A ride-on motor mower was being used to cut the grass. There was no need to travel over all the areas that were simply hard baked mud - and with hardly a blade of grass in sight.

However, EDDC staff may be trained to follow set   procedures at all times.

They may not be able to think for themselves. Or perhaps it is not allowed?

Note that the land is baked dry - except for a large wet area where I parked my car.

This was still running with water.....

This route close to the hedge was abandoned after a short while - and you can see why. Water was still welling up from the ground on 19 August. The rest of the field was baked dry in the sun.

No wonder drivers found this area hard going - even though it is relatively flat.

If all the water that would pour from this area during wet weather could be prevented from mixing with the mud at the bottom of the field, the exit might have been easier to use.

Diverting the water and roping off the area near the hedge might be an idea? 

This may have filled up during FolkWeek but more likely had not been emptied for years.

Water has washed out a deep rut on the left hand side. Cars needed to drive on the extreme right to keep their wheels out of the worst of the rut.

Otherwise - you could end up needing a new exhaust pipe!

Devon County Council seem to attend to road drains in remote areas only when people complain.

Blocked drains caused more water to flood down Bickwell Lane during Folk Week but this didn't affect conditions on the car park.

This was the access route for 4x4 vehicles and lorries used to erect the marquee.

It is quite a gentle slope compared with that down which pedestrians were expected to walk!

The slope was about 1 in 11 or 9% (more details here)

This whole area turned into deep mud during the festival.

Less than 2 weeks later it is parched dry.

It would have been expensive to cover the whole area in sheeting or boards, just in case of wet weather.

Five of them were still full or nearly full!

Maybe folkies just got so fed up of trying to wade through the mud to the festival showers they decided to wait until they got home before bothering to get clean.

Refills cost £50 each, but were the responsibility of a subcontractor to the festival. However they should not have been left for days in this vulnerable position- still there on 21 August!

This area suffered a lot of damage, maybe as a result of heavy vehicles using it in poor conditions. Some catering stalls were located here.

The red gas cylinders can just be seen by the main road.

This area obviously suffered a lot from traffic and from tractors pulling vehicles up the slope (and maybe even back down again!). The deeply rutted ground is now baked dry.

Along the hedge there is space for a row of dozens of motorhomes or caravans - and on ground that is reasonably flat. In wet weather there is the problem of getting them into position.

However, a 4x4 tractor or Range Rover fitted with M&S tyres might do it - or failing that a winch used by people who knew what they were doing!

It is a shame folkies may have been turned away from the festival with this much almost flat ground apparently available - and largely unused in 2009.