Acid Leak

The Acid Leak stage at Boomtown Fair is where things get properly loud and strange. This isn't a permanent landmark you can wander up to any time - it's the epicentre of the festival's electronic and experimental music scene, part of the sprawling Boomtown experience that transforms a Hampshire field into something halfway between a rave and a film set.

You'll find it among the festival's various themed areas, packed with the kind of crowd that actually wants their bass at skull-rattling volume and their visuals disorientating. The production here is notably more intense than the beer tent stages elsewhere on the site. Artists tend toward techno, drum and bass, and industrial sounds that wouldn't sound out of place in a dystopian thriller.

Worth noting: Boomtown only runs annually, usually in August, so you can't just rock up to Winchester whenever the mood takes. If you're planning a proper festival weekend, staying at nearby Hookpit Farm or The Spinney - both solid caravan parks within five miles - makes sense. You'll stumble back exhausted and grateful for the short drive rather than a long trek home.

The Acid Leak itself isn't the reason to go to Boomtown, but if you're already committed to the festival, it's where the serious clubbers congregate. Families with young kids will find the main stages more forgiving. First-timers should expect it to be loud, crowded, and genuinely disorientating in the best possible way.