Though it may be called 'Wilderness Festival', this new gathering is actually one of the most civilised, middle class festivals you're likely to visit. Cornbury estate offers a decidely tamed wilderness, with champagne on offer in the spa alongside deckchairs and blankets from Toast, and seated banquets with the finest local foods from professional chefs.There's a whiff of elitism in the air, reflected by the ticket price which seems quite steep given how few bands there were headlining the festival. However, this isn't to say that the atmosphere they created wasn't a success.Whilst everyone there obviously came from the same sort of economic background, there was at least a really nice mix of ages; lots of families with both kids and grandparents along for the ride.

There was also considerable diversity when it came to activities with musical acts being only one of the highlights on offer. With only one main stage and a folk tent, there was none of the mad rushing across 5 fields in order to reach the acts you want to see the way you might at Glasto. The whole affair was much more leisurely, with people drifting from the main stage, to the forum, to the bearded lady croquet lawn and down to the lake for a swim.The Idler Academy of Philosophy,Husbandry and Merriment founded by Tom Hodgkinson hosted talks by the likes of Hugh Warwick on 'The habits of the hedgehog.'

Much preparation went into the masked ball organised by The Last Tuesday Society on the Saturday night, but sadly this proved a bit of a disappointment, as it was massively over-subscribed, with huge queues to get in and out of the tent and terrible lighting outside-these however are the sort of teething problems you can excuse in a festival's first year. The idea of holding an event that brings everyone at the gathering together is the sort of thing only a little festival this size could pull off- people grouped around their tents to paint their faces, don their masks and generally put a lot of effort into their costumes.

Plenty of work had also been done by organisers when it came to decorations, with wonderful installations by the Old Vic Tunnels, as well as giant circus inspired baubles hanging in the moonlight (excuse the amateur pics taken in low light), and even a recreation of Tim Walker's famous light-up dresses, hanging from a tree.

The community atmosphere was epitomised in the game of cricket on the Sunday, and the make-shift post-office delivering mail around the site.There was also a refreshing lack of commercial consumerism, with only one stall area, the secret emporium, which sold beautiful prints from Beyond the Valley as well as stunning headwear from Sara Tiara.I was impressed by how clean the site stayed until the last day too; perhaps due to the presence of many local countryside dwellers setting a good example alongside us city folk.

The highlight of the festival for me was definitely the programme of talks and debates, with Psychologies magazine hosting a talk on Friends in the Digital Age, Toast's editor discussing travel and the home, and Intelligence Squared debating the motion 'Don't let the eco-warriors ruin your fun'. If you ever want a REAL laugh, just join in a debate between two climate change denyers and you know, some people who know what they're talking about. I'm afraid I had drunk quite a lot of the free alcoholic ginger beer from the press tent by this point, and so got a bit heckley. 

Sunday evening I stumbled across a wonderfully impromptu singalong beside a fireside, with people climbing on top of a piano to play their instruments-violins, guitars, saxophones and of course, some fantastic singing. There was a lovely 'Valerie' moment that I think would have made Amy very happy;lots of people having genuine fun and celebrating with music together.The festival definitely featured many of these moments, I only hope they don't go down the Secret Garden Party route by over-expanding.I heard rumours that they want to reach their 20,000 person capacity next year, which I fear would destroy most of the best bits from this year, and given that the banquets and spa were sold out so already unavailable to most festival goers,making the whole site bigger would surely leave more people left out of the 'exclusive' elements of the experience.Balancing the successful community elements with 

this exclusivity whilst keeping the intimate atmosphere despite larger numbers will be an interesting challenge.