In 2005 I sold my flat and moved outta London to follow my dream of starting a travelling chai tent with my partner at the time Lowenna and our soon to be born son, Milo. Ever since travelling around India in the early 90's I had that dream and although sometimes it can be a wee stressfull and challenging I have never, ever looked back.
I started building the cafe from old bits of scrap wood and the carpets we got out of skips, amazingly some of those carpets have lasted to this day. The frame was an old gala tent frame I tatted from Glasto and I modified it with bamboo from the Bristol scrap store. We had tatted blue tarps and an old parachute at first but when we went to India for winter we commissed some handmade bespoke green canvas tarps. To this day we still use recycled, upcycled and repurposed stuff in the cafe its important to us to stick to that ethos.
I loved that original tent it was so warm n cosy, it was also our home so it had that real homely family vibe to it as many of us had babies and young toddlers at the time. That tent did really well but by the end of the decade it was a bit worse for wear. In 2011 my mate Trevor from Buddhafield cafe made us a new stronger frame and some new canvas. It was a tiny bit bigger than our old one and not quite as cosy at first, it was a beautiful tent though just took a few months to get used to.
I had to return to the building sites of London to raise the deposit for that tent, the rest Buddhafield let me pay off over the season. We still got the original tent frame, its down in our veg garden at yoni valley and those old green canvases were repurposed for Olivia's vardo. Buddhafield has played a big part in the cafe over the years it has always been one of my favourite festivals, so nice of them to make a new tent for us like that, on tik n all.
Much ❤️ BF 🙏
Life was so good back then I was so happy, being back on the road again and living in Bristol was so refreshing after a decade working in London on building sites. The Outer Regions actually started on the Shambles market in Stroud, Lowenna would sell her shawls and I would make chai n vegetable soup. Our first festival was Nailstock and then we did the very first Sunrise festival, what a gig that was🔥. A few friends joined us in the cafe that first season, Kayan who was Kurdish, Georgio from Italy and Jacob who was from Czech. Later in the season at our first Buddhafield our friend Lik joined us who is from Tibet, oh and a little lady from Chile who ironically called herself Olivia from Bolivia (cause it rhymed). She worked with us in the cafe up till her passing last year 💔. Donnie who is from Sierra Leone originally joined the crew around 2007 and Norch who is also Tibetan joined the crew not long after. I think Bob (real name Tenzin, I still don't know why he's called Bob!) came in 2010.
The Regions has always had a diverse menu due to the multicultural and well travelled staff we have worked alongside. The Regions has never been about one person, its always been a team effort and so many people have chipped in and helped out over the years, each and every one of them a character bringing their flare and skills shaping the Regions into what it has become today.
20yrs aye, what a fkn ride!
These days our youth are all grown up and help run the cafe, and as for the old skool crew well its like having an extended family, we shared some truly magical moments together over the seasons and we still stay in touch. Not all the people who have worked with us are still in this mortal realm, but the memories we shared are and I will treasure them always 🙏.
Im not one to dwell, but sometimes it's good to visit the past to remind yourself of your roots, where u come from, how far you have come and where the fuck it is you are heading. I mean, really at the end of the day there is only one direction you can go innit, and that onwards.
To celebrate the Regions anniversary the cafe is having a full makeover for this season, new signs, new cushions and Ellie has also designed some 20th anniversary merch which will be available from the Regions cafe this summer. By popular demand we will also be doing a limited run of some old T shirt designs to.
I love the way the cafe is going atm and I love working with Ellie and Nath, that feeling of excitement that I felt for the cafe in those early years has returned and we have been investing a lot of time into refurbing the cafe for our 20th season, its gonna look the best it ever has I reckon.
We got such nice gigs lined up as well, were doing a few of the smaller diy festival's which im so happy about cause they are my fav's, it really does feel like we are going back to our roots.
Onwards, onward forward along the twisting turning roads to the fields of joy, where the magic is created that brings us all together and silencences the outside world.
We will meet you there ❤️
Outer Regions season 2025
Horsedrawn camp Beltane bash - 2nd - 4th May
NFA fest - 16th - 18th May
Sacred earth Roots n Culture gathering (with El Chipo's) - 19th - 23rd June
Glastonbury festival (cafe and stage) - 25th - 29th June
Buddhafield festival - 16th - 20th July
Tarantarti festival - 7th - 11th August
Into the wild festival - 21st - 25th August
Alchemising Chaos festival 12th - 14th September
