When The Local Answer contacted Wotton Blues Festival organiser Dave Draisey he had just arrived in sunny Greece.

A relaxing week in the sunshine is the least he deserves after spending months organising one of Gloucestershire’s best up-and-coming music festivals – the Wotton Blues Festival.

Blues lovers enjoyed three fantastic days of live music in the village of Wotton-under-Edge last weekend and Dave is already planning ahead for the 2019 festival.

He said: “It was a great three days of blues music. The weather wasn’t great, especially on the Saturday but that didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of our performers and the audiences.

“The quality of the bands who performed at this year’s festival was the most pleasing thing. It’s always nice to hear the feedback from audience members and this year the messages I got were all positive. Some people who attended the festival have already booked accommodation for next year, that’s so encouraging to hear.

“All our acts had an hour and a half playing slot. A couple of the bands did an hour extra because they didn’t want to stop!

“Our headline act this year was Elles Bailey. She was absolutely amazing, unbelievable – exactly what a headline act should be. All the bands that performed did themselves proud though, there were so many highlights it would be impossible for me to say which one I enjoyed the most.”

Once Dave returns to these shores he’ll be thinking about September 2019, and the next Wotton Blues Festival.

He added: “My wife and I spent most of the time in the aeroplane over to Greece talking about next year! I’ve always said I want to grow the festival year on year. As soon as we land back in the UK next week I’ll be straight onto planning and booking for the 2019 festival.”