You have to admire it. For 40 years Cambridge has hosted a festival that cheerfully mixes genres yet retains a loyal following from the folk music fraternity. It's riding high, with the BBC increasing its involvement to become the major sponsor, and giving it greater coverage on air.

The festival is still a relatively small affair, with 10,000 squeezed into the cosy confines of Cherry Hinton Hall grounds. Manager Eddie Barcan wanted a forward-looking festival for the 40th anniversary, with plenty of new acts. But there was no shortage of old friends, like Loudon Wainwright III and Ralph McTell. Californian Blues star Keb' Mo' returned for the first time since his UK debut in 1995, and drew a willing crowd into his web of refined blues guitar. Young singer-songwriter Jim Moray had previously played a showcase in the Club Tent, and this year brought his impressive folk-rock quartet to the main stage.

On Stage Two, you could dance to Last Night's Fun, an engaging trio of concertina, pipes and guitar, whose inventive arrangements of traditional repertoire included an intense, unrecognisable Whisky in the Jar.

But the real joy of Cambridge comes when the audience get their instruments out. Where else but the Club Tent could you hope to see four Norwegian men indulging their Cajun music hobby, and announcing that they formed their band, the Cajun Mock Frogs, at that very spot 12 years ago?