eatherder recently celebrated its 10th Birthday last year and by God it was one to behold. Taking place at Dockber Farm up             near clitheroe the fesitval usually houses around 5000-7000 'Herders'. Though its not the biggest festival in the UK it sure has its character. Everyone's so friendly, the scenery is absolutely stunning and the atmosphere is just something to behold. We were lucky enough to go to the festival last year and we can definitely tell you its now an annual trip for sure. Beatherder was the winner of the Extra Activity Festival Award in 2014 and this entitles that  'This award recognises events that paid that extra bit of attention to detail that creates a magical and unforgettable festival experience' and we can sure as hell confirm this is the case.

 

We arrived on Friday 17th July with no idea what to expect from the festival. We'd heard a lot but genuinely had no clue. The sun was shining and stewards directed cars where to park. The festival staff were actually pretty quick at getting the crowds through and into the site itself. Once we were in it was a refreshing change not to have to

walk 40+ minutes to find a place to camp. We ended up pitching up underneath

the 6 of Spades (camping was marked out by card icons) overlooking a lovely

little valley. Gave us a nice view to look out upon whilst we set up and relaxed 

once we had done. Now came the worst part of any festival; waiting. The main

arena opened at 5pm which gave us like 4 hours to sit around. We met our 

neighbours and made some friends as we sat around and admired the wonderful

world we had just entered.

 

Eventually we started to hear a low thud coming from the distance. The music had

begun. We couldnt contain our excitement, we quickly gathered our things and 

scampered down to the main arena like children on Christmas. We queued up for

around 20 minutes to get in, looking around everyone seemed as eager as ever

and we were about to find out why. We stepped through the gates and found 

ourselves lost with no idea where to check out first. We ended up walking through

a walk way covered with leaves and flowers and found ourselves at a large wood

shack tucked away. A sign above the door shone clear as ever though, 'Jager 

House'. We couldn't believe the first thing we discovered was a Jager bar complete with a DJ booth above it and a full sized moose

head made out of empty Jager bottles. This is where we started to get our first feel for the festival we were at. 

 

We continued to explore, checked out places like Toil Trees, The Fortress and Pratty's Ring which slowly built up excitement as we looked around. The sun began to go down as we settled on watching DJ Catz'n'Dogs in Toil Trees and the atmosphere was incredible. Everywhere you looked people dancing their hearts content, smiles, embraces and amazing drops littered the trees around us. The lights were amazing, the sound was impeccable and everyone everywhere was loving it. We soon left Toil Trees and made our way to the renowned Fortress to see 2ManyDJs and we couldn't believe it, we were stood in a massive cut out castle raving to some amazing music. As Friday night started to wind down we made our way back to our camp, ready and waiting for the day ahead. Saturday rolled around and we made our way to get some food and the selection and prize was a lot better than other festivals we have visited before. We tucked into a stonebaked pizza which was delicious and had another explore. 

 

We ended up walking past some destroyed de-wheeled cars which played a part for people to jump and dance across. Just as we turned around we never believed what we saw: a Marching Band in the middle of the festival just walking through. You can see a video of this situated below. As we ventured through the festival things just began to get weirder; we found a stage which was 

                                                                                                                    called trailer trash which was a mansion courtyard with r                                                                                                                           robot strippers with secuirty cameras for heads... Yeah                                                                                                                             we're not joking. At this point we decided it was time to go                                                                                                                       and check out the stalls and see what was on offer. We                                                                                                                             found an incredible little alcove of shops delivering some of 

                                                                                                                    the finest home made goods and wackiest clothing we've 

                                                                                                                    ever experienced.

                                                              

                                                                                                                   We also noticed that over the course of the festival the                                                                                                                              people behind it all would change stuff throughout, putting                                                                                                                      up new statues or decorations throughout. The sun began to                                                                                                                    set on our second night at the festival and we could tell it 

                                                                                                                   was going to be a special one. We saw French DJ and                                                                                                                            producer Shiba San perform and he was magnificiant. Also                                                                                                                      on this night was the second headliner Basement Jaxx and we've got to say, hearing Where's your head at live is a true sight to behold. We danced the rest of the night off in Pratty's Ring before eventually heading back to the tent. The sun was truly shining on the Sunday. It was our last day and wanted to make the most of it so we didn't waste time and went straight to the arena. That night we met some of the best people ever and also saw a spectacular birthday fireworks show and was also the night where we discovered a massive camp fire with dozens of people around it. As we sat there, looking at the fireworks sat by a glorious campfire we thought to ourselves 'we've found something special here'.

 

There is no doubt we will definitely be returning next year. It has something for everyone and an incredible family festival. The camping, atmospere and music is all incredible its amazing how hidden this secret gem is from the world.