Sun drenched, super chill and often exhilarating, Love Supreme was a total delight this year. I've always enjoyed this jazz and soul festival, but this time around – its 14th year – there was something tangibly different in the air. It feels like it's fully grown into its personality. It's come of age and it's become, dare I say it, a staple of the festival season.

The crowd has become notably and wonderfully more diverse over the past few years, and this year was its most diverse to date. There are still plenty of grey-haired jazz aficionados on site, of course, but they and their camping chairs no longer dominate. They're now joined by far more young people and a much broader ethnic mix, giving the festival a fresher, more relevant feel and an excitement to proceedings that wasn't always there in Love Supreme's earlier iterations.

Hats off to whoever curates the festival. As always there was plenty of excellent jazz on offer this year, but for those of us who lack the jazz gene there was also a whole lot of soul too – vintage and current. Highlights for me included Lulu (if you're over 40 - not that one), the Temptations (still strutting their stuff, albeit there's just one original member left), hip hop legends de la Soul, heartfelt rapper Loyle Carner (at times his words were truly moving), and disco royalty in the shape of Sister Sledge, whose positive energy and joyous charm had the mainstage crowd smiling and dancing like no one was watching. I was watching as it happens, but hey no judgement, after all my dance steps are nothing to write home about. Oh yes, and while not really my bag, headliners the Ezra Collective were an excellent choice to kick the weekend off on the Friday evening.

In the best possible sense, there's a kind of innocence about Love Supreme. It's not a particularly hedonistic festival, albeit the two late night dance venues get pretty wild, and I'm sure there are a few illicit substances around as well as the alcohol from the numerous bars. But overall the vibe is relaxed, friendly and languidly long-hot-summer-esque. The beautiful downland setting helps of course – there's an energy about the gentle East Sussex countryside that breathes peace into your soul.

The layout was a little changed this year. The healing area has swelled for example and there's a new Brave 'wellness' tent next to it hosting talks and suchlike. The children's area seemed to have grown too, with tons of activities for kids put on throughout the weekend – Love Supreme is a great place if you're a family with young kids. Watching the little ones leaping like physically-challenged salmon to burst the bubbles that appeared from the dedicated bubble tent was a small heartwarming highlight of the weekend.

Other changes included a more colourful and better selection of shop stalls (not least the second-hand clothes shop – I can never resist a rummage), one or two new food stalls (the selection is good) and, disappointingly, a greater corporate presence on site. I understand the financial pressures that underlie this, but having a major phone provider's ads and exclusive venues on site doesn't feel in keeping to me. I also found it challenging to find out what/who was on, when and where. Yes, it's possible to find this online, but that involves downloading everything in advance because the signal on site is hopeless as always at festivals. You can buy a lanyard guide for an extortionate £10, but the old central what's on board has gone and I grieve its passing. One last moan, and I can't help myself even though it's standard at most festivals: the length of the shower queues did my head in.

Enough of the moans though as they are the smallest of irritations in an otherwise wonderful weekend. Love Supreme is a really fun and well run mid-sized (and growing) festival. It's relaxed and friendly and there really is something for everyone to enjoy. I haven't even mentioned, for example, the discussion tent, which this year included interesting debates about spy novels, progressive politics and Donald Trump. Separate discussions you understand.

Other than suffering my usual bouts of FOMO (there's just too much to do at Love Supreme – surely the sign of a good festival?), I had a fantastic time this year. All things being equal, I have every intention of coming back next year.