Fire in the Mountain Festival returned to the Cambrian Mountains last weekend for the 13th year in a row with an unlikely headline act in some VOLE-nteers.

Workers of the nature-positive, zero-waste festival, which spanned 30 May -2 June, discovered a family of nonchalant voles with a burrow next to the compost toilets.

The diligent staff swiftly put up a cordoned zone and sign to protect the small fluffy creatures, however many started to notice their bold attitude- either completely oblivious or simply unphased by the loo queue.

Some creative genius took it upon themselves to erect the voles a stage, complete with tiny hay bales, a harp and banjo, scattering the stage with nuts for the spherical creatures to be encouraged into the limelight.

What ensued was a newfound attraction to the already wholesome family festival with children and adults alike huddled to watch them munch on their lunch, snooze in the sun and groom.

The rest of the festival was great too, with 2,000 attending and folk musicians from the Dyfi Valley to Alaska performing across four stages including musician Johnny Flynn and electronic duo Dog Show.

There were music and craft workshops, wood and metal work, lino printing, talks on community parenting and storytelling, yoga and massage, a fire circle, a 24-hour free sauna, a delightful stream running through the site to play in under the hot June sun, plus a ‘where the meadow meets the river’ parade on Saturday evening.

The festival organisers said: “We are proud of our policy of local procurement wherever possible - from infrastructure suppliers to food, beer, and spirits- Welsh wherever possible. “We recycled 97 per cent of our waste and hope for the same this year - if not better. “We did not have any single-use serve ware and supplied our plates and cups to all the traders.

“The washing-up station is in use throughout the festival.

“We left the site immaculate afterwards and returned it to the animals.”

The festival was attended by people wanting to connect with like-minded communities, having started humbly in 2011 as an entirely volunteer-run event, created to help the old farm outside of Aberystwyth come to new life and get some much-needed TLC.

The not-for-profit festival now pays staff a universal wage but still uses donations and volunteer help, and this year they successfully CrowdFunded £3,441 to help pay for new compost toilets and a new dance floor for the mainstage.