No fowl play: Have a go at worm charming

Summer festival guide 2009

No tix for Glasto? Don’t be glum, chums. A new manual from the folks behind the Big Chill Festival has heaps of ideas for how to host your own. Here’s our pick of the best five, from predicting the weather to other fun and games.

1 Play the human snail game

All you need is a gang of mates, a sleeping bag each, a stretch of dryish lawn and stiff elbows.

Mark a start and a finish line, 10 metres apart. ­Contestants must lie on their fronts, in their bags, in a row, then make like snails and wriggle to the finish line.

Customise your sleeping bag with a cardboard snail shell or deely bopper snail ­antennae. And if your nearest stretch of lawn is a park, bin your dignity at the gate.

2 Be a human weathervane

Don’t rely on the BBC. Be your own weatherman and predict the forecast. Make a note of these tips:

Low, dark clouds with an anvil-shaped top mean storms.

Lots of fluffy, cotton-wool clouds packed close ­together presage rain.

High rippled clouds will soon disperse, leaving a clear sky.

No dew on a summer morning? It’s gonna rain.

Insects fly lower when rain is due – and insect-eating birds, such as ­swallows, will follow.

A closed pine cone means fog or rain. Open means dry weather.

Plant a scarlet pimpernel flower. Its petals close before bad weather arrives.

Sound ­carries further before a ­downpour, so keep an ear out for distant noises sounding louder than normal.

Summer festivals: June I July I August I September

3 Get toe wrestling

Easy as arm wrestling, but twice as fun. Players sit on the floor facing one ­another, one leg stretched out, big toes linked. Mark, with string, two lines 20cm from either side of the linked feet – and push your opponent’s foot over one of the lines. Who’s the Toeminator?

4 Go worm charming

According to the official worm charming rules (yes, there are some), each ­competitor has a 3x3sqm plot of grass and 30 minutes to lure as many earthworms out as they can. “Twanging” often works best – stick a garden fork 15cm in and wiggle it about.

Other charmers swear by dancing, playing music or pouring gravy, beer and sugar on to the ground. The world record was set 29 years ago by Cheshire teenager Tom Shufflebotham – he charmed 511.

5 Make a festy cocktail

Try the Big Chill bartenders’ concoction. Take 20ml lemon juice, 20ml peach and passion fruit syrup, 20ml white peach puree, and 25ml vodka. Pour the lot into a glass, fill it up with ice, cover and shake. Then top with champagne and garnish with a slice of lemon.

Ultimate festival survival guide

The Big Chill: Summer Living, Guardian Books, £14.99

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