We’d not spent any time in Cranbrook before but it is one of the prettiest towns, with white weatherboarded houses lining the streets. Being a scorcher of a day we decided to leave the campsite early and head to the festival to hear some music, hopefully in the shade, with a drink. A section of the High Street is cordoned off with stalls and a stage, and there is music in 3 other venues, all within a minute’s walk of each other. When we arrived, Hannah Scott was playing on the outside stage – it was lovely to finally hear her in person. Sainted were playing in the George, again on an outdoor stage, and the Coney Island Maybes in the Vestry – if you were at the entrance of the High Street you could hear all 3 at once.
We wanted a cup of tea so had a wander and found a Greek taverna, Kypseli, serving hot and cold drinks until the kitchen opened at 5. The menu looked great so we booked a table for later and headed back to Larkin’s Alehouse – Will Bladen was just setting up so we introduced ourselves to Simon the sound engineer then sat and chatted with some friends over a tasty and reasonably priced beer. The venue is tiny inside, 3 or 4 tables maybe but has a large garden area with a covered stage area.
After a delicious meal back at Kypseli, we hotfooted it (or rather limped in Jim’s case as we’d had to mend his sandal with sticky tape!) back to the car to get changed- modestly changing your bra in a car is no mean feat- and lugged the instruments to the venue. Parking was easy as the town has the largest free car parks I’ve seen anywhere and a lot of people there were locals who’d come on foot.
We missed seeing Ian Roland playing as he was starting on the outdoor stage as we were setting up and Will’s set just finished as we arrived. That’s the nature of festivals with multiple stages- it means you get an influx of people as one act ends and people leave part way through a set to see another act.
The stage in Larkins was small but the sound system was great, Simon did an excellent job- he was there all day for both days. We got set up quickly and by the time we started had a good crowd with more coming and going all the time. It was a good atmosphere, hot but not ridiculously so, and the audience engaged and joined in with the last couple of numbers. No CD or merchandise sales and no sign ups to the mailing list.
After us, Tom Cole and and Henry Bristow (Tom Cole Band) played an awesome set. Their audience was small but the crowd at the front had obviously spent quite a while sampling the beer so danced and joined in with gusto.
We got this gig after doing a support slot at St Edith Folk, for the band Salthouse. Keith Stockman is the organiser of St Edith and booked us for Cranfest.
A pretty town, a small but well organised and well supported local festival, good beer, lovely food. We hope to come back again.
(Photos- Camilla Tipler, Felicity Price Smith)