Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you that I am a Bowie fan – actually, I am a Bowie Fanatic…. Since the very early days of the interweb, my user name has been Aladinsane…. and having first seen the Great Dame on the Serious Moon Light tour in the very early 80s I can honestly say that Bowie has been the soundtrack of my life.

(Way back when I was 4 – in 1969, the BBC covered the Apollo 11 Moon Landings and my parents had taken me on holiday to a caravan park in Polkerris. I remember that they scooped me up out of bed to take me to the pub in the village – The Rashleigh Inn. I recall that they stayed open with the black and white TV showing the landings live – The BBC used Space Oddity as a part of their coverage…. thats a life time there!)

Since his death, I have always shied away from seeing a tribute performer – hell, I only saw him perform live 13 times so – those are mighty big shoes to fill! But, Jo never saw him, and has only recently dabbled into listening to his work… Our friends shared a link with me for Aladinsane at the Secret Garden near Wisbech – and that made a lot of sense for an October shamble to the Fens. To try and explain about the Fens would be quite hard, but I think this video sums it up perfectly.

Quite correctly, The Secret Garden books for two nights over the week end, and we therefore decided that we would go early on the Friday. I took Ziggy to work with me, and Jo drove to my work, left her car there as we were then only 15 miles from the camp site. ( Ziggy had had an MOT in September at North Tuddenham Garage – and I have to be honest they were brilliant. I knew that some welding work was needed, but they also picked up that the brakes needed some corrective work – I chatted with the mechanic and he knew his stuff! For anyone in Norfolk, looking for a garage to work on the mechanics of their Moho – they are my number one choice. Also, and this may be of interest to many, they fill LPG gas as well….)

Jo got to my work place for around four o clock, which meant that – in my mind at least, we would be there, set up and in the bar by five. I had of course, forgotten to factor in Norfolk High ways – they are to traffic planning, what the Vatican is to Birth Control Clinics… The camp site had advised us of a road closed due to a ruptured sewer…. was going to take several months to repair so that was some serious shit, but the few miles from Kings Lynn to Wisbech…. awful.

We arrived just before six, and got our selves set up – and went for a potter around the site. Absolutely stunning – the pitches are well organised, not over crowded and well served by the shower blocks. I was able to try my cheap as chips small inflatable awning that we plan on using as a porch when away during the winter months. We made our way to bar – well it would be rude not too, and waited for our friends to arrive. There was a wood fired pizza truck present, as well as their own snack bar…. they had several ales on tap that I was forced to try while we waited for Steve and Diane – I do hope they appreciated the update pictures we shared with them as they drove through the congestion?

They did finally arrive, and joined us for a restorative beverage and sustenance. After a great social time, we went back to our separate Moho’s – they have Flossie, we were in Ziggy (another Bowie link). The following morning I cooked a small breakfast – we had been advised that there was going to be a power outage, so i was only able to use the gas hob to throw a small brekkie together. After that, we went for a walk around the site with Steve and Diane – and what a lovely place. Large parts of it have been kept natural, and i can imagine that in the summer months, it would be peaceful, tranquil and lovely just to explore – even in winter, the maze was brilliant!

After the grounds, we went to the central part of the site – and I am very impressed with any venue that has its own brewery and distillary! (The brewery has just closed following the retirment of the Brewer – his recipe has, I believe gone to Elgood’s Brewery.) Around the central hub were some notable plants and just nice spaces – and an amazing application of physics! We also took the time to see the other bands that played at the secret garden this year – and some that we would miss due to child care etc – lets just say we are booked in for a couple in 2026 🙂

All in all – a very very nice camp site, and one we will be returning to next year. Also – thank you to Lesley and Neil – they made us very welcome and we enjoyed your company – And Neil, what can i say about a man who meets my wife, and then plies her with your “special” gin??? She just bought two bottles of it!

The music venue was a lot bigger than i was expecting – and the seats were allocated to tables – each table had a light on it, that when you turned it upside down, a lovely waiter or waitress would come and take your order…. very nice – and no comments about me touting for trade under a red light please! The show itself was good – the band were tight, and new their music well – I had met the man himself pre gig – i had asked if there was anything from Station to Station on the set list – but not that night 😦 I did take some video, but perhaps the ales had reduced the ability of my steadyCam hand…. but I did enjoy the gig and will gladly see them again. One thing did strike me – there were a fair few local people who had come out for a night out – and thats brilliant – a quiet way to mix the campers with the locals which can only be a great way to sustain a business. I also noted that there were several people there who knew the band and obviously went to many of the gigs – I do think that keeping the legend alive is important – so thank you!