Yes, I agree about the length of the festival - way too short. Time just flew by.

Like some others, Sidmouth in 2010 was special for us too.
After a long wait, I had just got my visa to live in the UK, and managed to get a flight from Oz very quickly, in time for Rob to pick me up and get to Sidmouth by the Monday, only missing the first 2 days. When we saw the fireworks at the end, we agreed it was very nice of them to put on a fireworks display especially to celebrate our finally being together permanently ;)

This year was great - even better in lots of ways! I think we got the right tickets. We used our season tickets a lot for workshops etc and were really glad that we also had tickets for the Spooky Mens Chorale and The Transports, both of which were excellent. I still can't get over the queues though. You don't see that at Oz festivals - it's just first in, best dressed there.

We had a lot of fun with the Spookies, who of course I am familiar with already, as they are from the Blue Mountains, not far from where I lived in Sydney, and I knew some of the original members of the group. There was the Spooky Lunchtime Thing where we ended marching through the town singing "Let me through - ou - ou, let me through - ou - ou...", and on the last day I happened across them at the end of one of their secret gigs, and found out they were doing another one at midnight. So after a rousing session in the Middle Bar, mixed in with popping out to catch the parade and the fireworks, then back in to the Middle Bar again to sing things like Rolling Home and Music Man, which is quite mad (freda underhill couldn't believe her ears ;)) we then went round to the little church in Chapel Street for a delightful late Spooky concert to finish up the festival.

Other highlights included a lunchtime concert in the Ham with Steve Knightly, Philip Henry and Hannah Martin and Luke Jackson (17 year old prodigy), some lovely relaxing meals in the restaurant above the Secret Garden, which seems to be one of Sidmouth's best kept secrets, the dancing displays in the street, Middle Bar sessions and singing in the sea on Thursday (we actually went in!), other sessions in the Radway and the Sailing Club, Doom, the Gloom and Despondency event on Thursday, and my purchase of a beautiful rich-toned viola.

That was only some of the highlights. They were too numerous to mention. Can't wait till next year!