Ohh what a wonderful day. Today was the Abbotsbury Family Music Festival. Not quite on the scale of Glastonbury which took place last weekend but I love it as it takes place in the Abbostbury Sub-Tropical gardens, Dorset. These gardens being adjacent to the sea are world famous for their exotic plants, a wonderful setting for a music festival amongst the Agave, Schizostylis and Camellia. This mid-afternoon to evening festival is usually fronted by the UK's premier folk duo Show of Hands, who also help organise it. This year one half, Steve Knightly acted as compare and held the performances together. After weeks of unbroken sunshine last night it rained solidly for 8 hours, the forecast for today was for showers. Ohh dear.! But as it happened apart from a few spots mid session, the Festival was dry and about as relaxing as a music event should be. One act in particular stole the show, new to me, Sheelanagig. Historically Sheela na gigs were figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated lady tunnel. I guess these chaps are not quite the same. Infact they're not quite the same as anyone. A heady blend of Balkan, Gypsy, Russian, Folk music, fused with comic mayhem, played with a panache and rhythm only expert musicians can do whilst looking like they're messing about. They got a standing ovation from the crowd and well deserved it was too.
The evening ended just after 9pm and on the way back to the pub we were staying in, a gorgeous sunset played out over the Jurassic Coast. Life is sweet.
Postscript - looking at Sheelanagig's website on Monday 7th, my photo tweet was prominent.
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