IT WAS a blistering Blissfields last weekend with dancing in the glorious sunshine throughout the three-day festival, north of Winchester.

Metronomy were the headline act on Saturday night playing electro-pop to an appreciative hot and sweaty crowd at Vicarage Farm, near Woodmancott.

Other acts that went down well included The Cinematic Orchestra and DJ Yoda, who performed his Stranger Things mixtape.

Also playing the intimate boutique Hampshire festival was ‘Queen’s Speech’ freestyle rapper Lady Leshurr, BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Sian Anderson as well as the band responsible for 1Xtra’s EP of 2016, Bonzai.

Summer festival favourites the Dub Pistols and Beans on Toast also made a welcome return.

Festival representative Alex Thomson said: “There were 4,000 people attending this year. Lady Leshurr was a huge success – what a show, and loads of kids backstage wanting to meet her. Definitely going to rule the world very, very soon.”

He added: “This year we added a hot air balloon offering free rides, built a sandy beach for people to party on with a lifeguard hut DJ booth, added a ghost train, helter-skelter and dodgems, and wrapped it all up in our 2017 theme: The Bizarre. The whole site was decorated with strange happenings, characters and art curated by Melanie Bliss. It’s always sunny at Blissfields and this was a particularly hot one, which meant the crowd was sprawled across the whole site having a sunbathe. It was perhaps the most beautiful, and hazy, Blissfields we’ve ever had”

Asked about any festival surprises he said: “I think a few of the paint fights caught people off guard. We saw lots of people roaming around afterwards head to toe in neon paint. Incredible scenes. The fire shows and aerial acrobatics in the Hidden Hedge went down a storm too – not sure people knew where to look.”

Over the past 16 years, Blissfields has grown from a family gathering in the garden of founders’ Paul and Mel Bliss to a nationally celebrated small festival, claiming the Best Small Festival 2007 award at the UK Festival Awards.

Ten per-cent of all ticket sales will be going to the Murray Parish Trust, an Alresford-based charity dedicated to raising funds for paediatric facilities across the south coast.