The 28th WOMAD music festival proved another hit with 40,000 revellers descending on Charlton Park near Malmesbury for three days of eclectic music, a chilled out atmosphere and food from around the globe.

Friday night’s headline act Ozomatli drew the biggest crowd of the first full day with their mix of rock, hip-hop and salsa, while legendary afro beat pioneer Tony Allen wowed an audience in the Siam tent.

On Saturday afternoon some fans missed out on the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain after their performance was rescheduled to the Open Air Stage following other artists having their flight delayed.

In the evening British singer songwriter Imogen Heap stole the show with her mix of electronic pop rock. Engaging the audience with playful banter she even conducted them in a three part sing-along.

Her band also made good use of a variety of instruments which at one point included the percussionist playing a wood saw with an improvised violin bow.

On the Open Air Stage Malian afro pop star Salif Keita drew a massive crowd while former Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews closed the day with her traditional Welsh roots music on the Radio 3 Stage.

On Sunday Aussie favourite Rolf Harris entertained the crowd in the Siam tent before the Afro Celt Sound System summed up the WOMAD musical experience with their fusion of African and Celtic drumming, dance beats and keyboard riffs.

Festival director Chris Smith was delighted with this year’s show.

With hundreds of artists and site staff spread across nine stages as well as thousands camping in tents there was plenty to keep organisers busy over the three and a half days of WOMAD.

Mr Smith was especially grateful for the perfect weather.

He said: “We seemed to have someone on our side regarding the weather.

“We were checking the radar and expecting the rain from last week to hit us, but in the end it kind of did a body swerve and went round us.

“It was actually perfect weather. It didn’t rain and it wasn’t too hot. If the temperature gets too high we can get problems of overheating.”

Mr Smith’s personal highlights included being sung to by Aussie legend Rolf Harris on Sunday.

He said: “There were so many great performances it’s hard to pick my favourite.

“Two highlights though were the performance of Gill Scott Heron, which was better than I could have imagined, and also being sung happy birthday by Rolf Harris on stage.

“That was a lot of fun.”

Over the weekend the news broke that Charlton Park had secured the festival for a further five years after 2011, which means WOMAD will be in Malmesbury until 2016.

Mr Smith said: “We’re really pleased it is a great site and we’re glad to have got an agreement with Lord Suffolk to keep it here.”

Despite more than 40,000 people attending the festival and having as many as 35,000 on site at one time traffic problems were avoided.

Mr Smith said: “We didn’t have any traffic issues in the locality and logistically it went really smoothly.

“We were on site for two and a half weeks beforehand getting everything ready.

“We’ve worked hard at earning the trust of both local people living around the site and also visitors to the festival and we’re glad everything went well again this year.”

Mr Smith now has to clear the site for Lord Suffolk to land his plane.

Chief Inspector Gavin Williams said reported crimes were at a similar low level to last year.

He said: “I think there was only one crime reported on Thursday night, which is fantastic.

“We were very proactive this year and targeted the tent area specifically.”

Pictures by Diane Vose