Just over the hill, a small army of technicians and logistics experts was beavering away getting ready for the world’s greatest rock music event, the jamboree of music, magic and mayhem that is Glastonbury festival.
But on a new-build street half a mile or so away from the sprawling site, a rather more low-key but nonetheless heartwarming event was taking place involving the festival’s founder, Michael Eavis, and the television presenter and ex-footballer Gary Lineker.
Lineker was wielding a spade in order to plant a snowberry tree – as Eavis beamed away – to mark the end of a project to build 52 rented social homes just outside the festival’s perimeter fence in the Somerset village of Pilton.
Though he will always be best known for the festival, Eavis said that, actually, his Maggie’s Farm development, conceived to ensure local people aren’t driven away by soaring rural property prices, was his proudest achievement.
“Pilton is really important to me,” said Eavis. “It’s where I was born, where I have lived man and boy, where I have brought up my family, and, of course, it has been home to the festival for more than 50 years now.
“With rural house prices so often out of reach for local people, these houses give villagers, most of whom are working families who live around here, the opportunity to live here for the rest of their lives at a social rent.
“I started to build these houses 30 years ago. Of all the things I’ve done in my life this is the one I’m most proud of.”
Lineker, a Glastonbury fan who was last at the festival in 2019 when Stormzy headlined, said he had been chuffed to be invited to plant the tree on a small park called Athelstan’s Meadow (Athelstan is Eavis’ first name).
“I think housing is a big issue in the country at the moment,” Lineker said. “At the moment we’ve got real housing issues around the country and rents are going through the roof. We all see a lot of homeless people but we’re also talking about people with good and important jobs – like teachers. Rents are soaring and they can’t afford them.
“Here rents will stay low. Nobody is going to be able to sell their properties. It’s such a great initiative that if it was to be copied everywhere else it would make such a difference.”
Asked if the government should be doing more, Lineker said: “They should be. Everyone recognises that we have a housing issue. There’s a lot of wealthy people in the country that perhaps would like to help, maybe we could give them tax breaks. But the government needs to do their bit. The housing crisis is going to be [a] big issue going ahead whoever’s in power. They could learn a lot from this.”
Lineker said Eavis’s work on social housing should be celebrated: “It shows a real generosity and kindness of spirit. It would be nice to see if it could be replicated. The government needs to find ways to encourage more people to do this kind of thing. It makes sense. Let’s hope for more of the same elsewhere. I think it’s an extraordinary achievement.”
The latest homes are built on land Eavis has given to the Guinness Partnership, one of the largest affordable housing and care providers in England. Stone from the Eavis farm has been used to clad the homes.
They have been built on the brand new Margaret Bondfield Close, named after the British Labour party politician, trade unionist and women’s rights activist, who was born in Chard in Somerset. The new road sits within Maggie’s Farm, echoing the politician’s name and nodding to the Bob Dylan song of the same name.
Lineker – who conceded that his digging skills were not a strongpoint – was helped by Eavis’s grandchildren. Neighbours from other already occupied homes and Glastonbury helpers came out to look, some wearing football shirts for the occasion.
Annie, 23, who works in a school, said it was a wonderful place to live. “We love our neighbours. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. The kids play outside. It’s safe; it’s brilliant.”
House prices in the rest of the village are eye-watering. A two-bedroom cottage is on the market for £450,000; rental property in the area is hard to find.
“We feel so comfortable here,” Amber, 26, an administrator, said. “With house prices as they are we wouldn’t have a chance of buying or renting around here. We’d have to leave.”
