Chris Evans’ fabulously fun and family-orientated Carfest kicked off on Friday with a huge array of attractions to suit all ages.

My family of four attended the first of the three-day event, sponsored by bppulse.

The sun shone over the festival grounds in Overton, Hampshire, as we started the day in the car track area watching the Drag Show Fire-up and wandering among all the classic and super cars in the paddock before a browse of the many trade stands, where we booked a test drive in a VW Buzz ID.

The festival has eight sections: Carfest, celebrating all things motoring; Musicfest, where the mainstage and arena is; Starfest, with talks from comedians and authors; Kidsfest, with the world’s biggest bouncy castle amongst attractions; Retrofest, including funfair; Spafest, with ice baths; Foodfest, featuring Britain’s best farmer’s markets and cookery demonstrations; and Adventurefest.

Carfest is incredibly family-friendly and safe enough for older children to go off on their own and meet up with parents later. Keen to listen to some of the many talks, we left the teens to do their own thing while we had a wander in the Starfest area.

Here, I caught the tail end of comedian and writer Ben Miller talking about, among other things, his favourite film to have starred in being Johnny English – as it was the closest thing to being in a Bond movie. I also watched Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades talking about ‘life lessons’ and the importance of passing down the craftsmanship to the younger generation. This preceded Ed Byrnes in conversation about his latest tour Tragedy Plus Time, where he discussed sad experiences that after time become funny enough to use as material. He was incredibly earnest and hilariously witty.

As the sun went down, the four of us selected supper individually from four of the scores of different food vendors, while reconvening at our picnic chairs to watch the music on the main stage – including Cornish rockers Reef, Scouting for Girls and Beverley Knight. We then made our way to the stage to watch the two rock legend main acts, introduced by an overwhelmingly excited Chris Evans. First Johnny Marr – former lead guitarist in The Smiths (who went on to co-form alternative dance group Electronic, also working with the Pretenders) – playing his own material as well as classic Smiths numbers This Charming Man, There is a Light and Panic. Finally, the staggeringly cool former Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft entertained the huge crowd, belting out a couple of his solo hits as well as Verve numbers Sonnet, The Drugs Don't Work, Lucky Man and the anthemic Bittersweet Symphony. He was amazing and a fitting end to a superb first day of the festival.

There is still availability for Sunday, with tickets starting at £21 for under 16s. Go to www.carfest.org