The Independent, 22/07/00, Aiofe O'Riordan

Pastoral pleasures for town and country. The V&A is opening late and courting a hip, young crowd. And the main attraction? A traditional country fête in a grand urban setting.

Village fêtes are not events you would typically associate with central London in July. The bucolic splendour of a village in Oxfordshire perhaps, but guessing the weight of a cake in SW7?

But the village fête being held on 28 and 29 July promises to be a fête like no other. The talents of over 20 young British designers have been harnessed to give this quintessentially English event a thoroughly modern makeover. As Susan Lambert, chief curator of the V&A contemporary department puts it, "the V&A is staging one of Britain's most traditional occasions in the most untraditional way. We want to draw people into the fête atmosphere where they can meet designers and buy their work."

The fête is part of an ongoing series staged by the museum to promote its late opening times (they have proved so popular that they have been extended to include Friday as well as Wednesday nights). It's also a way of attracting a younger, funkier crowd and drawing attention to the contemporary galleries. There will be a chance to visit the Ron Arad Before and After Now retrospective as well as one of the last opportunities to catch the Art Nouveau exhibition and other select-ed galleries. Friday night visitors can also take a guided tour with a curator.

Sponsored by Bloomberg, the fête itself is a collaboration between Scarlet Projects, a recent partnership of Sarah Gaventa (who curated the Stealing Beauty exhibition at the ICA last year) and Claire Catterall. The duo, who come fresh from organising the recent Clerkenwell Design Walk, were approached by the V&A to come up with a concept and, says Sarah, "We thought it would be more interesting to do something that was informal and interactive - something that reflected the current trends in design with a more relaxed and friendly attitude."

The result is a fête with a twist - 23 of Britain's hottest young designers such as Bump, Pascal Anson, FAT, Born Free, Fibre, David and Azumi, Alex Rich, Inflate, Block Architecture and Anthony Burrill. Each of them was given the opportunity to come up with an individual interpretation of the games and attractions familiar from regular fêtes. "We approached designers who already possessed a certain level of Englishness in their work, which we thought would translate well into the theme," says Gaventa.

And translate they have, so don't expect the usual coconut shy and prize marrows. Instead, you will be queuing up for a game of designer ping-pong or taking turns to cool off on Pascal Anson's ice chair Alternatively, the Bump design team will offer Splat the Rat on Friday evening, with plate smashing on Saturday. For Friday night's Splat the Rat, the rodent in question is a bean bag rat which travels down a pipe and must be squashed when it passes through the opening. Successful entrants will be awarded a pint of bumpy scrumpy cider, but Jon Morgan of Bump is sceptical as to whether the team will be able to award all of the 500 pints they have on standby. "It's actually very tricky. To get the rat right at the correct moment, you have to listen to it coming down the pipe.

On Saturday, for a small fee, participants will be able to indulge in some therapeutic plate smashing. According to Morgan, "we exhibited some plates last year at the ICA called The Divorcee's China Set which gave us the idea." The basic principal is simple, he says. "You pay your fee and you get to throw one of the 1000 Greek plates at a cardboard cut-out figure of your own imagining - your boyfriend, wife, husband. Each plate will be emblazoned with a word usually associated with arguments." Expect a high ratio of expletives.

FAT (Fashion, Architecture, Taste), whose diverse projects range from a pavilion at Belsay Hall in Northumberland to public art by the sea in the Hague, are planning a United Cakes stall. The contentious sites as The Pentagon, Sellafield and The Falklands are, as Sam Jacobs puts it, "architecturally unsavoury." He continues, "we thought it would be Interesting to make something a world away from the normal language of cakes, things that are industrial and not very natural. Objects that ordinarily, you wouldn't dream of putting in your mouth." But he asserts that the cakes will taste delicious - as will all the special fête food. Not to be outdone by memories of Laura Ashley clad ladies serving sandwiches and cream teas, there will be a special line in designers' hot dogs, strawberries and cream and a bar serving Pimms and cocktails.

If none of that appeals, you can trick your friends by having your photograph taken by Fly in front of a tropical beach backdrop. Even the traditional balloon race will be given a techno update by Fibre: visitors can follow the path of their balloon on the Fibre website.

On Friday night, furniture designer and recent Jerwood Prize winner Michael Marriott will be spinning discs as Barry the DJ. There will also be a lecture on "The Strange Case of the English fête: From Albert Herring to Hoxton Square" by Michael Bracewell. Saturday will be family-oriented, with fancy dress and face painting.

As Sarah Gaventa puts it: "It's a great way to meet the designers and pick up some of their specially designed objects which will be on sale, along with T-shirts and other items all displayed on authentically wobbly trestle tables."

But you can't have a real village fête without a "best in the show" prize. That will be taken care of by the judging talents of Ron Arad and Stephen Bayley. Altogether, a thoroughly modern spin on the notion of rus in urbe.