Saturday, 5 September 2026

Ministry of Sound Classical at Castle Howard

 


A couple of weeks after we were back from Northumberland, the chap and I were off to a one day dance festival at Castle Howard. This is something we like to try to do each year, the difference this year was we had also booked a pitch at the Castle Howard camp site, a couple of miles country walk away from the event. 



We arrived mid-afternoon, I poured the rum and colas and left the chap to pitching the tent. It's only a small one so it didn't take long. We were surrounded by envy inducing campervans, and just as I was about to depart for the toilet block to get ready we heard a holler from one of them. It was someone who the chap knows (this happens a lot when we're out and about), so I left him with them while I went off to get ready. He was still there when I got back, so we stayed and had another rum and cola before setting off for the gig. 

It wasn't too long a walk, and before long we were in the packed out venue. We decided to make food our first stop, before the queues for it got too big. That was a good shout since, later on, we queued for about 45 minutes for a coffee! Such is the caffeine dependency. 





There were stalls selling event appropriate things, I got a glitter bomb on my face and the chap bought himself a faux fur bucket hat. We danced around to Ellie Sax, and Judge Jools and screamed loudly when some iconic tune that I'd danced to in nightclubs in the early 2000s came on. 




My legs aren’t really that white!


Around 8pm, the dj's all left the stage and an orchestra came on. They were tremendous doing absolutely breathtaking versions of tunes like Insomnia (Faithless), and Cafe Del Mar. As night fell, a laser light show joined the performance and, honestly, it was stunning! 





At the end we joined a convoy of drunk people walking back to the campsite along the dark country roads. Everyone was in good spirits as we all lit the way with torches and mobile phones, warning those behind us of steps or trip hazards. The highlight of course being two drunk women falling into the swamp at the side of the road. Thankfully the drought weather meant that the swamp was dry so no one was hurt, and everyone was in good humor. 



That night, the weather broke. As we lay in our tent the rain pelted our tent and the temperature even dropped a little. I was glad of that. The next morning, we packed away our pitch in between rain showers, and drove back to Castle Howard to enjoy a delicious breakfast in their courtyard cafe. It was the perfect end to an amazing weekend. 

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