A STORM temporarily dampened spirits at the Big Feastival after lightning fears forced organisers to shut the main stage.

The foodie-filled event announced the safety measure earlier today on Twitter, but it is hoped that headline acts will be able to perform as planned.

Thunder roared across the skies this afternoon as darkness descended, forcing revellers at the festival near Chipping Norton to run for cover as rain lashed down.

The Oxford Mail's Marc Evans, who was at the Big Feastival with his family, said at about 2.30pm that the main stage had shut.

But Reverend and the Makers returned to the stage just after 4pm, and organisers hoped that the worst of the weather has passed. 

A spokesperson for the Kingham festival said: "Due to the lightening storm, certain parts of the event were temporarily closed as a precautionary measure. Those areas are now open and the whole festival is operating as usual.

"We are monitoring the weather closely as the safety and enjoyment of all our guests is our priority. Thankfully, the spell of bad weather seemingly hasn't dampened the spirits of the thousands of feastival-goers who are still on-site and enjoying all the music and food on offer."

It comes after a freak hailstorm pelted Oxford with huge hailstones the size of golf balls - click here to see our readers' photos.

This map demonstrates where lightning has struck in the past hour, and shows that parts of Oxfordshire have been targeted heavily.

Oxford Mail:

Picture: LightningMaps.org CC BY-SA 4.0 / Lightning data by Blitzortung.org and contributors

New lightning strikes are yellow, with older ones marked by darker-coloured dots. 

The Met Office put up a yellow weather warning for Oxfordshire this morning, predicting torrential rain downpours.