The Pig Farm
Near Norwich
29th May 1999
I live in Norwich, not very far from the Pig Farm, but as luck had it, I had to be in London for another party the night before, so it was a case of having to get back to Norfolk in time for the Pig Farm.
Now, the plan was to leave around 7.00pm, which would have given about 5 hours - plenty of time - to get there. Of course, that didn't happen and it was 9.00 when we finally hit the M11 north bound.
Midnight and a high speed burn on empty roads later we are the other side of Fakenham, following the e-mailed directions. I did notice there was a lot of traffic, but didn't think much of it, I finally twigged when the whole convoy turned right down this minor road, yes, this was the party convoy, we were going the right way.
We get to the Pig farm, dump the car, pay £2.50 donation and in we go.
Well, "in" isn't quite right, this was an outdoor party. One big tent and an outdoor system playing from the back of a hippy bus, a big fire, a bar, a soft drinks stall and an insane "anti gravity" ride, which I was not going anywhere near!
Although this party was entirely publicised by word of mouth, several hundred turned up. The music from both systems kicked, the tent being the more manic hard techno, the hippy bus more varied, I preferred the music in the tent but spent quite a bit of time at the more atmospheric bus.
In the early hours as daylight was breaking I left the big techno tent and went outside. The whole site was surrounded by pigs, which is normally a bad sign, but in this case they were the pink and fat variety which made a nice change!
Maybe it was because this was a rural area, but the vibe was so much nicer than the London scene, although much less extreme. There were illegal substances on offer, but no upfront dealing and no sign of excess, well, not much anyway. The whole vibe was one of fun and there was a lot of hugging going down.
I gave up around 10.30 and went to get some kip before the (very slow) drive back to Norwich. The first of the summer parties, a good start.