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When I arrived at Bloom I truly didn’t know what to expect. I’d heard wonderful things about the stunning Larmer Tree Gardens, which turned out to be a hop, skip and a jump from my pad in Bournemouth.

I was beckoned to the ‘Lost Disco’ with promises of filth, dirt and in amongst all that some down-right wrong beats to twitch my body to in a suggestive manner

A swift 40-minutes later we rolled up to the sound of filthy electro pumping out of the aptly named ‘Beats Bubble’ tent. We had arrived. Before I could even pop the top off my bevy or pull a peg out of my tent bag, I was greeted by a Scouser from the South and a Brightonian from the North. I was pleased I had brought my compass. Several jokes later the Scouser provided the banter, as the Brighton couple slid off to investigate the site.

And what a site it is. The Larmer Tree Gardens are Wiltshire’s best kept secret, and Dorset keeps that secret even better. Why had I never been to such a setting just 40-minutes from my house?

The beautifully groomed Victorian gardens boasted a serious stench of style. Everywhere you wandered there was a craft-like whiff to the decoration. Some stopped for a breather on a sculpted log seat, chatting over a cup of herbal tea, playing with their kids; whilst others tripped their way around the ‘Enchanted Forest’ full of fluorescent decoration and eerie pathways. The mix of people truly added to Bloom’s appeal. The Cliché that music brings people together became fortunately appropriate.

After a decent amount of exploration the midnight hour rolled around and I was beckoned to the ‘Lost Disco’ with promises of filth, dirt and in amongst all that some down-right wrong beats to twitch my body to in a suggestive manner.

The evening saw the ‘Cheshire Catz’ get the ‘Disco’ shaking, setting a dirty tone for the night. This room was the only non-erected dance floor on site, seeing it transform from a historical club house displaying horse-racing rosettes, to a psychedelic visual haven with pulsating audio nonsense to complement it. Probably some of the best house music I’ve heard so far this year.

The ‘Catz’ boasted a serious atmosphere to party to, grinning intensely behind their four-deck setup. ‘The Inland Knights’ followed, playing everything from slick Chicago-style house, to more boompty jacking tunes like ‘ripped into my heart.’

At the same time ‘Cagedbaby - live’ were doing their thing on the Main Stage outside. Their imaginative rock/electroclash style went down well with every grooving Bloomer who faced the impressive stage setup in front of the ‘Enchanted Forest.’ ‘The Bays’ followed playing an amazing set of infectious, hypnotic house which took the night to a new level with their ‘you can only hear us live’ innovation.

The early hours left room for funk. A serious set and ostentaciously dressed individuals clouded the one rock spot left — the 24-hour café. Bournemouth’s very own ‘Fish Seeks Bicycle’ crew through dressing-gown wearing Dan and electro-shocked Andy onto the decks to bring everyone back down to earth in style.

Sunday daytime saw the ‘Fish Seeks’ crew dominate the ‘Beats Bubble’, with Ben Logue and ‘The Crafty Rascals’ shredding some serious groove pushing of their own.

But the day eagerly awaited the night, and ‘808 State’ legends Daz and the boys. The ground tremoured as they tore up the main stage with their live repertoire of drum ‘n’ bass, techno and old-skool classics, like ‘Pacific’ and ‘Cubic’, reminding us all how lucky we are farmers started renting their dung-strewn land to enterprising music-lovers to groove on.

I was told by a festival-junkie that the atmosphere was much like ‘The Big Chill’ was when it too resided at The Larmer Tree Gardens some five years ago. It’s intimate ambiance still could’ve done with another 2000 people to fill in some of the gaps, but for a 1st year Bloom has paved the way for what should be an even better festival next year.

As one man eloquently put it on the Friday… “it’s like 3-whole days man, we arrive Friday then go home Monday with our brains hanging out of our noses!” mmm, nice!

lukemurray84@yahoo.co.uk