It's easy to see why some people think Secret Garden Party sounds about as much fun as being trepanned. Posher than Latitude, more garish than Bestival, it's essentially 6,000 well-heeled twenty-somethings running around in Cheetara costumes for three days.

Park your cynicism, though, and there's much to love. It's the least money-grabbing of all the festivals – there's not a trace of sponsorship, you can drink your own booze, and they don't even try to sell you a programme on the way in. In short, it's the festival Naomi Klein would go to - if she was into inhaling laughing gas and dressing up as Danger Mouse.

Here are a few spectacles that are pretty much unique to Secret Garden Party.

1. Rampant nitrous oxide abuse
I've noticed more and more people inhaling laughing-gas balloons at festivals in recent years – but now the craze has gone properly overground. They were everywhere at SGP. I even saw a young mum sucking one up while her kids looked on (it's legal, see). So what's it like? A bit like poppers – a giggly head-rush that lasts about 5 seconds. Utterly pointless, then, but pretty funny. Observe:

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