Yoga! Shopping! Talks! DJs! How the Happy Place Festivals come to life

0:00Hey there, it's Wayfair here, where delivery and setup are as easy as a few taps on your phone. You're relaxing in an old hammock, scrolling Wayfair's app, when you spot it, a brand new patio set. Next thing you know, Wayfair delivers it right to your patio and sets it up. Oh, you need a new grill too? Alright, Wayfair's got you covered. With Wayfair's room of choice delivery and fast experts set up on qualifying orders, life gets a little easier.

0:23Fearne Cotton: Visit Wayfair.com or the Wayfair app. Wayfair, every style, every home. You stopped waiting for permission and started building yourself, your dreams, your credit. Experian Boost could turn your on-time payments into instant FICO score gains. Every bill you paid could become proof of your power. Self-made? Absolutely. Self-funded? Experian could help you get there. Download the Experian app today. Results will vary. Not all payments are Boost eligible. Some may not see improved scores or approval odds. Not all lenders use credit information impacted by Experian Boost. See Experian.com for details.

0:59I'm Jake Stouck, co-founder and CEO of Serval. We built Serval to automate the IT work that slows companies down. Onboarding, password resets, access to applications, my laptop stopped working. While employees wait for help, their real work is put on hold. IT desperately wants to automate this work, and that's why they need Serval. You just tell Serval what you want to automate in plain English, and it's built. No drag and drop workflows, no expensive consultants. Employees get unblocked and IT teams go from drowning in tickets to building what actually matters. With Serval, IT becomes the AI engine powering the entire company.

1:38This is a new way to run IT. We guarantee you'll automate 50 % of all tickets and we'll prove it to you in a free four-week pilot. Go to serval.com slash ACAST. That's S-E-R-V-A-L dot com slash ACAST.

1:56Fearne Cotton: The thing that freaks me out, because I'm a control freak, is that at a festival, you obviously normally learn through things going wrong. One of the things was probably the toilet situation. We're not Glastonbury, we don't want shitty drops. The naughtiest thing that some of our guests do is they might have a cheeky fag, but you just go up to them and say, do you mind, put that out please? And they're ever so, oh really? He was walking around barefoot. Yeah, I love that. The festival was so great. Yes, we've got her. We've got her. Eyes on. Eyes on. Eyes on. The level of efficiency was so amazing.

2:28Fearne Cotton: Do you know the only person who was freaking out? Who? Lynn Cotton. Inside, I was like, oh my gosh, what is going on right now? Lynn wears a four-inch heel, doesn't do a dropper yoga, breath work, meditation, talks, podcasts, music. We had a DJ set, didn't we? DJs at the end. Everyone has a good old dance. Yes, exactly. I love that moment. I think last year we had the rain at Tatton, so people were actually dancing in the rain. Dancing in the rain. And the reaction was so good. We were like, right, let's do this all over again. Hi, everyone. It's Fern here. Welcome to Happy Place. I am very much looking forward to having a chat with you today because you're going to get a little sneaky peek into the inner workings of Happy Place.

3:08Fearne Cotton: Of course, we've got our podcast, which is what I'm doing right now. Obviously, we've got our marketplace and we've got our brilliant book club as well. But a major feature of Happy Place is the festival. And it's now in its sixth year, which is unbelievable. I still kind of can't believe that we do it every year. It's wild. So I thought today I'd give you a sneak behind the curtain, which now I've said it out loud sounds quite rude, as to how that all happens. So if you've turned up on the day and you've seen it all or you're intrigued, find out more with the wonderful Nikki Darling from Team Happy Place.

3:46Fearne Cotton: Hello, my darling. How are you? I'm good. Good, good, good. This is so bonkers because normally Nikki and I would be around a board table in a meeting room discussing every minute detail of the Happy Place Festival. Because, of course, it's two weekends in the year. But this is an all year round gig. That's what I'm sort of intrigued to get more into and to sort of express this to everybody listening. that the amount of time that takes to put this festival together and the amount of thought and brainstorming and problem solving which we'll get onto is literally just all year round. Yeah, definitely.

4:25Fearne Cotton: It's mad. It's a monster. Yes. If you think back to our first one, which was 20, well, we actually did a pop-up. Yes. Was that 2018? 2018, I think it was, yep. We did a tiny pop-up. I think we had 200 people there. And then we were like, oh, it worked. Let's do a proper one. cut to 6 ,000 people in Chiswick. Do you think we knew what we were getting ourselves into? I think we probably thought it was just going to be one year and that would be it. I don't think we knew what we were getting ourselves into, but I think we always knew it was going to be something special and the reaction was so good.

4:59We were like, right, let's do this all over again.

5:02Fearne Cotton: Yeah, I mean, that's been the beauty of it, is seeing that people do want to come along. And I guess part of the work that takes that full 12-month cycle is us going, oh, people seemed to like this. Oh, that didn't work. And we can quite literally be reactive and then make it what it is today. So let's talk a bit more first of all about your role. Tell everybody what you do, what that involves and a bit about yourself. I kind of do everything on it because I'm very hands on. so I kind of oversee marketing the kind of PR side the op side the content side and work really close with kind of our team who we have like leads in those areas as well so I suppose the book kind of stops with me so yeah I'm involved in every single aspect from kind of what the event looks like who we're going to have at the event like how we sell the tickets what the website looks like obviously work really closely with the social team so I kind of like sit across all areas and obviously work really closely with yourself but we have an amazing team I've got a really really great team who you know kind of support me and yeah just looking forward to the events really in terms of like what we can do differently like you said because every year we do try and switch it up a little bit as well we do I mean we had a meeting literally yesterday we had a long meeting about every element of this summer's festivals and some stuff that's happening next year which is exciting that we can't talk about um but we do quite literally come up with ideas in those meetings that we hadn't planned to even discuss and yesterday we had some cool ideas about some extra guests we might get along and what we could do with them there is a huge amount of creativity behind all of it it's not just where the stage is going to go where are the loos it's dreaming up these big ideas that we then get to bring to life it's so exciting yeah it definitely is and I think also we do do like our survey after the event so we really want to hear from our you know audiences like what they enjoyed what we could do better what they want to see more of and we're really reactive to that as well so yeah we always try and switch up you know our workshops our classes the content that we've got making sure that there's enough there for absolutely everybody which there is there's something for everybody everybody one example is like a couple of people came to us last year and said I'm socially get quite drained or overstimulated I just need somewhere to go and we've got a little quiet zone this year where you can just take yourself out of I mean they're not we try to not overcrowd it because we don't want people to feel like oh my god there's so many people here but even if being in a yoga class or a meditation or a talk is overstimulating you can take yourself to our quiet zone and just have a breather on your own so I think that's a really clear example of us going oh right okay we we hadn't done that we we need to listen to what is actually desired on the day and then try and make it happen yeah definitely and and that's what we're we are really reactive even like to one festival to the other so if we feel like something perhaps didn't work our first festival we'll then adapt that and change it for our second festival so we're really you know we react really quickly to anything that we think doesn't work and we can switch that up and we can add stuff because obviously our festivals are a couple of months apart.

8:18So that does help.

8:19Fearne Cotton: It really does help. I think we've learned so much from the first one to where we're at now. Oh gosh, yes. And you obviously normally learn through things going wrong. Oh yes. Which we've had many of. Like the thing that freaks me out, because I'm a control freak, is that at a festival, anything could happen. There's so much you can plan in the year and we are so organized. You're a Virgo, aren't you? I'm a Leo. Oh, you're a Leo. We were just before Virgo. I knew you were close. We're fucking organized. Like everything is just so. We know how we want everything to be. But then on the day or the days, just anything could happen.

8:57Fearne Cotton: Let's dive into this a little bit. Let's maybe first of all start with year one. So this is 2019. The first time we'd done a festival on a large scale. We're at Chiswick. We had the best weather. Yes. The sun was shining. It was gorgeous. But we were really just, it was trial and error in all areas. What do you wish we'd done differently that year? I think one of the things was probably the toilet situation. We had slight toilet situation, didn't we? And I think we basically, from that, we learned that we probably need more toilets and better toilets, even though the toilets were wonderful. but I remember a certain somebody having to deal with a bit of an unblockage.

9:39Fearne Cotton: We're not Glastonbury. We don't want shitty drops. We have nice toilets. We have beautiful toilets. Our toilets are amazing but I think we needed more toilets so I think in our year two we upped that but we do have stunning toilets. They are very posh and we do get a lot of feedback on how lovely our toilets are. We do. Every year people are like, oh my God, the loos are amazing. That is so important though, especially as we have a lot of women come to the festival. You want a nice pit stop. Yes. I think from that year, what I learned was we need more food trucks. And also the big learning was don't put a big guest on at the point where the guest will finish talking and it's lunchtime.

10:17Fearne Cotton: Because we had, I remember we had a big guest on and then we had this huge on mass exodus and everyone went to go and eat lunch. And it was like, oh, and we, it was just a simple thing that we hadn't considered. So that was just an amazing takeaway. where we were like, right, okay, let's not do that again. Also from that year, I mean, I had, even on the days themselves, the most amazing feedback of people coming up and just saying, this is amazing, this has been missing in my yearly festival schedule, just something really chilled. But the other thing I had to remember is you always get one. There's always one person who wants to have a moan.

10:54Fearne Cotton: Always. And they'll come up to me and tell me to my face. And then I have to, now I don't do it, On that first year, I went on such a downer because some woman came up to me and started having a go at me about something. And I was like, oh, my God, we put so much work in. And it's just like one thing that you didn't like. And I felt so devastated. She went to me something like, Ryland's the only good thing about this festival. And I was like, oh, my God. And we'd literally just had like the biggest beautiful yoga class sound baths over here. There'll always be one person that you can't please in life.

11:25Fearne Cotton: Yeah. Oh, yeah. And you can't take heed of that. No, you can't. Only take the critique that is worth our listening to. The other mega days that I remember, was it 2023 where it was? Yes, Wingate. Fucking hell. So, right, cut to the Friday, the last day of the festival build, we had torrential rain. Yeah. I turned up to have a walk around the layout at Chiswick and there was seemingly goose shit on every bit of grass that was visible. and at that point I thought I think I'm gonna do a runner I don't want to do this tomorrow I don't want to come I don't want to be here it stopped raining but then we had 70 mile per hour forecast yeah we had windgate we call it windgate and we had obviously been in contact with the local authorities because every you know we actually Hester and I have been on a local authority meeting this morning for an hour where you meet with ambulance police council and you just go through everything so Hester and Russell had been in contact with the local authorities about the wind we had our own wind machine where it tested how I know how fast the wind speeds were and we had to have a meeting with Chiswick on Friday which I don't even think we even told you about I don't think we did because I thought we'd like to work where they basically said there is a certain point where we will have to close the festivals down if it goes above and that was on the Friday morning and then by the Friday evening the Tizzic house had said to us right you're good to go because they'd kind of been like monitoring the wind so we only really got about seven eight o 'clock on the Friday night the thumbs up that we could open on the Saturday morning so it was and I don't think we told you this because we didn't know I'm glad you didn't because I just was thinking about goose shit that night rather than also it's not going to happen yeah but it was even touch and go the day after because I remember turning up oh yeah and there were like tents flapping in the wind at one point we had tom grennan yeah in the talks tent about to do a live podcast with me and the howling winds were like whipping around and one of the tent poles came out and these if you haven't been to the festival these are major tents huge big stretch tents yeah and one of the tent poles flew out it was still obviously standing but health and safety wise it's a no-go we've got to get everybody out you hester russell the whole team acted so quickly to move hundreds of people in a herd to the outdoor stage where there was no rain so everyone could sit and happily watch the live podcast.

13:55Fearne Cotton: But it was just the level of efficiency was so amazing. Do you know the only person who was freaking out? Who? Lynn Cotton. Was she? My mum. Was she? My mum, who loves the drama, came up to me backstage and she went, what's going on? And I went, well, we've got to move everyone because of tempo. Yeah. What? Oh, my God. Oh, no. I was like, oh. And then you're just calmly moving 500 people across the field and Lynn's freaking out. Shall I go or shall I stay? Do you want me to stay? Or do you recognize your guys? I don't care if you go or stay. We've just got to deal with this insane emergency that's happening right now.

14:32Fearne Cotton: But I think that weekend proved to us that we can mitigate really big out-of-control dramas calmly. And that was just such a resilient building moment for the team, I reckon. Yeah, I think it was. It was quite interesting because inside I was like, oh my gosh, what is going on right now? Because before, again, we weren't sort of bringing you across this, but we were taking things down because we were losing things. So like at one point I said to Russell and Hester, get the flags down, got to do this. So as the day went on, we were kind of like adjusting the festival throughout the day. And then just as the talk was about to start, Russell was like, we can't do this.

15:14I was like, we have to do this. So we moved everything. But I remember I stood because there was a little, you know, where they do the, they have all the sound desks and stuff at the center stage. I was stood holding that down throughout the whole of the talk because I thought this is going to lift up in a minute. It's going to go. It's going to be like the Wizard of Oz. It is going to go. It's going to end up over like Richmond shortly. So we were all kind of, I remember just looking at the whole team. Everyone was kind of holding on to something around. And Russell was just sort of looking at me to sort of say, and I was looking at him and I was like, come on, let's get through this.

15:48Let's get through this. And we did. We bloody did it. It was brilliant. And it was a great talk. And actually we managed to get more people there. We did. We did, didn't we?

15:56Fearne Cotton: It was just a good weekend all round. And I think it, for me, allowed me to think, right, that's my worst nightmare is the weather being bad. And we did it. We did it. And we've had little rain showers here and there and we cope. And then we've had seriously hot days. Oh, my goodness. Last year at Gunnersbury Park for the Happy Place Festival near to London, we had, what was the temperature in the end? Oh, it was 30. Easily 30. It was so hot. I mean, I loved it. I wasn't having to run around with a high-vis jacket on. I love being hot. The only small problem I had was in the big tent for the talks.

16:29Fearne Cotton: It was so bright that I just had my eyes closed throughout all the podcasts because I couldn't open them. It was so bright. I was just like this. I couldn't see my guests. But it was so brilliant. It was gorgeous because people were sunbathing and laying out. But also then for you as a team, you're working under extreme situations in terms of you're running about, you're moving things, you're dealing with insane amounts of people with that heat going on, probably not eating and drinking enough. Didn't you faint? I had a slight moment, yes. I went down on Saturday about four o 'clock and Laura went down probably about 10 minutes after me because I think it was the build-up because I actually felt fine on that Saturday, but I think it was the days ahead of it was so hot.

17:12And we were drinking. We all had electrolytes. We were literally all looking after each other, but you couldn't drink enough. You just couldn't drink enough water. And it was the Saturday actually once everything was open and it was when I got into calm stage, I just suddenly started to feel, I was running around to an air, I just started feeling a bit woo. Yeah. And I went down and then Laura went down. But we quickly bounced back and we were at the team meeting by six. I know you were. I know. There's no stopping you. And then it was fine. But yeah, it was, I think, you know, two of us sort of having a slight wobble was good actually in the circumstances.

17:46But goodness me, it was hot. It was so. And it wasn't any real kind of like shelter. No. It was just hot. It was the hottest weekend by far. Oh, I mean, I loved it. The audiences were absolutely loving it because they were just like mooching around. They were in the, you know. Getting an ice cream. The VPs having, you know, the coolness and things like that. But yeah, it was a hot one. It was a real hot one.

18:07Fearne Cotton: We also, of course, because we have so many amazing talks. For me, that is my favourite part of the festival. Not even just the live podcast that I get to do, but just like walking past the talks tent, it's always overspilling with people because you've got back-to-back amazing stories from like even this year, right? So if we look at our line-up, I think it's our best line-up. Stunning. we've got Talisa we've got Tom Reed Wilson Matt Haig who I am just such a mega fan of he's been on the podcast he's just you know one of the world's biggest authors he's incredible Ruby Wax literally can't wait can't wait it's gonna be amazing can't wait for Ruby she's so brilliant Ruby and also I know I've interviewed Ruby before and you can have all the notes in the world she won't follow them it will go off on a tangent that none of us are expecting but just sit and listen to someone who's not only lived a life like that, but has gone off and had this second chapter studying mindfulness, getting a degree, a master's, I think, even.

19:07Fearne Cotton: She is just incredible. She's fascinating. Lucas Jones, a really interesting person for us to have there. Jordan Stevens, who had a huge crowd last year at the festival. He's doing great things in the men's mental health space. We've just got the most solid lineup. We've also got Sam Thompson's just, on board as well as his sister Louise and her partner Ryan to do live podcasts. That for me is so brilliant. But of course, on the day, sometimes people either can't get there for whatever reasons or a dropout. And we had one big guest a few years ago in Manchester at a Tatton Park venue drop out on the morning.

19:45Fearne Cotton: And again, that for me is like worst nightmare. It was for a live podcast with me. I was absolutely panicking. It was actually my birthday. So I remember waking up like, oh, these birthday texts and then blah, blah, I was pulled out and I was like, yeah, birthday ruined. But luckily, I called Dr. Rongo Chastagy who lives two seconds away and he went, yeah, yeah, I can turn up and do a podcast. He had the biggest crowd. He was so lovely as well. The audience in the palm of his hand. So again, like we problem solved it. We made it happen. Thank God. Yeah, thank goodness. It was amazing. He was so stunning as well.

20:22Fearne Cotton: And he was walking around barefoot. Yeah, loved that. The festival was so great. Yeah, it was brilliant. What would you say your big highlights have been over the last few years? Goodness me. So I think, well, being in our sixth year is a massive highlight to me because I'm like, you know, when we first started it, it was like, I think it was all just such a whirlwind when we first started. I remember going with Russell and I looking for the venues, like going around looking for the venues. And I was pregnant. I was really heavily pregnant, I think, with Rose. So when we found the venues and then we put it all on sale and, you know, it was such an achievement to do it.

20:56But now being in our sixth year, we went through COVID as well, remember? We did a digital one. Which was unbelievable.

21:03Fearne Cotton: Actually, we have to pause there because we were mad. We decided, because we'd all gone slightly doolally in the pandemic, we decided to not just do a weekend of online festival activity. We did every single day, weekdays and weekends, full schedule for a month. I don't even know how we did that. Where did we do that? I don't know, but everyone got involved. It was a family affair. My sister was watching videos for us. It was so great. I had like, no one had anything to do. So it was great. Everyone was so involved, but it was unbelievable. And you look at the numbers that we got. The amount of content that we created, though, was absurd.

21:37The figures were insane. They were. The yoga classes that you could do. I mean, my sister was loving it. She was like, oh, gosh, I do. Yeah, we had yoga, breath work, meditation, talks, podcasts. We had a DJ set, didn't we? Like, yes. But we did every day for a month. We did some live stuff.

21:53Fearne Cotton: You actually went out live as well. A bunch of live talks. I mean, I was grateful because I definitely needed a distraction like many other people. But it did feel like we kept our Happy Place community really engaged. But also it was a real two-way street of we were all in it together and it felt really beautiful. But that was mad. It was crazy, wasn't it? That's got to be a highlight for us, I think, as well. Yeah, I think we should pat ourselves on the back for that. I do as well. Yeah, that was definitely a highlight. And then coming back into the festivals. but I think some of my highlights are seeing how like the we've got the best shopping there I mean it's stunning yeah it's beautiful like you go that you know and seeing how that's grown from when we first started in 2019 to where it is now I mean it's like a shopping village yeah the commercial got you know the commercial girls like Marcia and Matilda and Natasha do such incredible amazing job because every single product is so beautiful yeah and the storeholders the exhibitors are really lovely people as well they're so it's such an extension of the happy place brand how lovely they are and how lovely they are to the the visitors our visitors are really lovely so it's just such a nice atmosphere when you've got everybody who's on the same page as us so i think seeing how the exhibitors have grown and everyone's in there sort of chatting because the brand owners they're often small brands a lot of them are female founded all of them are uk founded so you've got you know the brand founders chatting to our festival revelers and telling them about the product and their interest in the product and that feels like a real lovely little social hub i mean again my mum will come to the festival and only go there she just spends hours walking around the shopping bit trying to get like a few freebies treating herself to some little bits and bobs but you've got everything in there from clothes to jewelry to tea to vitamins it's just i love the shopping area shopping is amazing and i think then And like, I just, I love all the workshops and classes.

23:47Me too. Laura and Jenna do such an amazing job and the variety and like, you know, obviously we do have repeat, you know, teachers and, you know, guests.

23:56Fearne Cotton: They're part of our family now. Exactly. But we do try and, you know, mix it up a little bit each year so that there's something new. We've obviously got our new area this year, which is super exciting. You can come and try some hula hooping. I've never been able to hula hoop. No, neither have I. Can't do it. Absolutely terrible. Terrible. Terrible. I don't know why. My hips don't lie. And it just falls down. So I'm really bad at it. We'll be in there. Yeah. I do know someone who's really good at it, actually. But anyway, that's for another time. Another story. Yeah. And then line dancing. Love.

24:27Yeah, I absolutely love line dancing. So I'm going to be in there. I'm going to wear the shirt, actually. Yeah, get your cowboy boots out, babe. Yeah, definitely. And then silent disco. Love. Yep. And looking at comedy as well. Yeah. Nice.

24:40Fearne Cotton: I mean, all things that make you instantly feel happy. Yeah. Yeah, it's so great. I'm really buzzed about that area. I think it's going to be a place where you can just pop in, put a smile on your face and then leave happier. Definitely. And, you know, you can drop in and, you know, do these taster sessions and then, you know, see if it's for you and then take it on for your journey after Happy Place. Yeah, maybe line dancing is your new thing. Exactly. Or hula hooping. Hula hooping. This is it. I'm going to have to get in there. But there is something for everybody. So if you're not into, you know, like yoga, if you're not into kind of like doing a sandbar, but you want to try something, then, you know, this would be the area for you.

25:18Happy Hub. So you can come along to the festival and you can go for a tour, go shopping and, you know, the food as well. The food's so good. The food's amazing. The food's so good. I'm going to have to eat about eight lunches. And Hester, who heads up all the operations, has just, you know, done such an amazing job on the layout. So there is so much thought that goes into everything we do in terms of like how our visitors move around the festival. So it's really accessible and easy for them and where they sit to make sure there's enough chill out areas. We always have water on site as well to make sure that you can just bring your bottle and top up.

25:54Yeah, fill up whenever you want for free. Yeah, you know, we are non-alcohol at the event, which everyone always comments on what a safe space it is. It makes such a huge difference. Huge difference.

26:04Fearne Cotton: I mean, for us, it's an absolute no-brainer. I certainly don't want to have the responsibility of people pissed out of their heads doing a yoga class. That is a bad idea. So, you know, if you want to go to a music festival and get shit faced, I'm not going to judge you. I've done that a million times. I love doing that. But equally, come to Happy Place and know that you're going to be in a safe space with no drunk morons throwing beer everywhere and getting out of control. It's a leveler. everyone's there to feel good try something new and leave feeling better than when they arrived which I don't think you can say for many festivals no exactly and it's really important and I think yeah that just it just like even all of the you know like the security teams and people working they always say to me it's just such a nice event to work because you haven't got to deal with someone who's like peed in a field or like you know gone off wandering somewhere I mean I think the naughtiest thing that some of our guests do is they might have a cheeky fag, but you just go up to them and say, do you mind?

27:03Put that out, please. And they're ever so, oh really? But he's always the same person. I always catch the same person. Really? That's so funny. And it's normally at Tatton, they go off into the, like the wood fair. The trees are. The trees, yeah.

27:16Fearne Cotton: That's hilarious. I mean, one year we did have a man turn up with bows and arrows. Yes, we did. That we had to confiscate. Yes, we did. And he did, I mean, again, Esther was rather wonderful with him and she's very diplomatic but she was just trying to explain to him that you know in the world that we live at the moment it's probably not the best thing to walk around with even though he was saying to us they were duds i don't know why he does some kind of thing with them um she was just saying it's just being considerate to you know it's a female audience and you know let's let's perhaps not do that hey there it's wayfair here where delivery and setup are as easy as a few taps on your phone You're relaxing in an old hammock, scrolling Wayfair's app, when you spot it, a brand new patio set.

27:58Next thing you know, Wayfair delivers it right to your patio and sets it up. Oh, you need a new grill too? All right, Wayfair's got you covered. With Wayfair's room of choice delivery and fast expert setup on qualifying orders, life gets a little easier. Visit Wayfair.com or the Wayfair app.

28:14Fearne Cotton: Wayfair, every style, every home. You stopped waiting for permission and started building. Yourself, your dreams, your credit. Experian Boost could turn your on-time payments into instant FICO score gains. Every bill you paid could become proof of your power. Self-made? Absolutely. Self-funded? Experian could help you get there. Download the Experian app today. Results will vary. Not all payments are Boost eligible. Some may not see improved scores or approval odds. Not all lenders use credit information impacted by Experian Boost. See Experian.com for details. Experian. Hi, it's Sarah. I'm the founder of Olive and June.

28:49And can I tell you the one thing that always makes my day better? A fresh manicure. But who has the time or the money to go to the salon every week? That's why we created the Olive and June Gel Manny System. It gives you that same mani that you get at a salon for so much less. It comes with everything you need, a pro-level lamp, salon-grade tools, our damage-free gel polish that lasts up to 21 days. All you do is prep, paint, cure, and you're good to go. And the best part? It's super easy and so affordable. Each mani breaks down to$2. So let's skip that$80 salon appointment and get the salon quality look at home for so much less than on your schedule.

29:26Head to oliveandjune.com slash DIYgel20 and use code DIYgel20 for 20 % off your first gel mani system. That's oliveandjune.com slash DIYgel20. Code DIYgel20 for 20 % off your first gel mani system. I'm Jake Stouck, co-founder and CEO of Serval. We built Serval to automate the IT work that slows companies down. Onboarding, password resets, access to applications, my laptop stopped working. While employees wait for help, their real work is put on hold. IT desperately wants to automate this work, and that's why they need Serval. You just tell Serval what you want to automate in plain English, and it's built.

30:08No drag-and-drop workflows, no expensive consultants. employees get unblocked and IT teams go from drowning in tickets to building what actually matters with serval IT becomes the AI engine powering the entire company this is a new way to run IT we guarantee you'll automate 50 % of all tickets and we'll prove it to you in a free four-week pilot go to serval.com slash a cast that's s-e-r-v-a-l.com slash a cast

30:41Fearne Cotton: I mean, we do say every year. Obviously, like, I mean, there's so much to go into this one. But obviously, I'm a woman and I have a big female following podcast wise. Male podcasters, weirdly, do get a big female or more equality. They'll get men and women listening. Men don't want to listen to women talk, supposedly. So I have way less men, disproportionately less men listening to the podcast, therefore less men turning up to the festival. But it's not just that. I think well-being weirdly has always played to women. And we have loads of male teachers on the day, yoga teachers, breathwork practitioners, meditation teachers, people running creative workshops, arts and crafts.

31:26Fearne Cotton: Certainly, you know, probably equal men and women in the talks tent. Yes. Telling life stories or giving advice, etc. But still, there's so many women there. And every year, you know, someone will come up to me at a book signing and say, I should bring my husband next year. or I should bring my brother and his mates. And there is still this weird myth that we need to bust that wellbeing is just for women. We talk about this internally at Happy Place all the time. But wellness, wellbeing, whatever the hell you want to call it, is simply feeling all right. You don't have to do yoga. You don't have to do a sound bath.

32:00Fearne Cotton: It's feel good, isn't it? It's just feeling good. The talks are so feel good and Happy Place heroes. Oh, my God. This is actually my favourite bit. I've got so many favourite bits. Tell us more about Happy Place Heroes. This, for me, I get nervous doing this bit of the weekend. There's so many sides to Happy Place Heroes. There's the organisation that Amelia does beforehand and works really hard on that, you know, and then there's the actual on-site bit and there's two sides to that. There's the comedy side to it, which I'll get into, and then there's the actual stage side where we're all crying.

32:35We're all crying.

32:36Fearne Cotton: If anyone hasn't seen this at the festival, basically, we surprise someone in the audience by saying you've been nominated by your best mate your sister whoever you are our happy place hero we give them this amazing rapturous round of applause they come on stage I chat to them we've got a surprise video all about their life it's the most beautiful wholesome thing you've ever seen but behind the scenes you are stressed to your tits it's just because they so it's like we go undercover you're literally a detective. So we're like, yeah, we are, and Penelope, who I work with within the live team, and I sort of, and Matilda and Amelia, we're all trying to find this person and we.

33:19Who doesn't know that they need to be found. No, and sometimes they go off wondering and we're on the phone to whoever they're with and they're like, well, she's gone off here. And we're like, well, where's she gone? And then there was one last year that her husband had put her forward, but she didn't know her husband was coming or something. We had to hide him. I remember that. And then, and then it was literally, we're all on our like walkie talk, walkie talk is our radio. Sorry, Hester. We're on our radios, walkie talk is on our radios. And we're like, yes, we've, we've got to, we've got to eyes on, eyes on, eyes on.

33:47And then we're, we're then running up, like sort of following them without trying to not follow them, making sure we've got eyes on them in the talk stage. Cause obviously then you've got to climb over them to get them through round the back. So it is, it's, it's a, an undercover experience, but then you've done that. So your adrenaline's really high, but then actually when you're sitting down then you just you end up crying your eyes out because you've gone from like adrenaline adrenaline and then you're remote you just like so but it is one of my favorite i

34:14Fearne Cotton: absolutely love the habitat heroes i love that bit and we've done so many lovely things in the last few years to really make sure that whoever turns up feels like they're getting something super special so i loved last year that we left these yellow envelopes all around the site yeah and they were hidden it was like a bit of a treasure hunt and if you found one it might say go to this store and you get a free water bottle or go over here and you'll get a free smoothie or you've won yourself a BA voucher. Like it was amazing sort of small prizes to high-end prizes that were just, or you could jump the queue in the book signing area or whatever.

34:48Fearne Cotton: That was a lovely touch. I think thinking of more things like that makes the experience so lovely for the festival go up. Yeah, definitely. They went down so well and we put it out on our socials beforehand so everyone knew about it. So when they got there, they were looking for it. And it went, you know, literally soon as in the organised office, they were coming up with the envelopes and like, oh, I need to redeem this, I need to redeem this. And they were so happy. They were like so excited. I know we have attracted the most gorgeous crowd of people. Every time, you know, we walk around just going, everyone here is really nice.

35:17Fearne Cotton: And what I've really noticed in the last few years is an increase in people coming to the festival on their own. Oh, yes. Which is actually a very brave thing. I've only been to one event on my own, which is an Elton John gig. Love that. And I felt really odd walking. it's a strange thing like oh my god I'm sort of awkwardness have you got no one to talk to and you're just sort of standing there waiting for the show to start but we get a lot of people braving it and then they end up like meeting people and having a chat and then like leaving a little group and that's just so lovely it is lovely and I'm on the gate every every single morning of the festival opens I'm on the gate because I love to meet the customers and like talk to them and then you get to see them around and you do you have like conversation it's like oh I've come on my own I've booked this I've booked this I've booked this I want to go here and they've kind of like done their itinerary but then they do make friends because when they go into the talk stage it's you're all on benches so you can sit down next to somebody and share an experience but yeah it's a really it's a very collaborative festival where you can you've got groups of girls but you've got mums and daughters yeah um you know you've got families like mums who bring the husbands along and their kids because we've got a fantastic children's area as well I mean like literally It's one of the best children's areas.

36:30It's so good.

36:31Fearne Cotton: My goddaughter last year, who's four, was doing a fairy workshop. The best. Came away with wings and a wand. Couldn't believe her. They're amazing. It's just such a great space for the kids to play around, leave them with the dad, and then the mum can go off and have a nice little sand bath and have a moment to herself. If you were to turn up to the festival as a punter, what would you go for? Right, so I'd arrive. I'd go for a coffee straight away. Same. Then I would probably come and watch you first, obviously, in the morning. Then I would go and do a sound bath. Yeah. I'd do yoga. I would go into the happy hub.

37:08And then I would do the shopping. Yeah. And then I would go center stage and do some open. Because the center stage is fantastic because it's so, I mean, it's such a joyful moment when you've got like, you know, three, four hundred people. They're all doing like an activity. And it's moving a lot of the time. It is. It's really like collaborative. And it's really like everyone's just there. No one cares what you look like. No. And that's what I love about it. So I'd go and do something there. I would go up to the bookstore. Book signings all day. Amazing. And the bookstore's lovely. There's so many fantastic books there.

37:42I would go and have some amazing food. What else would I do? Oh, the expressive arts. Oh, I love that. I love it. Like literally, when they're doing the poetry reading, honestly, it's so crazy because you could drop a pin and you would hear it. I know. There's so much respect. The audience, our visitors are so respectful when someone's reading poetry or they're reciting something. They're just, they're so respectful and they're so quiet. It's so gorgeous.

38:09Fearne Cotton: We're so lucky we've had Donna Ashworth for the last few years. She's back this year. And she is someone that can command absolute concentration. You can turn up to that area whenever you want and sit and listen to her read her beautiful poems. And it is just a lovely moment of calm. It's like I try and just walk past it and have a little pit stop here and there just to like soak up some of that lovely energy. Because that's the one thing I guess for us is everybody else is having a lovely calm time. We're all like we're sprinting across. Yes, yes, yes, we do. We do. It's like rushing, necking, coughing.

38:45Fearne Cotton: Everyone's like, oh, have you done anything here today? I'm like, are you joking? I've done two book signings, two live podcasts. I'm about to do a little private chat in here. Like it's absolutely manic. So I do have fantasies about just going as a reveller and enjoying it and think, what would I do if I turned up? What sort of workshop? I'd love to go and do one of the arts and crafts workshops. Oh, yes, of course. Yeah, the arts and crafts. Because we've got everything in there from like watercolors to jewellery making. And it's just always, again, a nice place to sit. And I always try and pop in there and chat to everybody and see what they're making.

39:14Fearne Cotton: And then you get to take something home with you that you've made. And again, like some of, you know, my friends come up to the festival and they absolutely love, you know, they walk away with things. and I think my daughter did a class in there as well. She absolutely loved it. But again, it's just such a nice environment. It's so chilled in there. Because we do, when we're looking at the floor plan, make sure that we put kind of anything that's a little bit noisier in one area and anything that requires real calm and real chill in that area. So we do, you know, Hester and the team are so good at making sure that everything is in the right place so that the audience have such an amazing time and they're not like doing a class and there's like someone on the centre stage like playing drum and bass.

39:57Exactly. And we do that at the end of the day. We have DJs at the end. Everyone has a good old dance.

40:02Fearne Cotton: I love that moment. Yeah, it is wonderful. That's what I think people have like, they've done a whole day at the festival and they do just let loose and people are sober dancing. One of my best mates, Rebecca, came to Chiswick a couple of years ago and she was dancing. I think it was Rob DeBank was on stage playing music. And she was like, I don't think I've ever danced like this sober. like everyone's kind of raving sober in a field no one cares inhibition's gone that's just such a lovely moment yeah it is and like I think last year we had the rain at Tatton so people were actually dancing in the rain dancing in the rain take me dancing yes make it in the rain so good now we don't often like to blow our own trumpet in a really overt way yeah but I think we should because our ticket prices are so low yes for a whole day out yeah of everything we've just said that is something that is important to us making this festival and wellbeing as a whole accessible.

40:56Fearne Cotton: And if you look at all the other events and festivals, we are down there at the low end making sure that people can come along at a fair price and have a bloody great day all whole weekend out. Yeah, I think we are. And also what we do do is make sure that you can, because obviously you can book extra classes, but you don't have to do that. There is enough there so you don't have to book extra classes. So you can just have your ticket price. But if you want to add a class on, you can do. and you know they're only the bookable classes so that we can you know kind of like cover our fees to pay for like you know our we obviously have to do that on a business level but it's not like we have to pay the team we have to cover costs of course we have to do but yeah we are really inclusive in our ticket pricing and as I say there is something for everybody so you don't have to book a class you can just come and spend the full day there doing absolutely everything that you want to do.

41:48So, yes. You could do a whole day of like watching talks and shopping

41:51Fearne Cotton: like my mum does. Lynn wears a four-inch heel. Love it. Doesn't do a dropper yoga. Buys a load of stuff in the shopping area. Watches a couple of talks. Goes home. Lovely job. She had a good day out. Yeah. I'm so proud of what we're doing. But what I will say is we couldn't do any of this without you and the amazing team. And you are so exceptional at what you do. So I want to say a massive thank you to you, Nikki, for all the hard work that you put in year in, year out, and on the days themselves that are absolutely bonkers. Thank you. And we couldn't do this without you and, you know, you being our kind of, like, inspiration.

42:28And, you know, we love you lots and we love doing it. And here's to many more. We'll be sitting here maybe in another 10 years. Crikey, I'll be close to 60. God almighty. I will be 60. Oh, my God. I can't think about it. I might have a grey streak in my hair by then. oh my god

42:46Fearne Cotton: I can't even think about it but look we do we want to keep it going we want people to come back we want to grow we want to grow we want to grow come on Nikki I love it from one hard working mum with a whole heap of drive to another we shouldn't feel ashamed about that you know we're here to make shit happen and I absolutely love you for it so Nikki thank you so much for being on Happy Place and for everything you do thank you very much thank you for having me it's been joyful Thank you.

43:43Yep, he's planning another project. So this Father's Day at Lowe's, tap into free gifts for Dad. Get a free Select Craftsman Power Tool when you buy a Craftsman V20 Charger with 2-amp-hour and 4-amp-hour batteries. Plus, get a free DeWalt Power Tool when you buy a Select 20-volt Max XR 4-amp-hour battery kit. Dad knows our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Valid through 714, while supplies last. Selection varies by location. You stopped waiting for permission and started building yourself, your dreams, your credit. Experian Boost could turn your on-time payments into instant FICO score gains. Every bill you paid could become proof of your power.

44:25Self-made? Absolutely. Self-funded? Experian could help you get there. Download the Experian app today. Results will vary. Not all payments are Boost eligible. Some may not see improved scores or approval odds. Not all lenders use credit information impacted by Experian Boost. See Experian.com for details. Thank you.