Big Feastival is a feast for the senses with delicious food and music

Blur band member Alex James has been putting on a feast for the eyes and the ears at his farm in the Cotswolds every year and this year I was invited to check it out as another local festival within relatively easy driving distance to the town. 

The Big Feastival main stage (Image: Newsquest)

The event was headlined by Sigrid, Tom Grennan and Blossoms and also boasted musical acts like Mel C, The Lightning Seeds, Newton Faulkner, Katy B, Everything Everything and Rick Astley. 

Also on offer was live comedy, cooking demonstrations from world-renowned chefs, shops, a dedicated area for children, tons of amazing pop-up bars and distilleries and - in a first for me - a pop-up M&S supermarket. 

But aside from the great music and the overall upmarket Cotswold luxury of the whole thing, there were also spades and spades of great food on offer - including an entire area dedicated to BBQs and smokehouse and a full sit-down dining experience. 

Big Feastival is the only festival I've been to that I remember being able to buy a takeaway cheese board from (Image: Newsquest)

And it's the food that helps set this event apart from some other nearby festival offerings like Womad in Malmesbury or Wychwood in Cheltenham. 

I helped myself to a steak sandwich and onion bhaji's made from ingredients actually sourced from Alex James' farm, but I was immensely tempted by a place that cooked venison in a smoke pit in front of people. 

The drinks on offer were great as well, I spent time at a pop-up for a small local business The Cotswold Distillery and my wife and I enjoyed a cocktail each as well as a small demonstration of the gin on offer delivered with passion. 

My wife modeling her cocktail from the Cotswold Distillery in a plastic takeaway glass (Image: Newsquest)

But, be prepared to spend a bit of money for all of this delicious food and refreshing alcohol on top of the cost of the tickets to the event themselves. 

That being said, the atmosphere was great, and the music certainly delivered with a ton of notable names with alt-rock band Everything Everything standing out as personal highlight.

Festival host Alex James with the stage host for Saturday Vernon Kay (Image: Newsquest)

Overall it's a fairly small festival as apart from the main stage there are only a couple of other smaller stages fielding lesser-known acts, so for those looking for something that isn't a mammoth ordeal like Glastonbury, Big Feastival is certainly a good alternative. 

So, my main takeaway from this food and music festival is that it certainly delivered on its promise of a good time, leaving me fully satisfied and not left wanting more!