Beautiful Days is a music festival that takes place in August at Escot Park, near Ottery St Mary, Devon. The festival was founded by, and is managed by the bandThe Levellers and was first held in 2003. The festival has no corporate sponsorship or branding, leading to Virtual Festivals proclaiming it "the festival that sells out... by not selling out". In 2011 Beautiful Days was pronounced "Best Family Festival" by the UK Festival Awards, later winning the "Grass Roots Festival Award" in 2015, as well as the "Best Medium Festival" award from FestivalKidz the same year. Every festival from 2003 to 2019 sold out in advance; the 2020 festival was cancelled whilst tickets were still on sale, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The current capacity is 17,500.
History
The Levellers began the festival at Escot Park in 2003, after a previous venture the Green Blade Festival ran into licensing difficulties. The Levellers' singer Mark Chadwick explained the thinking behind the ethos of the new festival in an interview with eFestivals The festival is held on the penultimate weekend of August, which until 2017 was the same weekend as the now defunct V Festival; Chadwick stated that although this was not originally deliberate, he liked it because "the ethos of the festival is antithesis of V."
The first two festivals were held over two days and utilised two stages, named the Main Stage and the Big Top. In 2005 it became a three-day festival with the addition of bands playing on the Friday, and has since expanded the number of stages. Between 2012 and 2018 there were six main stages; the two mentioned above, plus the Little Big Top, the Bimble Inn, the Bandstand and the Theatre Tent, the main stage and Big Top hosting the majority of established acts, with the Bimble Inn and Bandstand showcasing lesser known acts. The Little Big Top is primarily dance-oriented, whilst the Theatre tents provides theatre, cabaret, comedy and children's acts. In 2019 the Bandstand was removed to make way for a larger Theatre Tent, with some acoustic acts performing in the Fiddler's Arms.
Facilities
Beautiful Days has the usual range of festival facilities. There are four bars - three with Levellers-related names plus the Redwoods Bar, which are run by the localOtter Brewery, numerous food stalls, and a shop run by the village shop from nearby Talaton. There is a large children's area with activities and workshops run by the Majical Youth Theatre, along with child-friendly performances in the Theatre Tent. There are camping sections, including a family section and a disabled section, and a large area for camper vans and other live-in vehicles.
