Glastonbury Festival 2017: Top tips for surviving festival life on the farm

With Glastonbury’s gates opening once early on Wednesday morning many festival-goers are busy frantically packing for a weekend of music, mayhem and, in all likelihood, mud.

Worthy Farm might be home to one of the most iconic festivals in the world, with a great time almost guaranteed, but whether it’s your 50th time at Glastonbury or your first, it’s worth considering a few boring practicalities before you go. After all, nobody wants to find themselves stumbling across a field of tents to go to the loo at 3am, only to end up in A&E because they forgot to bring a torch.

Then there’s the myriad of other points to bear in mind, from the people you set up camp next to and the bands you really, really want to see to how to charge your phone and where to stash your valuables.

Without wanting ruin your fun, lack of preparation for the highly probable quagmire quickly renders hindsight a wonderful thing. But fear not, here are our top tips for surviving what could be one of the best weekends of your life:

Bringing both pairs of footwear is strongly recommended if you can - wellies are vital in the pouring rain as they protect your feet from getting all wet and muddy, but hiking boots are great when the mud turns sticky and your wellies start to sink. Trust us on this one.

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Without wanting to give all our bright ideas away to opportunistic thieves, we're talking inside pillow cases and socks, at the bottom of sleeping bags, wrapped in jumpers and in well-concealed tent pockets. Just don't leave them lying out in plain sight or neatly packed in an easy to grab and run rucksack.

The charging bull is sure to prove popular this year but queues for phone juice always take ages. You don't want to miss a favourite band just because you're out of battery so pick up a travel charger before you set off.

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It's easy to forget that it gets so dark you can't see anything but the whole day and night rotation thing doesn't stop just for Glastonbury. Bring a small torch to carry with you and a headlight if you have one to free up your hands when rummaging around the tent for your toothbrush (providing you actually get round to cleaning your teeth).

Rain flows from high ground to low ground - a point really worth remembering in case the dreaded mass tent submersion starts.

Pop your phone in one of these and save it from the often merciless elements. Good for food items too of course, and just anything you particularly want to protect.

This is as simple as it sounds. String a load of beer cans onto a string and clip it onto the zipper of your tent entrance. If a robber tries to break in they will get a nasty surprise and it'll be amusing for everyone else involved.

Just put on the suncream. Factor 30, or even 50, is not for losers; it’s for people who don’t want skin cancer.

You are guaranteed to appreciate bin bags so much more at a festival as they really are useful for anything - tear a hole in one and use it as a make-do mac in sudden rain, throw it over your stuff if tent flooding looks probable and keep things tidy by throwing any litter straight into one. As for wet wipes, there's no quicker way to freshen up.

You might not enjoy having wet legs in a downpour but you'll be glad you ditched the heavy denim when you dry off in no-time and your mates are left struggling with soaking jeans. Heed our advice though - playing in the wet mud may seem like a great idea at the time but you will hate yourself once it starts drying and you can't shower.

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You may be one of the very first people to arrive on site but soon enough your crazy coloured tent won't be standing out quite as much as you thought it would. Find out what area you are in so you can ask for directions and try to locate some landmarks - a unique flag or memorable tree will do.

You're going to encounter all sorts of people at Glastonbury - disapproving looks and quick judgements will not be appreciated. The same goes for bands. By all means see the acts whose songs you know all the words to, but checking out some new artists often leads to the discovery of a new favourite.

Being both too cold and too hot will really put a dampener on your festival experience. The key is to bring enough clothes to cover all possibilities, even if you do briefly regret it while trekking through the campsite like a packhorse.

Nobody's going to notice your expensive jewellery and designer handbags here. It's simply not worth losing valuables in the quest to look cool. Wellies, shorts and t-shirts are the order of the day on Worthy Farm.

You may come across the odd nightmare you really don't want to 'bond' with but Glastonbury generally attracts a load of like-minded, awesome people. So when you lose the pals you came with and have no phone signal, why not get chatting to the group dancing next to you or hanging out around the best food truck? It's how some lifelong friendships begin.