Greenfields
TiPi village
Dave Matty is spending the weekend at Glastonbury without seeing any major bands and hanging out at the 'other' side of Glastonbury. He's reporting here about his adventures.
The TiPi village is unlike any other field at Glastonbury. Inhabited mostly by full-tme TiPi dwellers who reside in 'TiPi Valley' in Llandeilo, Wales, there is a strong sense of shared-community here. It's part of nature, living with nature. It's a village, it's a commune. Hippies, diggers, dreamers, chanting, drumming, washing, sustainable-living, wood-chopping, tea-brewing, juggling; even mud-wrestling! It's a survival lifestyle.
Some years ago, regular TiPi dwellers pitched extra TiPis in the field and hired them out for the weekend. Anyone with £1,400 to spare could rent a TiPi and live amongst real TiPi people for a truly authentic Glastonbury experience. It was a great alternative to camping in 'babylon' (green-field slang for the non green-fields). The TiPi field was safer and quieter and the TiPi 'lodges', as they were known, were warmer and more comfortable to sleep in. It was also considered to be 'cool' to hang out with the hippies for the weekend.
Those hiring the lodges were making lots of money and soon many others were doing the same. But before long there were so many hired TiPis that the field quickly became overcrowded. There wasn't much room for the 'real' TiPi people anymore. There were also concerns that those renting the lodges were 'outsiders'; city-people who didn't understand or participate in, communal TiPi living.
I spoke to Mike, a TiPi dweller who has been coming to Glastonbury since 1971.
"The TiPi field has traditionally been full of people who own their own TiPis or have lived in TiPis or who know how to live in TiPis. There is a certain 'realness' about it."
So this year, Michael Eavis has set aside a special field exclusively for hired lodges. But you'll have to search hard to find it. It's outside the perimeter fence, across a bridge and closed to anyone else. But a friend and I managed to blag our way in for a nose around.
There are private, clean porta-loos; a sauna and a cosy but expensive cafe (replete with drum-kit for whoever is performing that night). The lodges are also dry and spacious. But there are few fires burning inside and no sign of communal cooking or wood-chopping. There's no 'vibe' like the real TiPi field and it seems too 'seperate' from the rest of the festival. Too 'exclusive', to be part of it. My friend compared it to a Butlins holiday camp, with TiPis instead of chalets. All that seemed to be missing was a PA system to wake everyone up in the morning with a jolly, "Hi-Di-Hi!".
Many of the residents here had missed-out on purchasing tickets for the festival and hiring a TiPi with tickets included was the only alternative. Others had chosen to hire a TiPi for the comfort and privacy it afforded. I spoke to two Glastonbury first-timers who had hired a TiPi for the weekend.
"We get showers, we get a sauna and we get our own toilets which aren't as disgusting as the other ones" said one. "It's brilliant. There's more space here and there's an excellent cafe, too", said another.
The new field seems a great idea if you want to experience the festival in comfort and style, without the hassle of bringing your own camping gear or trying or trying to pitch your tent in the mud or braving the toilets. But isn't getting wet and muddy what Glasonbury's all about?