At around 10.35pm on Saturday, we were dancing at the back of the World Stage crowd while Daniela Mercury provided the soundtrack and my daughters climbed all over the enormous WOMAD letters. Around us, other families were relaxing, friends were chatting, and the festival was very much still in full swing. Nobody seemed particularly concerned with doing anything except enjoying themselves.
It was a wonderful place to be.
This was my first festival since I last went to Glastonbury in 2011, and my first ever with children. I went to Glastonbury about five times between 2004 and 2011, usually marching between stages and trying to squeeze in as much music as my weed and beer addled mind could handle. Arriving at WOMAD with my friend Ian and my two daughters was always going to be a different adventure. I just had not anticipated quite how much of it would involve crafting!
Returning after taking 2025 off, WOMAD had moved from Charlton Park to its new home at Neston Park in Wiltshire. I cannot compare it with previous WOMADs, but as a newcomer, I loved the layout. It felt manageable without ever feeling small, with the atmosphere of a temporary village where music, art, and some wonderfully strange characters were waiting around every corner.
The programme encouraged that sense of discovery. Across Saturday and Sunday, the line-up ranged from Noura Mint Seymali and Bénin International Musical on the World Stage to Mixanteña de Santa Cecilia in the Big Top, with Garifuna Collective and Freshlyground among Sunday’s offerings. There was plenty to build an itinerary around, but just as much reason to let curiosity do some of the work.
Barrut were one of those accidental discoveries. We were passing the Big Top Stage and found ourselves drawn in by the French group’s interweaving voices and percussion. Their polyphonic singing was powerful and emotional, and although we only caught part of their performance, they were wonderful. These are the encounters that make music festivals so magical: you have somewhere you are meant to be going, then something reaches your ears and suddenly you are in no hurry to get there.
Later on Sunday afternoon, Mumbai’s all-female hip-hop group Wild Wild Women took over the Big Top, and we got down with our funky selves! WOMAD’s joy lies in that movement between countries, cultures, and styles. You do not need to arrive knowing every name on the poster to find something that gets you moving.
Saturday night with Daniela Mercury was another highlight. We were way at the back, relaxing with other families and dancing around while the children treated the WOMAD sign as their personal climbing frame. Clambering over those enormous letters became one of their favourite rituals of the weekend. We returned to them again and again.
Mercury’s music carried right out to our spot at the back. It was joyful, relaxed, and a lovely reminder that enjoying live music does not always mean planting yourself at the barrier. Sometimes it means having room to dance, people you like around you, and absolutely nowhere else you need to be.
WOMAD changes character beautifully after dark. The lights come on, the bars and food tents glow, and the whole site shifts into another gear. One of my favourite installations projected constantly evolving faces onto a huge tree, turning it into a strange, living character watching over the festival. We also went up on the Ferris wheel, which gave us a wonderful view of the illuminated site beneath us. From up there, our temporary village looked pretty magical.
What struck me throughout the weekend was how comfortably everyone shared it. Groups of friends, couples, older festival regulars, and families occupied the same spaces without the festival appearing to divide itself into separate experiences for each. There was room to dance, room to sit, and room to be a bit ridiculous. It felt welcoming without feeling sanitised.
That openness extended to making music yourself. On Saturday, my mate Ian and my two girls joined a fun workshop run by The Beatbox Collective. Music was not simply something happening on stages. You could have a go, make some noise, and become part of it.
And yes, we also did a lot of crafts!
Me and the girls living our best lives at WOMAD! Credits: Nick Barr and Ian Loader
The World of Children was one of the reasons we wanted to come, but even we had underestimated it. We spent hours on Saturday in a craft tent, where the girls made elaborate totems for Sunday’s procession. There were large peace symbols, moons, and decorations inspired by nature, love, and all the gloriously hippy things you would hope to find at a festival. These were not five-minute distractions, the volunteers helped them create something they could be genuinely proud of.
They also modelled with clay, played with a giant puppet, had a go on a trapeze, practiced circus skills, and tackled a climbing wall. Towering characters on stilts that looked somewhere between woodland spirits, travelling musicians, and fairytale creatures, invited the kids to join a circle and exercise their imaginations together.
It would be easy to dismiss all this as an excellent place to keep the children occupied. It was that, certainly, but it also belonged to the same creative spirit as everything happening on the stages. The girls were experimenting, making things, and preparing to contribute something of their own. We had not stepped out of WOMAD to entertain them; we were living it alongside them.
The community atmosphere was another of the weekend’s great pleasures. All day Sunday, we left our trolley under a tree with various bits and pieces inside, returning to it when we needed something. Nobody touched a thing, and it was never a concern. I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing that at Glastonbury. Obviously, this is not a recommendation to scatter your valuables around a festival, but it speaks volumes about the incredible atmosphere of WOMAD.
That trolley deserves a brief moment of appreciation. It carried our camping equipment, bags, increasingly elaborate artwork, and, eventually, exhausted children. Thank god for the very kind neighbours who lent it to me at the last minute!
Not everything worked quite so well. The mobile reception was practically non-existent, making it incredibly difficult to find friends once we were on site. Some people will call that a wonderful digital detox. It is considerably less charming when you are trying to arrange where to meet and your phone has become little more than a very expensive camera.
That needs addressing, whether through improved mobile coverage or a usable Wi-Fi network. At the very least, visitors need a clear warning beforehand so they can arrange meeting points and times. Being unable to scroll social media is one thing. Being unable to locate the people you came to meet is another.
Food prices also required some navigation. On the first day, I paid £41 for three hamburgers, without chips. That one hurt. We later found genuinely good, full-sized pizzas for £12, so better value was available, but next time we will bring more food ourselves.
The experienced WOMAD goers were clearly several steps ahead of us. Our set-up consisted of a tent, a mattress, and not much else. Many people appeared to have brought portable homes, complete with stoves, sinks, and functioning kitchens. We have notes for next year. Quite a lot of notes!
And before packing up for home, there was the parade!
At 5.30 pm on Sunday, all those hours of crafting came into their own. We joined a huge gathering of musicians, children, artists, and giant puppets, then spent around 40 minutes parading around the site. Some people joined in, others watched, and we were right in the middle of it, banging a drum, waving our artwork, and having the best time.
For the girls, it was a beautiful way to finish the weekend: the things they had spent so long making were now part of this enormous, moving celebration. For me, it brought together so much of what I had loved about WOMAD. Music, creativity, strangers enjoying something together, and an invitation to join in.
We left at around 7pm, tired and very happy. There were camping lessons to learn and some practical frustrations that deserve attention, but they were not what defined the weekend. What stayed with me was Barrut drawing us in, dancing to Daniela Mercury, the tree full of shifting faces, and the sheer pleasure of being somewhere that made room for all of it, along with three of my favourite people.
By the time the final drumbeats faded, WOMAD had woven itself into our memories in ways no carefully planned itinerary ever could have.
Bring on WOMAD 2027!
WOMAD returns to Neston Park, Wiltshire, from 22–25 July 2027.
For festival information and the ticket waiting list, visit womad.co.uk.
Words Nick Barr
Official festival photography Garry Jones
