A Remarkable weekend at Fantasy Forest in the UK

Hey Hivers!

We apologize for the long delay in updates. There has been a lot of things happening the past months and to be completely honest we're working our tails off to keep all the plates spinning! We're quite excited to have a few days "off" in St Ives (Cornwall) and are using it as a much needed moment to catch our breath (and go swimming in the sea).

While we recharge ourselves for a very busy August/September on the horizon, we wanted to take a moment and look back at the past few weeks. As many of you know, we have been growing our profile in the "Fantasy Festival" scene in Europe the past years, which has formed deep friendships with many special Troublemakers. One of those is Guy Clifford, who we first met at Elfia all the way back in 2017. Guy has since become an extremely close friend of the group. It is because of him that we played our first Glastonbury Festival in 2022 after he invited us to perform in the town in 2019 and we were seen by one of the stage managers. It is through him that we've met John Mason and Terry English and led to the photos and videos being taken in armour last year! With each year, our friendship grows, and we are proud to call him a friend.

We write this not to talk about how special Guy is to us, but to also express how proud of him and what he has built with Fantasy Forest. You see, some years ago, Guy had told us that along with Martin, Jurrien and Stev from the Netherlands, they would be organizing a Fantasy festival in the UK. It was a huge risk, and one that they have worked extremely hard to build. They dreamt big, finding a location near Cheltenham at the Sudeley Castle and putting on their first edition of the festival. Then the pandemic came and threatened their little seedling. Rather than give up, they remained determined. Each year Guy would ask if we could participate in the festival, but it was always conflicting with other dates (last year it was the same weekend as our performance with Jethro Tull). But this year, we could make it happen. We spent the weekend at Fantasy Forest, meeting the incredible volunteers who are the lifeline of the festival and seeing the artisans who bring an artistic flair to the grounds. It was a magical weekend, but what was most special of all was seeing Guy running from stage to stage, in a perpetual state of Joy as he lived his Dream. It reminds us of ourselves whenever we are on stage and an audience is dancing in front of us!

Fantasy Forest was a wonderful experience and at a time when many festivals and organisations are struggling, they have continued to grow. The community spirit and vision is what sets them a part. Plus - how can you not succeed when you have Guy on your side?