IT promises the authentic Glastonbury experience without the inconvenience of having to mix with the raving hoi polloi.

People who have booked into a luxury campsite can watch bands such as Coldplay later this month while being waited on by staff offering drinks, fresh towels and massages.

The only drawback: a £6,000 price tag per couple, which puts it on a par with spending a weekend in a deluxe suite at the Ritz in London.

The row of luxury tents being pitched on a hillside overlooking the stage is the brainchild of Jenny Lederman, a former barrister who lives on a farm near the festival site.

She has decided to cash in on the weaknesses of middle-aged rock fans with healthy bank balances who once experienced festival life in the raw but now want to do so in comfort.

The introduction of “Camp Kerala” as the latest thing in rock chic will add to the criticism in some quarters of the growing commercialisation of Glastonbury.

Those inside the tented village will rave on in luxurious, Indian-designed tents more reminiscent of the last days of the British Raj than a hippie-era tepee. They can order hot food cooked by South African chefs flown in for the occasion, drink at a bar open 18 hours a day and enjoy a massage from an on-site therapist.

Previous attempts by locals to cash in on Glastonbury have usually amounted to selling home-made scrumpy or sandwiches.

But if Lederman, 49, succeeds in hiring out all her 50 tents she stands to take more than £250,000 in rent. Three of the tents are being auctioned to raise money for charities.

Michael Eavis, whose Worthy Farm near the village of Pilton, Somerset, has hosted the festival since 1970, is credited with giving a boost to Britain’s camping industry, but Lederman’s concept elevates it to a new level.

“It is going to be wonderful,” she said. “Camp Kerala is aimed at giving the most comfortable camping experience imaginable. This is for people who love Glastonbury and want to do it in luxury.”

But Mutter Slater, 55, who was the frontman with the rock band Stackridge when they opened the first Glastonbury festival, said: “Some people have a brass neck. I doubt if Michael Eavis paid £6,000 for all the acts on the first line-up.

“In those days the toilets were a trench dug in the ground and Marc Bolan wouldn’t let Eavis touch the door of his Bentley Continental because he thought he was a grubby farmer.”

But Lederman, whose husband David, a QC, will join her as village host, defends the price because of the quality of the pavilion-type tents.

Based on a traditional style used by maharajas when they went out tiger shooting, each is 28ft by 13ft with a big enough bedroom to house a king-size bed. They also have an open veranda at the front with steamer chairs so guests can recline while tapping their heels to songs such as Coldplay’s Speed of Sound.

“It is a bit posh, but good luck to Jenny,” Eavis said. “She is one of a new generation of neighbours who are on the side of the festival rather than being grumpy about it.”

The £3,000-a-head charge has not stopped a flurry of interest from people who want to escape a festival site that heavy rain can turn into a quagmire.

For an extra payment, visitors can fly in by helicopter and land in an adjacent field. An 8ft security fence will keep other festival goers at bay.

Michael Pitney, 41, who runs an import and export business, has booked a tent to share with Stina, his wife. “I first went in 1982,” he said. “The tickets were probably £8 or £9 and Van Morrison was on, though I don’t remember everything.”

For the less well-heeled, Glastonbury can still be done on a budget. Millets, the outdoor retailer, has introduced a new “starter” festival tent complete with two sleeping bags and two roll mats for £49.99.

The downside is that you may have to pitch your tent in a sea of identical shelters in an area called Lost Vagueness.

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