No, I wasn't blaming the festival. Mo and Paul have nailed it. Our first experience of this festival in 2008 was on the Friday night, when we ran into Snuffy on the street, and then spent a wonderful evening in a session at the Hop Pole. I said it felt like the hub of the activity in the town, with all the dance displays etc in the square in front. Obviously, the hub of the official part of the festival is the festival site, but, as Mo says, it is just as important for many of us to experience the good sessions and the fringe happenings in the town, and that Friday night session was memorable to us.

I rediscovered folk only about 18 years ago, and from the very beginning, one thing I liked about festivals was having the opportunity to make your own music with others. Many folkies, including myself, don't just go to sit in concerts to be entertained - they want to participate! I like to do both - I always buy festival tickets - but there are many to whom the participation is the most important part. Lack of good sessions makes a huge difference to many of us. That is not blaming the festival organisers, who don't have control over those things, but as Paul said, it did seem very flat in the square last year.

In fact, we did consider going elsewhere this year, but decided to give it another go because we like our B&B so much, and this festival is special to us. So I'm delighted to hear that the Hop Pole is open for business again, and looking forward very much to it!

Yes, we'll see you over breakfast, Mo :)