Edith Bowman has explained why festival season is her favourite time of year – and why we shouldn’t be afraid of the great British weather.

The former BBC Radio 1 DJ spends much of the summer working at music festivals or visiting them with her family – Editors star husband Tom Smith and their sons Rudy and Spike.

She said: “It’s that whole arrival thing, when you can be a mile away from the site and you can start to feel that thud of the music. The air starts to feel a bit different and people, like ants, are making their way towards the site.”

Edith Bowman
Edith Bowman at Glastonbury (Jonathan Short/Invision)

Talking about taking her sons with her, she added: “It was amazing watching my son watch his dad for the first time at Glastonbury a couple of years ago. You could almost see his little brain working away thinking, ‘Ah, that’s what he does!’ I spent most of the show watching him, rather than watching my husband.

“Rudy’s been to Glastonbury four times, Latitude twice, Hop Farm, Bestival and Big Weekend. He’s done his fair share and he’s only six. Spike’s not been to as many – he’s just turned two – so he’s got a bit of catching up to do.”

Edith also had some encouraging words for those put off by the outdoor experience: “You had to be pretty thick-skinned and suffer the consequences of what festivals used to be like, but now it’s a far cry from that. The weather and the loos are our two favourite subjects, but accommodation has changed.

Edith Bowman
Edith Bowman at Radio 1′s Big Weekend (Mark Runnacles/PA)

“If the thing that’s putting you off going is the camping, then you can’t use that as an excuse any more. There’s every form of accommodation available. You can stay in a Winnebago, in a B&B near the site, in a human equivalent of a dog kennel, teepees…

“One of my bugbears is that when people talk about festivals, they always talk about the weather,” she continues. “Listen, the weather in the UK is unpredictable! As soon as you get your head around that, you’ll have the best time.”

Glastonbury
Edith Bowman says bad weather shouldn’t be a reason to stay at home (Yui Mok/PA)

The 41-year-old also said getting older was no excuse: “I don’t worry about getting too old for festivals because they’re not ageist. As soon as you step through the gates, you leave everything at the door.”

On the subject of quitting Radio 1, she said: “It was time for me to leave, on both sides. I wasn’t getting anything out of it any more. I’d been there for 10 years and had an amazing time, but I wanted new challenges.

“Change is a really healthy thing, and especially change that scares you and takes you out of your comfort zone.”

Edith Bowman’s Great British Music Festivals is published by Blink, priced £16.99. Available now.