What's on in the area

The Big Chill Summer Festival

Aug 2009 (annual)

Cost: £129; students £110; teens £60; under 13s free

Hours: All weekend

The Big Chill summer festival celebrates yet another glorious weekend in the lush surroundings of Eastnor Castle deer park in the Malvern Hills.

The Big Chill have seen their well-executed brand of relaxed yet sophisticated raving gain a huge following. For those who have never had the pleasure, this was the first club night to spawn its own festival and has been enjoying the great outdoors (along with regular indoor adventures) for years. It's a festival for grown-ups, where music is mixed with visual and performance art, spoken word, cinema and cafe culture.

If the idea of Glastonbury fills you with fear, the Big Chill offers something more sedate and intimate - relatively litter and theft-free, with some quiet camping areas and even clean (ish) showers.

Alongside the music you'll find plenty to amuse, from multimedia performance art, slam poetry, frenetic cocktail parties, night-time arts trail, not to mention reiki, Thai massage, yoga classes and even eyebrow plucking. For the kids there are workshops and plenty of entertainment.

The increased capacity over the past couple of years was halted in 2007, bringing the event closer to its orginal chilled ethos. The numbers still fall a long way short of the kind of crush Glastonbury regulars are used to. The Big Chill may yet become a victim of its own success, but in the meantime let's hope it continues to offer a haven in the hills.

Please check the festival website for full details of this year's line-up, which is nothing if not eclectic: Leonard Cohen, The Mighty Boosh, Thievery Corporation, African Head Charge, Plaid, Orchesta Baobab and Buzzcocks. Other highlights include Beth Orton, John Shuttleworth, Martha Wainwright and Spring Heel Jack & Evan Parker "Birdsong".

Eastnor Castle