Camping quagmire (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Camping quagmire

10:58am Tuesday 29th May 2007 in Leisure By Scott McPherson

Hardy campers from all over the country pitched up on a floodplain so that they could still participate in the Chippenham Folk Festival.

More than 100 tents, caravans and trailers set up in Westmead playing fields, a spot notorious for flooding.

One camper, Mike Reeves from Shrewsbury, said: "I thought I would be alright as I didn't get wet during the night, but I opened my supply box on Monday morning to find my tea bags were floating around in about an inch of rain water.

"Most of the water drained away as soon as it hit the ground but some people did move sites a couple of times during the night.

"I also saw a few people sleeping in their cars on Sunday night when the rain was pretty hard."

The floodplain is notorious for becoming heavily waterlogged due to its proximity to the River Avon.

Andrew and Frankie Telford from Suffolk camped out in the fields with their son-in-law Dave Morris. Mrs Telford said: "We did get some water coming in during the night but it wasn't as bad as we thought.

"The worst part is drying out the tent before we pack up - that's what takes the longest. The rain really hasn't put us off the festival at all - we will certainly be back next year."

Many of the makeshift paths between tents had to be sealed off by security officers after they became waterlogged and muddy.

Samuel Treasure, an onsite security guard, said: "The rain hasn't been much of a problem it is the mud that is churned up by drivers as they leave the site which is causing us difficulties.

"The weather certainly didn't dampen anyone's spirits as we had a camp sing-a-long on Saturday which was really nice to see."