This year was my first time at The Green Gathering festival. Although it had many of the normal components of a music festival it felt very different. People come together at the Green Gathering not just to party but to network, learn and protect the environment. There was a permaculture area, a craft skills area, music, campaigns, speakers, kids area, healing area and earth energies spiritual area. The days menu of options started early with free yoga and Tai Chi and ended late with music and talks. The food included gorgeous vegetarian and vegan food (I met Veggies again, doing a great trade), and many activities such as massage were by donation. A place were I spent a lot of beautiful time was the mobile Sento Spa. Fueled by a woodstove and funded by donations, the people working there made you feel so cared for it was a world away from a commercial space.

Although the festival has music it doesn’t have any of the big mainstream names which means that people going there are going for other reasons too. I bumped into several lovely people that I’d met along the walk as well as meeting new people doing amazing things like Tom the morris dancing pilgrim.