Glastonbury Festival is set to dominate social media feeds again in 2020, following on from around 200,000 people pouring into Somerset for the legendary four-day event earlier this year. Many are already casting their minds ahead to Glastonbury 2020 as ticket registration for it ends today - though there's some out there prepared to spend a bit more than most on the music festival.
While cheap tents, grim portaloos and muddy wellies are par for the course at Glasto, a select few decide to do things differently - and shell out thousands in the process.
Guests can pay upwards of £10k to glamp in style at Glasto, arriving via helicopter and zipping around with backstage passes to avoid the crowds.
Ben Lake, founder of private concierge service Ben Lake London, spoke to the Evening Standard ahead of Glastonbury this year, where he was on site to ensure his clients had the ultimate luxury festival experience.
"I think [a luxury Glastonbury experience] is becoming more and more popular because [they] are done so well now" he told us.
Lake said he wanted to "bring 5* hospitality to these festivals" and continued, "Why wouldn't you want to do it in style? Wake up fresh every day and have all the hassle taken out of travelling to Glastonbury and the endless traffic."
Here's how some wealthy festival-goers are doing Glastonbury the luxury way.
You can hire a Glastonbury 'planner'
Nabbing a pair of Glastonbury tickets first of all can be tricky, so turning to a luxury concierge service like Velocity Black or Ben Lake London to snap them up is the first port of call for the super-rich.
Last year, Velocity Black offered the ultimate glamping and VIP package which included a luxury yurt (complete with an en suite bathroom, king size bed, carpeted floor, full length mirror, electricity, a couch, etc) as well as a secret shortcut to the Pyramid Stage and VIP cocktail and champagne bar.
Ben Lake says he also arranges a luxury package for his clients. “Some are flying in and landing at the festival by helicopter where they are then transferred to their luxury accommodation on site" he says, "which can range from a tent suite to luxury American Style Winnebago (with 4 fully furnished bedrooms, luxury linens and duvets, towels and toiletries, it’s own bathroom and shower, adjoining dressing room and living and dining area as well as multiple power sockets). Complete with WiFi too!”
“They then have access to a pop up spa so they can unwind with a massage and drink champagne in the hot tub,” he continued. As with Velocity Black, his clients also get access to a shortcut “between the two main stages Pyramid Stage and Other Stage” as well as gourmet food and cocktails.
This year, Velocity Black customers shelled out as much as £16,170 for their Glamping for 2 and VIP Hospitality tickets.
Lake declined to disclose how much his clients pay for his experience.
A helicopter or take a private jet can whisk you there and back
Forget trundling in on the bus or getting stuck in a traffic jam. There's a heliport called Winding Lake right next to the festival that many A-listers choose to fly into, making the journey into Glastonbury pretty smooth. Notable names who have been seen helicoptering into the festival include Rocketman star Taron Egerton, Kylie Minogue and the Beckham family.
If you don't have a heli of your own, charter companies offer a return flight for two from London to Glastonbury for around £8,132 (plus VAT) according to a quote from Atlas Helicopters.
If you’re looking for a roomier set up, Private Fly also offers one way six seater helicopters from London Battersea to Glastonbury for £4,900. They also run a private jet service landing at Bristol (the closest airport to Glastonbury). A London to Bristol return flight on a small jet will set you back £6,515.
You can sleep in a 'tenthouse'
If you want to camp onsite, airstream caravans are the fanciest way to go. These miniature metallic homes are available through Pennard Hill Farm and cost £14,000 each, but they come with full catering, a security team, luxury showers and flushing toilets as well as two hospitality tickets to the festival.
The Pop Up Hotel also offer a “Tenthouse Suite” complete with four fully furnished bedrooms, a dressing room, en suite bathroom, a dining and living area as well as electricity.
There's a secret bar
While any festival goer can enter one of Glastonbury’s secret bars, many of them are deliberately hard to find. An old Celebrity favourite is The Rabbit Hole, which can apparently be found by following carrot and rabbit-themed decorations and entering through a network of tunnels until you reach the secret bar.
According to the Bristol Post, previous Rabbit Hole incarnations have included a hot tub, private tents, special gigs and reported visits from Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne, Sam Branson and a fedora-wearing Prince Harry.
The designer clothing stays at home
With mud and grim British weather frequently presenting an issue for festival goers, even the super rich choose to swap the luxury gear for hardy functional pieces like Hunter wellies and Doc Martens - or Converse, if they’re planning on never wearing them again.
If you're Jack Whitehall, you might even invest in not one but two pairs of wellies (plus an off road vehicle, but that's besides the point).
While the Coachella crowd try their best to stand out with the most unique outfit, a successful Glastonbury outfit is both functional and effortless with a hint of party - see Kate Moss's 2009 Glasto look for futher details.
There's a Glasto evacuation at the end
After the festival is over, Winding Lake offers a ‘Glastonbury Evacuation’ to help hungover revellers avoid the traffic. On Monday, when everybody packs up their tents and gets into a traffic queue, Glasto-goers who park their car in Bristol ahead of the festival can book a mini helicopter ride to whisk them over the worst of the traffic.
How much does beating the traffic cost you? Over £800 a pop.
Detox afterwards at a Georgian mansion
Located close to Glastonbury Festival, Sparkford Hall is where many of the rich and famous choose to recover from all the partying.
While some opt to book the entire Georgian mansion out for the festival and dip in and out, there's also a £16,000 post-Glasto detox package for those who might have partied a little too hard.
In 2015 the entire Hall was booked out by a music management company so their high profile artists could recover in style.
The listed mansion boasts eleven rooms, its own private club, pool and kitchen garden and a luxury concierge service who can run out and grab paracetamol and full fake Coke.
There are private chefs on hand as well as a cinema room and a sauna for sweating out all the toxins. Massages can also be booked and there's a few alpacas and Shetland ponies to cuddle if you're feeling fragile. According to the Sparkford Hall website, there's also “ample helicopter landing space” if you want to park your private chopper.
