LIKE a big noisy, cider-soaked starting pistol, Glastonbury Festival has signalled the real start of the festival season.

Yes, we've dipped our toes in the water, with bijou parties like Wood and Wychwood, but last weekend's monstrous Somerset bash is the one which really kick-started the summer.

And recession or not, there's a bewildering choice of al-fresco gatherings on offer over the next couple of months – with some of the biggest names in rock, pop, folk and every other genre, popping up all over the place. The good news for Oxfordshire festie-goers is you don't have to travel far to reach some lovely little weekenders, with some absolute gems right on our doorstep.

We can't hope to cover the lot, but here's our pick of the top of the fests.

So forget about work, grab your tent, stock up on cider and sun block, pack an amusing hat and a pair of wellies (just in case), then get yourself down to the land for a feast of music, merrymaking and very silly dancing.

And as they put it so beautifully at Woodstock: ”Make love not war...”

TRUCK:

STARTING off as a weekend in the country for the Oxford music scene, this lovely little two-dayer has become one of the best independent festivals in the land. With a heavy bias to local talent, it still has the feel of a local party and attracts many of the same faces every year.

Don’t come if you want to remain anonymous, as you’ll know plenty of people here.

So think carefully before kissing that cute drummer in the cow shed.

However, under the steady guidance of musician brothers Joe and Robin Bennett, it has matured into a diverse event which attracts many top international names.

Where: Hill, Farm Steventon

When: July 25-26

Top bands: Supergrass, Ash, Red Light Company, The Epstein

What to wear: battered Stetson, faded jeans and bashed-up acoustic guitar

Drink of choice: cider served by a transvestite in a fez

Tickets: £70 from wegottickets.com.

CORNBURY:

DRAPED languidly across the Cornbury estate in the Cotswolds, this aristocratic weekender will always be known as ‘Posh stock’, but is much more than an upper-crust sojourn in a sublime setting./p>

With two principal stages and a third arena for local talent, it is surprisingly diverse.

Much of its charm derives from its vague impression of being an overgrown village fete – with a hog roast by the local pre-school being one attraction, and lots of local produce on offer.

Previous headliners have included the likes of Paul Simon, Blondie and Robert Plant.

And while this year’s doesn’t quite measure up to those big hitters, it will see Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green, Sugababes, pictured above, and the Pretenders dropping in.

Oh, and Scouting for Girls, but let’s not mention that, shall we?

Where: Cornbury Park, Charlbury

When: July 11-12

Top bands: Sugababes, Pretenders, Smilex, Lightning Seeds, Peter Green, Peatbog Fairies.

What to wear: Tweed hotpants

Drink of choice: Pimms

Tickets: £90 from cornburyfestival.com or 0871 472 0420.

THE BIG CHILL:

LOVE lounging around in fields, like listening to quality live music with like-minded souls, but just find the usual festival experience just, well, tiring? Well, the Big Chill is for you.

A stylish little chav-free gathering based around an actual castle, this mellow event offers city folks a chance to reconnect with the earth.

Describing itself more as a lifestyle than a music festival, its clued-up, trendy denizens seem to be content to spend most of the weekend in a horizontal position.

Think of it as the morning after – without the night before.

Where: Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire

When: August 6-9

Top bands: David Byrne, Basement Jaxx, Orbital, Spiritualized, Lamb, Calexico

What to wear: Designer hippy gear - and flip flops

Drink of choice: Fairtrade smoothies

Tickets: £145 bigchill.net or 0844 888 4411.

GLOBAL GATHERING:

LET’S ‘ave it! One of the last of the great dance all-nighters, Global Gathering now takes place over two days and is one of the biggest electronic music events in the world. Unpretentious, brash, loud and lively, it's great fun if your idea of spending a perfect summer day is to wave your arms in the air while sandwiched between a sweaty, foghorn wielding northerner with his shirt off, and a statuesque supermodel look-alike in a sequinned bikini top. Bring it on!

Where: Long Marston Airfield, Stratford Upon Avon

When: July 24-25

Top bands: The Prodigy, Orbital, Pendulum, Sasha and all the usual top brass DJs

What to wear: As little as possible

Drink of choice: Red Bull.

Tickets: £115 (£175 VIP) from globalgathering.co.uk 0844 8471551.

LATITUDE:

REVELLING in a truly beautiful location scattered around woodlands on the so-called ‘Sunrise Coast’ of Suffolk, Latitude is a festie experience unlike any other.

As diverse and intelligent as Glastonbury, yet retaining a boutique feel, it pulls together the best in music, film, comedy, theatre, cabaret, dance,poetry, literature and art. This is a renaissance party for the free-thinking festival-goer.

Where: Henham Park Estate, Southwold, Suffolk

When: July 16-19

Top bands: Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones, Nick Cave, Doves, Editors, Spiritualized, Little Boots.

What to wear: posh shades and skinny T-shirt.

Drink of choice: Vodka and pomegranate juice

Tickets: £150 from seetickets.com.

CROPREDY:

TANKARDS, felt jester hats, and rows of deck chairs and cool boxes – each occupied by festival veterans jealously guarding their own patch of field – the same patch, incidently, they occupied last year, the year before that, and... you get the picture.

In many ways Cropredy embodies the spirit of English suburbia, transplanted to a field, just outside Banbury.

It has resolutely refused to move with the times, still finishing on a Saturday night, still having only one bar, and still having only stage in one field.

But it is also a fabulous testament to the devotion inspired by one band – Fairport Convention, whose ever-changing membership have variously set up home in the Oxfordshire ‘folkbelt’.

Where: Cropredy, near Banbury

When: August 13-15

Top bands: Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson, Steve Winwood, Buzzcocks.

What to wear: leather belt with pewter tankard ensemble, waistcoat, bandana, and, for the ladies, a voluminous ethnic skirt or the attire of an Elizabethan serving wench.

Drink of choice: Real ale

Tickets: £82 (but it’s complicated, so check out the website) fairportconvention.com.

WOMAD:

EVER harboured a desire to travel the world, meet interesting new people, eat strange food and hear exotic music played on instruments you never even knew existed?

Well, don't bother buying an air ticket – just get yourself down to WOMAD. The World of Music and Dance festival (to give it its proper name), is a distillation of the best in international roots music.

It offers everything from Senegalese Kora playing to Siberian throat singing – and everything in between, from Congolese soukous to Brazilian samba and Louisianan zydeco.

Broaden your mind without hitting the herbal highs.

Where: Charlton Park, Malmesbury

When: July 24-26

Top bands: Khaled, Peter Gabriel, Mongrel, Youssou N’Dour

What to wear: kaftan, sandals, papoose and Peruvian hat

Drink of choice: chai

Tickets: £125 womadshop.com

* For a review of Glastobury festival got to music reviews