The Campfire Collective
Bandcamp | musical woodlands | guitar geeks coming together in the Kent countryside | shooting stars | seeing Jupiter for the first time
For the second summer running, I’ve been camping with a group of about 30 guitarists. We take over a small campsite in a remote part of rural Kent, surrounded by woodland and fields.
Spread over a long weekend, it’s three days of guitar workshops, jamming, song-writing, relaxing, playing and performing. It has a festival vibe on a micro-scale.
During the day the workshops are run, in between cooking together on the open hearth. Small groups form spontaneous, temporary weekend bands. Others find a shady spot under the trees and write music.
In the evening after dinner, we all come together in one big group and head down a path lit with tea-lights into the woods and find a spot around the campfire to gather and listen to each other playing music. Then we jam together into the night time.
The setting is rustic and beautiful. We camp in a meadow surrounded by wildflowers and orchards on one side and a private woodland on the other. The only sounds you can hear are various warbles and trills of bird song, interspersed with the many guitar melodies floating through the air. Tree canopies filter the intensity of the midday sun and low woodland bowers provide extra shade and cool relief.
Windfalls from the campsite orchard need eating before the bugs get to them. Intensely rosy, the apples look too good to eat. But we soon get over that to discover that they taste delicious. For me, it’s some kind of sensory heaven here. The sunset cooking and eating by fire, and the smell of wood smoke drifting through our bosky glade is my preferred kind of escapism.
There’s no light pollution in this tiny parcel of land in the middle of nowhere; so when the weather’s fine at night, it’s like being in an observatory. This year we had crystal clear skies day and night. So we laid out on the wooden deck of our bell tent and saw 5 shooting stars, as well as Mars, and Jupiter - the first time I’ve ever seen the latter with the naked eye.
This year, I took my mandolin for the first time, as well as my guitar. Chris and I played two covers during the weekend (admittedly emboldened by cider and wine!). I immersed myself in as many workshops as I could and pushed myself outside of my musical comfort zone by learning some funk guitar techniques. I’ve not been massively into funk in the past, but I appreciate the incredible musical skill of the genre and it’s great to learn new skills, so it was good to give it a go.
One of the best parts of the retreat is the spirit of generosity: more experienced guitarists helping others with their skills and sharing tips and knowledge. There’s no competition, just supportive encouragement, fun and a deep sense of community. It’s this shared experience which makes it feel all the more magical.
It has been wonderful getting away from it all. Whenever I’m here I never want to leave this place and return to reality. But I’m already looking forward to next year.
