pop will eat itself

Hi all,

I'm coming from Australia for the in November. It's as if someone came up to me and said "if you were to put on a festival, who would you have on the line up?" so clearly I had to go, even if it's on the other side of the world. It will also be my first visit to the UK.

Anyone who went previously got any tips?

I do have a few specific questions:
What's the best way to get from London to Minehead on the Friday? I pretty much don't want to miss out on anything, but the trip planners all say it takes about 3-5 hours to get there and I'd hate to have any delays... Would it be better to book an Airbnb in Somerset somewhere beforehand?
Is it a festival where you move stage to stage, with clashes possible?
I'm particularly concerned about the weather, considering it will be late autumn there, how wet/cold will it be?
What's the food like? Is it standard festival fare?
They say I can take up to 12 400ml cans of beer, so suggestions welcome!

Hi
I'm not sure of the answers to any of this but I'll try and others hopefully will know more

Traffic is probably bad on a Friday during rush hour. Give yourself plenty of time. If you're driving there at 3am you'll probably be fine but Friday/Rush hour is bad. We did Brighton to Weston Super-mare this time last year and it took about 6/7 hours and mainly down to the last bit.

I don't drive (bit blind - so not allowed) but I'm often a passenger from Brighton to Birmingham and the M3/M4 bit of the M25 is usually bad. I guess those roads will be bad too. My chauffeur is usually very angry at that part of the M25

I assumed the shiine stuff was basically a Butlins weekend with music. No idea how many stages but I assumed you'd be able to leave the music venue(s) and go back to your room/chalet. Don't know if Butlins is known to you but it's a holiday camp so you're on site in a room/chalet/ log cabin ?? and walk to the other parts of interest. Part of the ticket price includes your room/chalet. Google butlins! Hi-De-Hi! etc. I guess you could add-on an extra night at Butlins if you wanted to?? I msy have completely mis understood so double check or that.

I assume you're free to go back to your room to "freshen up" between sets. No idea about booze but that might be related what you can take into the music bit but I'm guessing you could potentially keep everything in your room. I've no idea if you're searched before entering Butlins. I'm guessing there will be shops on site too but prices are probably marked up??

Anyone stayed at Butlins recently? The butlins I went to had one big dome area with 1 stage, shops, resturants, pubs etc . But maybe they make room for more stages?? outside or something.

Jas