The true festival spirit on our doorstep

Later this month the web designer and his wife, Kate, will host the very first Deer Shed Festival at Topcliffe in North Yorkshire, which is billed as very much a family affair.

"Our generation has always gone to festivals and it's in our nature now," explains 40-year-old Webster-Jones.

"But we've all grown up and had kids, and if you want to take them to a bigger festival such as Glastonbury or Latitude, it can cost you as much as a family holiday. I wanted to do something to address that problem."

To this end the former music industry man secured space on his father-in-law's farmland, enlisted bands such as The Wedding Present, The Young Knives and Alessi's Ark and organised circus workshops, treasure hunts, yoga-classes and face-painting for the kids. Now, thousands of pounds and a lot of blood, sweat and tears later, Deer Shed is set to kick-off in some style.

"We're well on course to have a thousand adults and several hundred children at the festival," smiles Webster-Jones. "We've got people coming from all over to our little shindig."

Typically music festivals at the height of British summer are synonymous with big-name bands, colossal crowds, overpriced junk food and beer and a sea of tightly-packed tents as far as the eye can see.

But though huge high-profile events such as Glastonbury and Leeds Festival continue to dominate the headlines, there has been a massive boom in small, intimate and highly alternative festivals like Deer Shed – independently run and catering for every imaginable genre, scene and philosophy of life.

On the very same weekend in August that 80,000 people descend on Bramham Park to see Guns 'N' Roses and the newly-reformed Libertines perform on the giant Main Stage at Leeds Festival, a couple of thousand folk will be gathering at Limetree Farm near Grewelthorpe in North Yorkshire to catch the very best names in soul, funk and jazz.

"A lot of people don't want to pay loads of money to stand miles away from the band, and then pay again through the nose for a warm beer," says Limetree Festival founder Sean Birdsall, who runs a building company by day. "It should be about the music and the people,

and I think there's a definite feeling of going back to basics.

"This year we've got big artists like The Blockheads and James Taylor Quartet, but we're also giving opportunities to a lot of young, up-and-coming musicians from Yorkshire.

"At Limetree everyone is welcome."

In the last few years the boom in live music attendances in the UK has translated into rapid growth in the festival scene, with more than 500 music festivals being held around the country this year.

Most of the new additions are firmly in the "alternative" mould. Moor Music Festival began in 2005 on Addingham Moorside and now attracts some of the biggest names in Drum 'n' Bass and Dubstep.

Hailed as a "mini-Glastonbury for the North" and championed by the national music press, this August it will host 3,000 people at Heslaker Farm near Skipton.

"We'll always remain a small festival because we love the intimacy of the event," says co-founder John Drysdale.

"The atmosphere is why people come here. It's warm, it's friendly, and it's safe.

"When we started it seemed that there weren't many festivals doing what we were doing, but a lot of people have reacted to the big corporate festivals. People are sick of going to massive events, and there's an intimacy here that you don't get at those."

Organisers like Drysdale are never short of enthusiasm, but he points out that planning and running your own small festival is far from an easy task.

"It was blind passion that led us into this, and we're still learning from the business point of view," he says. "It is difficult to run an event like this. The third year we were at Addingham Moorside, the council gave us a Road Traffic Order. We had to turn the roads around the site into a one-way system and it cost us 20,000. It was something we just hadn't planned for."

As a newcomer to the festival-organising world, Webster-Jones agrees that it can be an uphill struggle.

"It's hard, and the first year is especially hard," he says. "You need a premises license and local people may be suspicious of what you're doing. People hear the words 'music festival' and they assume the worst.

"You do hear about quite a few that get pulled. Another Yorkshire festival, The Magic Loungeabout, was cancelled this year because of funding problems. But for every one that goes another two pop up."

In the end, the likes of Webster-Jones believe it's well worth the effort, and we shouldn't be surprised if we see even more independent events springing up in future.

"The demand for live music is certainly much greater than it used to be," he adds. "It's booming, and the festival craze is here to stay."

FESTIVAL DATES

Deer Shed Festival is at Baldersby Park, Topcliffe on July 17. For more information visit www.deershed festival.com

Moor Music Festival is at Heslaker Farm near Skipton on August 12-15. For more information visit www.moormusicfestival.co.uk

Limetree Festival is at Limetree Farm, Grewelthorpe on August 27-29. For more information visit www.limetreefestival.co.uk