Dolmen Grove Tribal Dreams day 2

We had an early start today as tends to happen when we end up camping and are subjected to loads of fresh air. Toni was up making coffee at 6am, which was followed by breakfast of bacon rolls courtesy of Poppies Catering who were accommodating enough to make them using our gluten free rolls.

The day was spent attending some really interesting workshops interspersed with browsing stalls and buying stuff! The talks were all interesting; the first was on plants and harvesting seeds, which resulted in us collecting several packets of seeds which Toni plans on growing next year. Up next was a really interesting talk on Paganism and the Third Reich. Not as sinister as it sounds; the talk was a history lesson on the rise of paganism in pre-war Germany, which was swiftly followed by the rise of the Nazi party and explored why there are alleged connections between the two, as well as exploring the myth that the Nazis were obsessed with the Occult. Last talk of the day was from Prof. Ronald Hutton and was an exploration of why there are Dragon myths throughout the world and where these might have come from. This last talk was accompanied by torrential rain, so it was nice to be in a large waterproof marquee during that.

The evening saw the arrival of new neighbours in a rather wonderful and huge bell tent. They pitched up in front of us in order to be near their friends but as a lucky result, this meant that we all got to know each other very quickly. Tent envy ensued as we got to have a look inside this magnificent beast and we have decided that as we plan on doing much more camping at these festivals, we are going to invest in one ourselves in time for next year.

Entertainment this evening was provided by The Dolmen. We've seen these guys play on several occasions and they are always a lively and energetic treat. Their performance this evening was possibly the best we've seen.

The gig went on quite late into the night and was immediately followed at around 11:30pm by the Fire Ceremony in celebration of Lughnasadh; the festival of the first harvest. After the ceremony, celebrations and loud festivities continued into the small hours, much of which we spent in the company of our new neighbours; Bill, Dawn, CJ, Alan, Mikey (Pixie) and Sophie around a brazier which refused to stay alight and accompanied by bottles of mead and wine and much hilarity.

It was a perfect end to our first full day and as it transpired, we definitely started as we meant to go on.