At 1,732 feet above sea level, the Tan Hill Inn is Britain’s highest pub. Located in a wild and remote part of the Yorkshire Dales, it must also qualify as one of the most inaccessible. Where better, then, for maverick psychedelic rockers British Sea Power, who have previously played such unusual venues as caves and sea forts, to hold their own boutique music festival.

The intimate surroundings certainly created a unique atmosphere for the festival-goers. With just 200 guests and an audience which included a full set of Arctic Monkeys (there to celebrate their manager’s impending marriage), as well as Tan, the pub’s resident sheep, this was always going to be a slightly surreal affair. Live music was not the only entertainment on offer over the weekend – guests were treated to displays of duck herding, falconry and husky racing and were invited to take part in the ‘Tan Hill Olympics’, which included hotly-contested events such as doughnut eating, egg-throwing and a loudest voice competition.

We were treated to excellent sets by, among others, Dirty Cakes, Silvery and ILikeTrains and two epic and highly vigorous performances by British Sea Power themselves, who also played a live soundtrack to the film Man of Aran. Their triumphant Saturday night show, which heavily featured material from the Mercury Award-nominated album Do You Like Rock Music?, included soaring versions of instrumental masterpiece The Great Skua and their pro-immigration anthem Waving Flags.

Following a brief adjournment at midnight for the lighting of a bonfire and fireworks, the band returned to the barn for a chaotic finale. Joined on stage by the Klaxons – and half the audience – during a pulsating hour-long jam for the encore, band members surfed over the heads of the crowd while fans, drunk on the festival beer brewed especially for the occasion, literally swung from the beams.

With guests staying either in the pub itself or camping on the moors, the merriment carried on into Sunday, all safe in the knowledge that only the sheep and ducks were being disturbed. If you party like British Sea Power party, it helps to be in the middle of nowhere.

Editor's choice

• Guns N’Roses: Chinese Democracy
• The 50 Biggest Movies of 2009
• Quantum of Solace