Farm fresh and festival ready

It seems that every year a new festival springs up, catering to all tastes from indie to mainstream. Farmfestival is one such example; held on Somerset farm, it may be the most specialised festival yet, and is obsessed with all things local. The question is, could an Audi Q7 make itself at home?

Featuring headliners such as jazz experimentalists GoGo Penguin and Gilles Peterson, along with Mercury Prize winners Young Fathers, Farmfestival is a festival for more discerning minds. So far, so good for the luxury Q7.

Seeing the SUV for the first time, co-founder Dejan Vernon grins, ‘This is really nice, much nicer than my normal form of festival transport.’ He is referring to an old pick-up truck that looks as though it has seen the trials of all 11 years that Farmfestival has been running.

‘The reversing camera for the tow bar is amazing,’ says Dejan as he manoeuvres the car into a tight spot. ‘The back of my truck has loads of dents in it from not having anything like that and trying to hitch up in the dark. When you’ve got a heavy trailer and you can’t move it by hand, you have to get that spot on.’

The Q7 barely breaks a sweat as it effortlessly tows load after load of stage equipment, and even part of the stage itself. There is a close-knit family feel to the festival set-up, as team members and locals alike help out to build the kind of festival they would want to attend.

It’s not just the people that are local either; all produce is locally sourced, and 90% of the site’s food is provided by the farm whose land the festival is held on. Another local contributor is the Wild Beer Co., a brewery located only a few miles from the Somerset festival site.

‘The beer is super-fresh because it’s made on the doorstep,’ says co-founder and head brewer Brett Ellis. ‘It gets brewed two weeks in advance, put in a tank and then straight into your glass. It has all the middle-men cut out; no distributors, no wholesalers, no warm warehouses and no shop floors. That’s the perfect way to serve beer.’

It’s clear that the local feel of the festival is very important to Dejan, and the Q7 fits into the event’s every-day running as if it is already part of the family. Of course, as Dejan reveals, Audi has always had a special place in his heart: ‘My day-to-day car is an Audi A4; I’ve owned three in my life. I like Audis because they’re so reliable and the quality is always great. There wasn’t really a question in my mind when Audi asked to give me a car for the day.’ That’s what we like to hear.

Grab yourself a bit of luxury and explore the Audi Q7, available from Jardine Motors Audi today. And if you’re after something a little smaller, the Audi A4 will fit perfectly into your family.