"The Glastonbury folk are gentle people, most of whom would accept absolutely anyone. They are the Travellers, the Poets, the Storytellers, the Magicians, and they have far more magic within their souls than I see in some other towns."

Well, here's the thing I have about Glastonbury. We've been visiting the town for the odd night or two on a yearly basis for well over a decade now. I've always been interested in counter-culture (though never a practitioner) and have also had a deep interest in the indigenous spirituality of our Islands so Glastonbury seemed to be a good place to start.

In that time it's gone from eccentric to commercial, and the place is full of seekers, charlatans, pissheads and sellers. Whilst the Well and lane, Abbey and Tor retain their mystical air everything else owes more to ghost trains and medicine shows than anything with any depth or integrity. It's a mish mash, nothing more or less.

T there are places in the UK which retain a far more primeval and with more raw 'presence' (whatever that may mean) than Glastonbury ever does, and the faux-earth mothers and hairy drinkers are never there. But then that's not what they're looking for I suppose. There are stone circles in the Peak District which have a far more vibrant genius loci. Julian Cope realised that years ago, and he was right.