Music / Nozstock
Review: Nozstock, The Hidden Valley – ‘It’s the perfect place to party in the British countryside’
I told the kids we are off to a festival in a hidden valley. My 5 year old wants to know if there are going to be dinosaurs and the younger one has asked if we are nearly there yet for the whole 2 hour dive – let’s hope they love it!
Nozstock, like the hidden valley it’s located in not far from Worcester, seems to be a little hidden gem, a truly independent festival doing its own thing. With four out of its five main stages open air, one nestled in a little copse, one on the edge of a lake, it’s the perfect place to party in the beautiful British countryside.
By day there is plenty for little ones to get busy with. We manage to fit in a circus skills workshop, willow weaving, making mythical creatures out of clay and jewelry upcycling. With the kids content and napping in the pushchair covered in glitter its time to find ourselves some dancing.
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The stages have a joyful mix of music. Two soundsystems in a converted barn host Dilinger, Molly and Ray, Randal and Total Science and are packed out all day and night. Like the beating heart of the festival the energy is high and the crowd are amazing.
Bill Bailey was one of the performers at this year’s festival. Credit: Charlie Davidson
Outside two big main stages sit back-to-back hosting Andy C, Gentlemen’s Dub Club, Mungo’s High Fi, Craig Charles and Bill Bailey alongside amazing world music from Ibibio Soundmachine and RSVP playing live Bangra.
My absolute festival highlight was on Saturday night after quite a male-dominated line up, 24 Hour Garage Girls, an all female collective who originally formed at Boomtown festival, took over the Garden stage for 2 hours of relentless lady powered party tunes playing banger after banger.
Outside of the bigger stages there are little pockets of adventures – ‘the cabinet of lost secrets’, a cabaret bar you climb through a fireplace to enter, a UV drenched PsyTrance stage hidden in the trees, acoustic music in a little canvas tent and a Sisha bar hosting late night spoken word. All the crowds were small enough to be intimate and big enough to get a proper festival vibe.
There were a whole host of activies and areas for the family to enjoy. Credit: Alex Avery
The festival feels like such a joy because the organisers really care about the music and have so much love for the site. This care and love is infectious – all the crew, stewards and attendees becoming one big family for the weekend keeping the campsites immaculate, sorting the site waste for recycling and looking out for each other.
And my two kids? Well, they got in the van in bedraggled onesies and asked when the next Nozstock is.
Main photo: Charlie Davidson
Read more: Nozstock The Hidden Valley joins the Better Business network
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