IT MAY still feel like spring, but the country’s first real summer music festival gets under way today, with hundreds of revellers descending on a Chiltern woodland for three days of music, fun and a bit of education.

The event, called simply Wood, takes place at Braziers Park, near Wallingford, until Sunday night, and will see 800 people enjoying live music and dancing.

With acts including folk star Eliza Carthy, US singer-songwriters Willy Mason and Sarabeth Tucek, North Oxfordshire’s Thea Gilmore, Cajun party band Mama Rosin, Michele Stodart of the Magic Numbers, and soul-rock rising stars The Treetop Flyers, the event, the fourth of its kind, is set to be a hit with lovers of acoustic, roots, country and folk music.

But while most festival organisers pride themselves on their size and volume, Wood’s organisers Robin and Joe Bennett insist their weekender is different. “We have a great line-up with some interesting artists, but this is not about being big and loud,” said Robin, whose wife is due to give birth to the couple’s second child over the weekend.

“We are a relatively new event, but have already won five festival awards, most for our green credentials.”

Festival goers are encouraged to arrive by bicycle, bus or by car-sharing, and the site is equipped with a solar-powered stage, pedal-powered sound system and composting toilets.

Festival-goers can also take part in workshops covering everything from thatching, and morris dancing to food foraging and making jewellery from scrap. The emphasis is clearly on saving the planet. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t also fun.

“Wood is not about preaching,” said Robin, who set up the festival as a spin-off of the larger Truck Festival, in Steventon.

“It’s also a great party and the best way of opening the summer.”