V Festival always keeps us coming back to Weston Park

It's that time of the year again when for one weekend and one weekend only it's cool to be seen wearing wellies, all thoughts of washing go out the window and around 85,000 music fans descend on Weston Park,

. It can only be V Festival 2011.

The proud musical tradition that is V is a weekend where – quite literally – anything goes.

The uber-cool – sporting perfectly coiffed hair, slickly glossed lips and clad in the latest designer gear – mingle happily alongside the greasy-haired, eye-liner-stained grunge kids and the many, many worlds of modern music quite literally collide in a (usually slightly soggy) field on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border.

It might sound like a bit of a circus but where else in the world could you indulge a guilty pleasure like X Factor golden boy Olly Murs on the same line-up as kings of cool Chase & Status? And all washed down with a warm pint of lager.

Teeny boppers can drown themselves in the likes of The Wanted, Parade and Chipmunk before being taught a thing or two about real music by the likes of the super slick Example and the vocally flawless Jessie J.

Yes fans of razor-sharp rap will delight in a headline set by Eminem and a visit by his troupe D12 but they can wash themselves clean again with a set by the stunning princess of pop, Rihanna.

Often dismissed as the least 'hardcore' of the music festivals, with Glastonbury taking the crown for longevity and the Reading and Leeds festival flying the rock flag, V has still somehow managed to win itself a place in the hearts of festival-goers by simply mixing it all up a bit.

When it comes to the V-going crowd, no-one is too cool – trust me there's plenty of posing in the park – and yet no-one is not quite cool enough – I mean, how seriously can a festival which features N Dubz really take itself?

Glastonbury might have brought us diverse headliners in U2, Coldplay and Beyonce but V dares to do things more differently still.

With four stages to choose from, headliners are so diverse that some music fans will be genuinely torn between which act to line up for on what day – and with Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal and Chase & Status all taking to the stage at the same time, it's hardly surprising.

On Saturday dance legends Calvin Harris and Pendulum and superstar DJ Jaguar Skills will go head to head with main stage headliner Eminem but you can rest assured that each stage will be more than surrounded.

This slightly hashed together line-up that V rolls out each year actually works in the festival's favour – it helps to create a laidback atmosphere rather than a 'scramble to see every act' mentality, with many music fans just casually lounging around the arena oblivious to who is even playing where.

So whatever your taste in music or your outlook on the festival experience, you're guaranteed a good weekend in that slightly soggy field after all . . .