Nozstock: The Hidden Valley, Bromyard, festival review: 'The perfect intimate, family-friendly festival'

Jurassic 5 gained the biggest crowd of the weekend with a winning Saturday night set which showcased the best of their back catalogue

Jurassic 5 at Nozstock: The Hidden Valley (Mike Hale)

Nozstock The Hidden Valley certainly lives up to its name. You’d never know that the site, nestled deep in the Herefordshire countryside, was there unless you came across one of the tiny, yellow roadsigns which appear just as you approach the Bromyard farm where it’s based.

The festival has its roots in a family barbecue thrown by eponymous farmer Pete Nosworthy (aka Noz) in his Herefordshire garden 18 years ago. That humble barbecue has grown to feature nine different stages this year, each with its own distinct personality. But crucially the atmosphere, down on this pretty, well-hidden farm, retains a large part of that initial easy going vibe – at times it feels like you’ve wandered into a private party (although admittedly one for 5,000 smiley, happy people).

Musically there’s something for all tastes from drum and bass to dub, gypsy funk to rap and acoustic. It feels very safe and child-friendly – it’s not often that kids can try out circus skills and archery while their parents stomp the afternoon away to psy trance in a wooded glade a few metres down the hill.

There are a smattering of well-known acts, such as Friday night headliners Gentleman’s Dub Club, who served up an infectious slice of their bass heavy tunes which transformed the Orchard Stage into one mass ska-off, the crowd are content to lap up a whole host of new and breaking acts with just as much appreciation.

Saturday afternoon sees rising singer-songwriter Katey Brooks have the crowd eating out of her hand with just her acoustic guitar and intense, soaring voice as she weaves in tracks from her debut album Proof of Life, with some teasers from her upcoming second We The People. It’s a powerful performance that suggests we will be hearing a lot more of Ms Brooks.

But perhaps the band that best sums up the Nozstock vibe is Mr Tea and the Minions – a ridiculously talented youthful six-piece, clad in clashing rainbow-coloured garb, who would have not been out of place at Worthy Farm in 1970. Their sounds are bang up to date, though – the Minions seamlessly weave Balkan beats with ska, dub and swing to create a bouncing afternoon set which has everyone from four-year-olds in luminous ear defenders to grey-haired dreads kicking up the dust in front of the main stage. It’s impossible not to get involved.

Jurassic 5 rightly own the festival, gaining by far the biggest crowd of the weekend with a winning Saturday night set which showcases the best of their back catalogue including classics “Concrete Schoolyard”, “High Fidelity” and “What’s Golden”, as they ramp up the crowd. Add to that a secret after-party show fronted by Akil for 100 lucky punters in the Cabinet Of Lost Secrets tent, and you have all the ingredients for the perfect intimate, family-friendly festival.