Summer hasn’t truly happened until you’ve spent at least one weekend lying in a field full of tents watching an ant-sized band playing distorted music in the distance.

With tickets costing upward of £100 a go, and the cancel-lation of every eco-warrior’s favourite festival date, the Big Green Gathering in Somerset, many might be missing out on this year’s mud-and-music fix.

Don’t let that get you down though because it’s never been easier to do it yourself and have a Little Green Gathering in your own back garden.

Cooking up a treat

Make your own festival burger van but remember to green up your barbecue before offering anyone any flame-grilled treats.

According to one study, just 3% of charcoal burnt on UK barbecues comes from properly managed woodlands and the rest, a staggering 97%, comes from hardwood rainforests in Brazil and South-East Asia.

A more eco-friendly version comes from sustainably- managed woodlands in the UK, such as BioRegional HomeGrown Charcoal, available from B&Q or www.ethicalsuperstore.com for around £6 per 3kg.

Light up the night

Fairy lights and other twinkly things add a touch of easy magic to any party, and the range of solar-powered lighting gadgets is ever expanding.

Brighton-based eco- retailer Nigel’s Eco Store (www.nigelsecostore.com) has become a bit of a one-stop-shop for solar gadgets, and carries strings of 50 or 100 LED lights with a solar cell that will even charge in British weather.

Little pathway lights are also a winner, lasting between six and eight hours a night, and exuding what the manufacturer describes as “a soothing ambience”.

Give a bit to charity

Pioneered by the pioneer of festivals, Glastonbury, it’s now a long-running tradition to use the weekend’s fun to raise some money for charity.

While donations from ticket sales at your back garden eco festival might not amount to the £200,000 Greenpeace gathers from Glastonbury every year, you could put a collection box on the fridge door. For every beer that gets drunk, perhaps a few pence could go in a pot to be given to a charity such as Wateraid, which helps the world’s poorest people gain access to clean drinking water.

Less waste

Disposable plates and cups are a big eco-no-no and, as a general rule, reusable everything wins out every time. But not many of us have crockery to spare for a festival-load of people (albeit a teeny tiny festival in the back garden).

Surrey-based company Eco My Party (www.ecomy party.co.uk) has a range of party packs, including biodegradable plates, cups, knives and forks, and even totally eco, biodegradable balloons. When you are done, just chuck it all on your compost heap for a landfill- free-end to the party.

Get radical

Big Green Gathering festival organisers said pressure from police and Mendip Borough Council to shut down the event smacked of a “premeditated decision to prevent a gathering of radicals”. Some festival-goers were expected to go on to the Climate Camp demonstration in London at the end of August, and members of protest group Plane Stupid were to be in attendance.

Campaign groups have always used festivals as a platform for publicity, taking advantage of thousands of people gathered in one place and the general camaraderie to explain their work or get signatures on petitions.

Take the opportunity of having lots of people at your own eco-festie to sign up to one of the many campaign groups, either nationally or Sussex specific.

  • Find out which community and action groups meet locally by checking the Brighton And Hove Green Pages at www.brightongreenpages.org.