Cerys Matthews is sitting with her trademark panama hat poking out of a tote bag bearing the slogan: ‘Tracey Emin: Books Are My Bag’, ordering ceviche of sea bass at London’s Café Royal. She’s asking if the chef wouldn’t mind chopping her up a side of fresh chilli. Her voice is lush and scorched around the edges, her hands on the lively side. For all the world she looks smartly dressed and urbane for her various radio and business meetings, but in her eyes she’s a festival girl: straw in her hair, campfire smuts on her face, Cuban music bringing a swing to her hips, a dish of slow-cooked proper food in her hand…
PHOTOGRAPHS: NENAD OBRADOVIC. *WINNERS MUST BE 18 OR OLDER; PRIZE CANNOT BE EXCHANGED; TICKETS VALID FOR THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL ONLY
Whether you know Cerys from her freewheeling days as the singer in her band Catatonia (check out the tracks Mulder and Scully and The Ballad of Tom Jones if not), or as presenter of the brilliantly kaleidoscopic BBC Radio 6 Music slot on Sunday mornings (see far right), you should also know that she is co-founder of The Good Life Experience festival held in late summer in Flintshire, Wales. And no, this isn’t just a plug; it goes a long way to unearthing what this woman from South Wales is all about these days.