NORTH and West Oxfordshire are alive this weekend with the last two big festivals of the season.

Just north of Banbury, Fairport Convention are staging their 40-year-old Cropredy festival, while in West Oxfordshire, relative newcomer Wilderness is taking over the Cornbury Park estate, near Charlbury, for a third year.

Wilderness touts itself as “a celebration of the outdoors”.

As well as live music, the festival holds a variety of lectures, workshops, classes and feasts.

Speaking from Cornbury Park last night, Lucy Parker, 21, said: “It is amazing. We stayed last night, and this morning we went to yoga, then we did a wilderness make-up session with a professional make-up artist then made our feather headdresses.”

Lucy and festival friend Sophia Dyer met last year while they were stewarding at Wilderness, and decided to come back as punters.

Sophia, 27, said: “We are looking forward to late-night parties, getting dressed up and doing more yoga. We’re also going to see The Tempest.”

Organised by 60s folk rock troubadours Fairport Convention, Cropredy has been running since the 1970s.

This year’s festival kicked off on Thursday with a stripped-down acoustic set from Fairport themselves, and the night was headlined by heavy metal rocker Alice Cooper.

Yesterday saw performances from local heroes Danny & The Champions of the World, and two-tone terrors 10cc.

Today Peatbog Faeries will take to the stage and the event finishes tonight with a performance from Fairport Convention.