Secret Garden Party 2007

England is whipped into a festival frenzy every summer and while most of us have heard of the larger events such as Glastonbury, there is a growing following for the smaller, ‘boutique’ festivals. One of the newer and fastest growing in reputation, if not in size, is the Secret Garden Party that took place on the weekend of July 26-29 this year, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.

Set up in 2004 by Freddie Fellowes, the Secret Garden Party has possibly the most romantic setting of any of the smaller festivals, as the site is a natural amphitheater with gentle slopes surrounding a lake. Although music plays on about six different stages almost constantly, it seems almost an incidental soundtrack to the bigger picture of the party, the aim of which seems to be to totally embrace your inner child. Clowns, pirates, bunnies, fairies and all manner of other characters flit about the various activities on offer, such as suicide sports (one of these activities centers around careering down hills on a tiny BMX towards a wall of large barrels) and the kissing workshop. Also on offer for those with a certain nostalgie de la boue, there is mud wrestling in a specially dug out pit. In the lake, rowboats float past carrying reclining souls, bleary-eyed from the night before but soaking up the sun and listening to the sounds of the great stage across the water.

Also dotted around the site are various interactive art installations that bring to mind the spirit of Burning Man. These include a large floating ‘hand’ on the lake that is set alight on Saturday night and a ‘furry cave’ for those who want to go all the way back to a womb-like state. For the gourmands, numerous food stands sell delicious organic fare from all corners of the world and all-night chai stalls offer comfort and warm tea to exhausted revelers.

That’s not to say that the Secret Garden Party isn’t about music. On the contrary, the organizers are champions of new music and through the years they have consistently picked acts that have gone onto big things, as well as showcasing more established cult bands. This year this was exemplified by their choices of the classic new romantic band Echo and the Bunnymen, who played on Friday night, followed by acid house country band Alabama 3 later on the Great Stage. Current electro and new rave heroes, New Young Pony Club, played during Saturday’s deluge. But possibly the highlight of that day was the family outfit of Kitty, Daisy and Lewis, who took over the late afternoon with their energetic rockabilly. Sunday played host to the legendary Prince Buster and this summer’s chart sensation, Kate Nash.

Thankfully (considering the sodden summer that we’ve had) the weekend was mostly bathed in sunshine; however, Saturday night’s downpour did cause the site to become a mud bath by Sunday morning. Any experienced festival attendee, though, would have known to pack a pair of Wellington boots and carry on dancing.

The Secret Garden Party happens every July.

www.secretgardenparty.com

— Rebecca Guinness

Cartier Polo at Windsor

Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson

After weeks of rain the sun finally shone down upon the Guards Polo Club in Windsor for the annual Cartier International Day. And as usual, a host of celebrities and socialites turned out to cheer on the players.

Early in the day there were celebrations as the Prince of Wales’ team took the Golden Jubilee Trophy. Following this victory the crowds – including Jemima Kahn, Alexandra Spencer-Churchill, Sean Bean and Jamie Dornan – filtered into the Cartier tent where a lunch was created by famous chef Anton Mosimann. The tent was decorated by Nicky Haslam who made several outfit changes during the day.

After lunch the English team, led by Luke Tomlinson who fell in the fifth chukka, took on the Chilean team. They had been invited back to play in honor of their former captain, Gabriel Donoso, who died in a fall last year and whose brother José represented the country on Sunday. Watching and rooting for the English team in the stands were Sam Branson and his new girlfriend, Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe. The pair wore matching cream and blue outfits.

Despite their vocal supporters, England lost to Chile by one goal after an exciting final chukka where they nearly drew even. Prince Michael of Kent presented the Coronation Cup to the Chilean team, while Pierce Brosnan and his wife, Keely Shaye Smith, looked on from the commentator’s box.

During tea all eyes were on the Hollywood faction present, who clustered around the same table. This group included ASW member Diane Kruger (looking chic in a purple dress, cinced with a black patent leather belt), her boyfriend Joshua Jackson, Bill Nighy, James Franco, and newcomer Alice Evans, who turned heads in her black bustier dress. Factory Girl star Jack Huston, who had just returned from filming in Spain, took the opportunity to chat with his uncle, Danny. Notable ASW members milling about were Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, Marissa Montgomery, a dapper Matthew Mellon in pale pinstripes and Poppy Delevigne, looking even more ethereal than usual in a Grecian-inspired cream dress.

Elsewhere on the site, former members of boy band Blue, Duncan James and Simon Webbe, flocked to the Smyle/Kidd official players’ tent where Jodie Kidd greeted the guests dressed down in a Bob Marley t-shirt and jeans. In the same area, Sarah Harding of Girls Aloud spent most of her time gyrating in front of the decks, where her current boyfriend, Tom Crane, was DJing classic rock ‘n’ roll.

After the Shapeshifters played and the other parties died down, all the remaining revelers, including soccer phenomenon and ex-Calvin Klein model Freddie Ljungberg, abandoned their champagne bottles on the lawns and made a beeline for the Chinawhite tent that had hosted 1700 people for their own lunch and was gearing up for an even larger evening.

Alas, because of the disruption that was caused to the wildlife in the park last year, the parties had to be shut down at midnight and everyone moved off to nearby Ascot to continue to party into the early hours.

— Rebecca Guinness

Photo credits: © 2007 Nick Harvey, Getty Images