Festival Roundup: End of the Road, Larmer Tree Gardens, Salisbury

A weekend of mellow fruitfulness

Inspired by a visit to the Green Man Festival last year, folk-music fans Simon Taffe and Sofia Hagberg decided to stage their own event, and this - the inaugural End of the Road Festival - is it. With a line-up to match the enchanted Victorian folly setting, the festival gets underway on Friday and the tone for the weekend is set when the pop groove of M Craft gives way to the gentle strum of Kathryn Williams; with yin and yang joint headliners Josh Ritter (solo, acoustic, folky) and Micah P Hinson (dark, gothic, country) closing proceedings.

By Saturday morning it has become clear that, true to their word, Taffe and Hagberg have pulled off an event that is both manageable and magical - with peacocks and parrots roaming at will, a small but perfect choice of food stalls (Pieminister wins the award for both best food and best pun of the weekend) and plenty of sideshow attractions.

Saturday's line-up, however, is the one disappointment. Although much of the pre-publicity talked of this being a "singer-songwriter" event, most of the Saturday bill is taken up with alt.pop bands and, after one too many hot and spicy ciders from the Somerset Bus, it is all too easy to confuse the Memory Band with the Ralfe Band or the Boy Least Likely To with Simple Kid. Of the headliners, the Guillemots play their two good songs ("Trains to Brazil" and "Made Up Love Song #43") one after the other, which gives us the chance to amble over to the outdoor stage to catch Badly Drawn Boy, who is, well, exactly as you would expect him to be.

Sunday, on the other hand, promises and delivers much. After the skewed indie pop of the 29-piece I'm From Barcelona (actually from Sweden); the sweet eccentricity of Richard Hawley, Tilly and the Wall, Howe Gelb, Holly Golightly and veteran bluesman Charlie Parr; and the sensational David Thomas Broughton, the stage is set for Ryan Adams (above), whose performances can be sublime or shambolic as the mood takes him. The only performer of the weekend to keep the crowd waiting, just as dissenting voices are starting to make themselves heard, Adams - and the best backing musicians he has assembled since Whiskeytown - burst into song and he is forgiven for everything (yes, even Rock N Roll).

An artistic if not a financial triumph (the daddylonglegs outnumbered the people throughout), and for Broughton, Tilly and Adams alone, the event was fully deserving of its place in this year's festival calendar.