Tim Hughes talks to Robin Bennett ahead of this weekend’s Wood festival

To a generation of festival-goers raised on mud, litter, warm lager and dubious burgers, Wood comes as a revelation.

A gathering for 800 people held deep in the woods of the Oxfordshire Chilterns, it wears its green credentials proudly.

It is powered entirely by renewable energy, the food, drink and most of the music is locally sourced, and bands compete for attention with craft workshops and nature walks. Uncorporate and proudly local, Wood, which takes place this weekend, at Braziers Park, near Wallingford, represents the future of festivals.

“When we started Wood we set out to build a community through music and the arts and to raise awareness of green issues,” says founder Robin Bennett – who set up the festival six years ago with his brother Joe, as a more eco-friendly offshoot of their longer-running Truck Festival, in Steventon.

The Bennetts – both musicians – were looking for a way to combine their passion for live music but present it in a greener and cleaner way – aiming to make it fully carbon-neutral.

“It is a beautiful festival in lovely surroundings,” he adds. “And with a very strong musical line-up too.”

Despite growing in popularity over the years, when its sister festival Truck ran into financial trouble early last year, fans feared Wood would disappear with the same fell blow. Those fears were compounded when it failed to take place last year.

However, like Truck – which is going strong with the support of the team from Derbyshire’s Y Not Festival – Wood’s future is secure, following a deal between the Bennetts and festival giant Vince Power.

The three-day event gets underway tomorrow with a three-day line-up of bands and activities – some verging on the bizarre. “It’s about a lot more than just bands,” says father-of-two Robin, whose own band Dreaming Spires grace the line-up. “There is more stuff going on than ever before. So much so that the bands can be excused for feeling neglected.”

They include sessions on growing upside-down tomatoes, wood working, communal rag rugging, experimental life drawing, accupressure, weaving and dying, hula-hooping and making a cardboard box record player.

“The idea is to keep everyone occupied,” he says. “Whether that’s through watching a puppet show or making a wormery. Among the most popular activities are the walks in the woods, but the one I am most looking forward to is learning how to play the spoons. People will also be able to carve a full-size totem pole or decorate their faces with woad like ancient Britons.

“It’s also a real family festival for people like us, with small kids who enjoy being in a little field.”

With so much going on away from the stages, it’s easy to forget the line-up – which is among the best ever. Artists include singer-songwriter and lover of West Coast psychedelia Mary Epworth, Danny and the Champions (featuring both Robin and Joe Bennett), singer-songwriter Mike Gale’s Americana act Co-Pilgrim (also featuring Joe), Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou, Syd Arthur, former Candyskin-turned children’s songwriter Nick Cope, West Africa (via Witney) kora player Jali Fily Cissokho, guitarist Julie Hawk, sonic experimentalists Flights of Helios, Jack Day, gypsy jazz band Maniere des Bohemiens, and Welsh folk-pop duo Paper Aeroplanes.

There are also sets by the incredible Reichenbach Falls, Summertown folk artist (and Oxford Folk Weekend headliner) Jackie Oates, Ralfe Band, The Arlenes, Henley’s Megan Henwood and Washington Irving. The festival culminates in a multi-artist collaborative effort to perform the whole of Bruce Springsteen’s seminal Nebraska album.

“There’s a lot going on,” says Robin. “And about 70 per cent of the artists are local – including many from Reading and Henley.”

The programming feeds back to the ethos of keeping things local. Indeed, Wood has won national accolades for its green credentials – which include a reliance on electricity generated by solar and wind power, clay ovens, recycling, and natural composting toilets.

“The site looks greener and more natural as the years go by,” says Robin. “We built the stage out of wood in 2008 and because it’s permanent we don’t need to bring something in every year. It’s also alive, with grasses and heather growing on the roof.”

Even the food is local. The pork for the sausages comes from pigs raised on the site – something that makes Robin, a one-time vegetarian squirm a little. “When you get that close to your source it can feel brutal,” he says. “But there is that connection.”

He adds: “Wood is almost like a holiday camp. Everyone has a good time. There are loads of different things to do during the day and then you can party into the evening.

“And right now, the site is looking absolutely beautiful.”

  • Wood Festival n Braziers Park, near Wallingford
  • Tomorrow (Friday) until Sunday
  • Tickets: £75 (weekend). Kids under 13 free with an adult. Day tickets also available. Tickets on the door or from Barefoot Books, Summertown and Truck Store, Cowley Road