Oxford News
Alex James opens his farm for ‘best ever’ Big Feastival
He may have enjoyed fame and fortune as a member of one of the country’s biggest bands, but right now the Blur bassist has only one thing on his mind – and there is no mistaking his passion.
Having moved to the Cotswolds in pursuit of a quiet life, the rock star turned farmer and cheesemaker is getting ready to open the gates of his Kingham farm for his annual celebration of music, food and family fun – The Big Feastival.
And as we speak, the place is being transformed from a pastoral rural backwater to the home of one of the country’s best loved festivals.
Pastures which are home for the rest of the year to cattle, are now studded with stages, fairground rides and bars in readiness for the arrival of more than 20,000 revellers from this Thursday to Sunday.
There is something endearing about Alex’s enthusiasm for the weekend event he and his family have helped shape – and that excitement is contagious.
“We are flat out at the moment,” he laughs as we catch up at an uncharacteristically early hour – at least for a rock star.
“Everyone is ‘up and at ‘em’ and we are all at it from early in the morning. I am a farmer after all!”
“It is the most fun we’ve ever had,” he says with real delight as he describes how he took the idea of a festival for music lovers, foodies and families – and forged it into a reality on his farm near Chipping Norton.
“It is great to know this all happens here on the farm – and is bigger and better than ever this year.”
And he is not exaggerating. The bill at The Big Feastival is always impressive, but this year’s is a banger. It features huge stars Basement Jaxx, Rudim3ntal, Bastille and The Streets.
Then there are epic indie-rock band Doves, White Lies, Ms Dynamite, Red Rum Club, Freya Ridings, The Coral, Little Mix star Perrie and way more.
Alongside the music acts, there are megastars of the culinary world including MasterChef host Anna Haugh, Ballymaloe Cookery School teacher Rachel Allen, Sally Abé, Simon Rogan, Poppy O’Toole and Emily English.
Then there is comedy featuring The Horne Section, Harriet Kemsley and Shappi Khorsandi.
As a star with Britpop legends Blur, Alex lived life to the extreme. Indeed he still does more than dabble – with Blur having reformed for a massive sell-out stadium tour, and him now fronting his own Britpop Classical show.
The show sees Alex on bass joined by a band performing indie-rock classics of the 90s – accompanied by special guests and, crucially, a full classical orchestra. The symphonic spectacular debuted at last year’s Big Feastival, headlining the main stage as a stirring Sunday finale. This summer he has taken it on the road including an acclaimed show back in Oxfordshire at Henley Festival.
“It is great,” he says. “I am playing bass and I do actually know how to do that. When I am putting on a festival I am winging it, but playing bass is my expertise!”
And while he still gets a massive buzz out of playing live, Alex says nothing makes him happier than throwing open the gates to his farm once a year for his homegrown gathering.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be welcoming everyone back to the farm for our 15th year,” he says.
“I mean, 15 years! If the festival was a plum tree, you’d need a ladder to get the fruit,” he smiles.
“I don’t know if it gets any easier, but with the team we have built up it is a better-oiled machine.
“The key is trying new stuff.”
As the festival has grown so has the number of stages – this year numbering about 30. As well as bands, DJs and comedy venues there are kids areas, spaces hosting live cookery demonstrations, displays of fire pit barbecue tips, hands-on culinary workshops, a cookery school, tasting sessions and banquets. There is even a chance to meet animals up close courtesy of Countryfile star Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park.
“You can ‘geek-out’ or ‘freak out’,” says Alex.
“There are a thousand festivals up and down the UK, but what we do is look after families. When you have kids, nothing is more important than having quality time with them.”
And while the number of stages has mushroomed and the line-ups grow ever more impressive, the festival has stayed loyal to its roots and to Alex’s original vision of an event celebrating “music, food and family”.
“It encompasses everything I care about,” he says.
“I have a terrible habit of making my hobby into my job. It happened with Blur and then with The Big Feastival.”
He goes on: “Some of the best days of my life were at festivals – either performing with Blur or just spending time with people. Being at a festival has a sense of magic about it; you are creating life-long memories.”
As all farmers can attest, this summer’s drought and record temperatures have made conditions hard. But, ever resilient, fromage fanatic Alex has at least tried to create something positive from the relentless heatwaves – developing new ways to use solar energy to melt cheese.
Joined by physicists, he experimented with fondue and raclette before developing a new treat cooked in a modified solar-powered pizza oven.
And he will be launching it at the festival venue he calls the Cheese Hub – a three-sided farm building which is transformed into a bar and dance club with a glittering bill of DJs including Tall Paul, Seb Fontaine, Sarah Story, DJ Spoony, Chris Stark and Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg.
“I call it gastro-physics,” he laughs. “This year the Cheese Hub has a real star doing the cooking!”
While camping passes have sold out, day tickets are still available, with Alex tipping Friday – headlined by Basement Jaxx – as a great day to come.
“If you don’t want to commit to a whole festival, it’s great to come for a day – especially Friday when everything is clean and fresh,” he grins.
“Just come along. Summer is almost over so let’s see it out with a bang!”
The Big Feastival is at Alex James’s farm in Kingham, near Chipping Norton from August 28-30. Details and tickets from bigfeastival.com
On Wednesday, September 2, it was the Concours judging and private viewings to dominate the agenda for the day.
Twelve Concours classes were held across almost a century of motoring, including The Golden Age of Motoring, 100 Years of Carrrozzeria Touring, La Dolce Vita, 60 Years of the Lamborghini Miura and Passione Ferrari.
Two new classes also made their debut for 2026, Rare Breeds of the Digital Age and Hypercar Heaven, which recognise the growing importance of contemporary performance cars within the international collector market.
Judging will take place across Wednesday and Thursday, with the show field bringing together a 70-strong collection of classics, supercars and hypercars from around the world.
Some of the cars include Aa Maserati 8C 3000, Alfa Romeo Sprint Berlinetta, a one-off Maserati 3500GT Spyder Prototipo by Vignale, a very early Porsche 356 Split Window Coupé, Aston Martin DB3S, Lamborghini Miura P400S, Bizzarrini 5300GT, Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 Cabriolet, Bugatti EB110 Prototype, Aston Martin Valiant Prototype and the extraordinary Bugatti Bolide, one of just 40 produced worldwide.
Helen Pike has decided to step down as Master of Magdalen College School at the end of the 2026/27 academic year, the school in east Oxford announced in March.
MCS is one of the top performing schools in the country, ranking in the top 20 independent secondary schools in The Sunday Times Parent Power Schools Guide 2026.
READ MORE: UK private school headteacher to leave after 11 years
The new academic year will start next week, with Ms Pike preparing for one more year in charge before she hands over to her successor, who will take over in September 2027.
The first female Master at MCS, Ms Pike guided the board of governors to one of the most significant decisions in the school’s history, to become fully co-educational from 2027.
While there has been a co-educational sixth form at the school for 15 years, the school last month announced it will become fully co-educational over the coming decade.
Ms Pike said earlier: “I love MCS, and it is a perennial privilege to lead this remarkable school.
“Being Master of MCS is a brilliant job, and I am declaring my intention early in order to give MCS the very best opportunity to find the right Master for September 2027. I shall continue to do all in my power to further the fortunes of this wonderful school until then.
“I look forward to a new phase in my own professional life, one that builds on all that I have enjoyed and achieved in my career during the past 30 years.
“Having encouraged many cohorts of pupils to take sensible risks and to do something creative and different when the time feels right, I am doing just that.”
During Ms Pike’s tenure, MCS has been recognised as a Top 20 Independent School and South East School of the Year by the Sunday Times and won Independent School of the Year for Social Mobility.
Thanking her in his letter to the school community, chair of governors, Bob Price, said earlier this year: “Helen is an outstanding leader and will go with our sincere gratitude and warm thanks for her exceptional headship.
“She will leave the school in excellent shape for her successor.”
Recruitment for a replacement for Ms Pike is now under way.
Last month, Ms Pike congratulated pupils on their “outstanding success” in this year’s A-Level exams, after more than a quarter of pupils (43) achieved three A*s or more and 25 secured all A*s.
In total, 39 pupils from the 2026 cohort are heading to Oxbridge, while 22 have secured places to study medicine.
As part of the school’s expansion plans, MCS is preparing to build a new Science, Library and Partnerships building.
A spokeswoman said the new building will offer an exciting opportunity to reimagine the senior school site as staff look ahead to full co-education.
She added earlier: “With a vision to create a sector-leading science building in the centre of Oxford, the development will enable us to support an ambitious and forward-looking science curriculum, expanding to the emerging and rapidly advancing areas of robotics, AI and Big Data.”
Holding banners which read ‘For f**k’s sake, just stop oil’, the demonstrators took to the road in Parliament Square at noon today (Wednesday, September 2).
This was as Andy Burnham faced his first Prime Minister’s Questions, and many of the protestors glued themselves to the road.
The group demanded that the UK government stop approving all further oil and gas developments, and sign a Fossil Fuel Treaty to stop oil and gas extraction.
READ MORE: Witney firefighters called out to over 50 incidents in one month
Just Stop Oil say that the police are expected to arrest all those blocking the road, and that one lane has been left free of glued-on action takers to permit access for emergency vehicles.
Andy Burnham is due to make a decision on whether to allow more drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.
Reverend James Crote, a Baptist Minister and grandfather from Chesterton near Bicester, said: “Today is my grandson’s first birthday. I have to take action for the sake of his future.
The 69-year-old added: “The government has been dilly-dallying about whether to say yes or no to the Rosebank oil field but, if we want a future for our children, there is no choice – it has to say ‘no’.
READ MORE: Chain closes almost 200 UK restaurants with close to 4,000 jobs lost
“I am here as a Christian Minister because the Church has to speak out and demand that the government stops approving further oil and gas developments now. It’s time for us all to say ‘For God’s sake, Just Stop Oil’.”
Data from the Met Office indicates that 2026 was the hottest summer in UK recorded history, beating 2025, which was the previous hottest summer on record.
2026 was also one of the driest summers on record, delivering record-low food harvests.
Climbing temperatures have triggered wildfires across the country, and national fire chiefs said the wildfire risk facing the UK is “like nothing we have seen before”.
READ MORE: Broadchurch star selling £1.8m ‘magical’ Cotswolds mill house after 60 years
Taking action, grandmother Victoria Ann Lynch-Staunton from Leamington Spa, said: “What is happening is beyond a tragedy.”
The 71-year-old added: “I beg everyone to join Just Stop Oil or governments will continue to prioritise endless growth and corporate profit over billions of lives – yours and your children.
“Wake up and smell the coffin. It is the responsibility of all of us to act now!”
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said today: “We are all Just Stop Oil.
READ MORE: The Grand Tour returns to screens with brand new trio this week
“Every single person who fears deadly wildfires, devastating droughts, and spiralling food shortages is Just Stop Oil.
“The first duty of government is to keep the public safe – but by greenlighting oil and gas drilling, they endanger our survival while corporates and billionaires laugh their way to the bank.
“Every one of us feels alone and powerless in the face of this insanity, but we know there is massive political and public support for our demand.
“So we’re inviting everyone to join us at an online call on 3rd October 2026 – because it’s when we work together that we are powerful and win.”
Oxford United player ratings in bizarre Mansfield Town draw
Number of cloned number plates on UK roads at record high, data shows | Transport
LIVE: Mansfield Town 1-1 Oxford United – Two red cards as U's down to nine men
-
Oxford united FC4 weeks agoChris Gunter steps away Wales role to focus on Oxford United
-
Oxford University3 weeks agoNew to the Oxford English Dictionary this September
-
Traffic & Transport2 weeks agoHow poor public transport policy is putting the brake on cities | Road transport
-
Student Life3 weeks agoOxford partnership allows OpenAI to use rare Bodleian texts to train ChatGPT
-
Oxford united FC1 week agoLIVE: Exeter City vs Oxford United – Jersey Mike's Trophy group stage
-
Traffic & Transport2 weeks agoWhy should I have to pay more for buses if I don’t use a smartphone? | Bus fares
-
Oxford united FC2 weeks agoNorthern Ireland fans laud Oxford United defender Ciaron Brown
-
Oxford Events4 weeks agoFour days of equestrian spectacle at 2026 Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials