TEAMING UP WITH WIFE CLAIRE FOR THIS YEAR'S BIG FEASTIVAL ALEX JAMES ON BALANCING HIS LIFE IN BLUR WITH BRINGING UP FIVE CHILDREN ON THE FAMILY'S COTSWOLDS FARM

It's that time of year when Alex James and his family roll up their sleeves and start the preparations to welcome 25,000odd visitors to their home in the Cotswolds for the Big Feastival, their annual food and music extravaganza.

"My CV reads: 'A lot of tunes, a lot of cheese, a lot of children, lives on a farm, loves a party," the Blur bassist says. "It's no small undertaking, running a festival, but it sits completely within my preoccupations."

Our exclusive shoot and interview with the affable musician, whose love of a good anecdote makes for entertaining company, takes place at the sprawling 17th-century, honey-toned farmhouse in Kingham, Oxfordshire that he shares with his wife Claire and their five children - Geronimo, 20, 18-yearold twins Artemas and Galileo, Sable, who turns 16 next month, and Beatrix, 14.

It is also the HQ for his other business ventures, including his award-winning artisan cheese and Britpop sparkling wine, while he continues to perform and tour with one of Britain's most successful and enduring bands.

UNITED BY MUSIC

But it is the three-day family-friendly event, this year featuring headliners Snow Patrol and Becky Hill, that gives him the most joye specially when his teenagers get involved with the DJing.

"I gave Beatrix a go last year and she was up there, banging out Rihanna," he says proudly.

"Then she called her sister up, because it was her birthday, then her brothers joined her, and then me and Claire and both the grannies were up there.

"Beatrix put on We Are Family by Chic and we were all bouncing up and down together. It was a purely magical moment, the culmination of everything we'd been working towards."

Alex, 55, and Claire, who met in a nightclub in 2002 and married in 2003, bought the farm on their honeymoon, moving there from London shortly afterwards.

Beautifully renovated over the years, the main house combines a contemporary look and a farmhouse aesthetic, with six bedrooms, several bathrooms and a mezzanine library, glass-ceilinged extension, large kitchen, snug and family living room.