"Sheep Music has been going in one form or another since it started as a garden party on The Warden in 1992, but it's been down on Wentes Meadow for ten years or so, and for most of that time, I've been the compere. I think, in the beginning, someone must have hired me for the job, but I can't honestly remember who.

Someone may also have sacked me, but if they have, I've ignored them. It is my favourite gig of the year, a three day long explosion of joyful music, good company and unicycling workshops.

Now, from 7 in the evening on the Friday, to eleven on Sunday night, I bring all the bands onstage. This means that, along with the excellent stage managers Richard and Dom, I'm one of the few who has seen every band. This means that in my time I've seen bands from Africa, Australia, North and South America, from pretty much every country in Europe, and of course from Radnorshire.

Main stage highlights over the years include well known acts like Groove Armada, Trans Global Underground, The Bhundu Boys and New Mastersounds, (who had a hit record last year with Corinne Bailey Rae); but one of the undoubted pleasures of Sheep Music are the less well known treasures that the festival has discovered over the years. Chief among these, I guess, are Nizlopi, who were booked for three consecutive years before they had their Christmas No 1 with 'JCB', and who return this year to the new acoustic stage.

The acoustic stage is housed in the Sheep Music Dome, which was bought from the proceeds of previous festivals, and which means that events can be held outside the main festival.

Sheep Music has contributed a great deal to Presteigne over the years, not least the estimated million pounds that it has added to the turnover of traders in the town since 1992. Sheep Music has become the aficionados festival, the one that experienced festival-goers make sure they never miss. Glastonbury still grabs the headlines, but for its down-home atmosphere, family-friendly workshops, and eclectic music, Sheep Music can't be beat.

One of this year's highlights will be the Baascarade, a little bit of carnival for Saturday night, open to everyone who comes dressed for the occasion. In fact, one of the workshops will be devoted to making masks for the revellers.

So, at a quarter to seven on Friday 20th July, I shall be turning up once again to MC the best festival on the circuit. No one has hired me as such. But I'd swim through boiling sheep-dip to be there."

Article by Ian Marchant