did enjoy the walk along the sea front.

So back to the high street we went in search of the White Horse hoping for an impromptu Irish session where we found violinist Fred whom I know from Christchurch Folk Club and various other folk festivals bravely entertaining the lunchtime pub drinkers and eaters with the help of a rather good banjo / mandolin player. So, after a cup of coffee during which I watched them manfully struggling on, I submitted to the urge and joined them.

As lunchtime moved into afternoon, quite a few musicians came and joined us, including a rather good squeezebox player and his daughter so it developed into quite a good session with appreciative support from the audience.

When 3.30pm arrived we had to make a dash for the car park because I'd only bought four hours although it still still cost me five pounds sterling! I sometimes wonder whether District Councils have any comprehension about how difficult it is to earn any money these days? A fiver for parking only four hours. We was robbed!

I liked Swanage Folk Festival - although it was a long drive home :-)

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - online author and pub folk session enthusiast