Size: 1500

Location: Between Haverhill and Sudbury, Essex

Website: www.bigbearfest.org

Big Bear Fest is a small charity festival set up in memory of a vibrant young man who died unexpectedly from Meningitis at the tender age of 24.  The annual event celebrates a life full of love, music and laughter and raises funds for Meningitis UK in the process.

A great day out for a great cause – and you can camp too!

What are the highlights for kids and families?

Live music, inflatable rides, jugglers, stilt walkers, fire performers, camping, magic shows, children’s play tent (face painting, drawing, etc)

What makes Big Bear Fest unique?

The Big Bear Fest is unique because it offers the same level of professionalism found at large festivals like V but still has a fantastic atmosphere based on fun for all with everybody looking out for everyone else.

According to the organisers, you will not experience anything like the atmosphere of love and laughter at any other festival.

Site and Facilities:

The campsite and car parking is right next to the festival arena. It is self contained offering maximum security and safety.

The site is reasonably level and suitable for push chairs.

Tickets:

With camping:
Adult £30
Children (11-15) £15

Day Tickets:
Adult standard day £25
Children (11-15yrs) £12.50

All children under 11 are FREE!

www.bigbearfest.org

Touching message from Sam’s family:

The Big Bear Fest is now in its second year after a very successful launch and first festival last September.  It came about after we lost our son last year, Sam Bearman to Meningitis, at the age of 24.  It was so terrible to lose him and left us all so broken hearted and empty, as you can imagine, but it was also horrendous the way he was treated and misdiagnosed in his last hours.

Our festival has several aims, each as important to us. The first, is our way of remembering our son’s life in a celebration that matched how he lived his, through music, laughter, love, sharing and caring.  The second is to raise the profile of Meningitis and to make parents aware that they need to act quickly and not be deflected by, “professionals”. 

As a parent YOU know your child better than anyone and if you feel they are not right then insist on action.  Sam, never had a rash, a stiff neck or an aversion to light – the only symptom of meningitis he had was a head ache – but we knew he wasn’t right and the hospital, ambulance staff and the first doctor he saw wouldn’t listen to us.  As a consequence, he received appalling treatment for a young man who was basically, dying.

We do not want one parent to have to go through our living hell and the more parents we can make aware of this evil disease the better.

Lastly, we raise money for Meningitis UK and also donate small amounts to charities/public that benefit children, or the disadvantaged. We raised £5,000 for Meningitis UK last year and hope to do the same again.  You can find out more about about our charity at the link below.

Kindest regards,

Lee & all at Big Bear Fest

Big Bear Fest is the working name of The Sam Bearman Trust: Charity Registered No: 1142816

Review by: Tezgloss (with 2 kids aged 5 and 2)

Great little festival, with big name bands and very reasonably priced, fab for kids and for us!!!

Getting to the festival:

We live quite local so usually get there as soon as gates open.  This is our 4th year and last year was the first year there were any problems in the camping area, but it was their first year on the new site.  We have been assured it will be much better this year, and it can’t have been that bad because we are still going back for more!

Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:

The line up has been amazing every year.   There’s always plenty of space for the kids to run wild.  There’s a great children’s area with lots of different stuff on all the time.  The kids love to play with poi and hoops etc.

What would you change or do to  improve the event?

Putting the Dance Tent further away from the Kid’s Area, and not letting gangs of lads in the Family Camping area.

More shelters in main arena for if it rains.

Site and Facilities:

Toilets were very good most of time.  The site’s very easy to get round.

Did you feel safe?

It’s very friendly, no problems with crowds.  Amazingly relaxed atmosphere.  Security evident but not intrusive.

Would you go again?

Yes. We do it yearly.

10/10

Most Memorable Moment?

Dreadzone on the last night a couple of years ago, the kids had gone to sleep and we bounced/danced around the pushchair, it was about -5 that night but they kept us nice and warm!

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Review by: Anonymous (with 2 kids aged 6 and 2)

The children managed to get really close to the music as its never too crowded and therefore they could see everything.    We have spent the last two summer breeze festivals bathed in sunshine, great music and fabulous crowds, It is an intimate festival where you can relax knowing your children are not far away. There are some activities provided for the children (face paints, large garden games, clown) – it would be great to see this developed further with craft activities. The food and beer are great and there are a few shops too. I would recommend this as a great first festival for children due to the small intimate feel.

Getting to the festival:

We didn’t camp last year and just drove in. It’s very close parking to the main event (metres) great for trips back to the car if needed.

Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:

There was a clown and face painting. Queues were short too.

What would you change or do to  improve the event?

More children friendly food… my two lived on ice cream!

Site and Facilities:

No baby changing. We took small pop up half tent which was great to shade the children in and changed them.

Toilets could have been cleaned more regularly.

Did you feel safe?

Yes. Very safe due to small scale.

Would you go again?

Yes.

8/10

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Location: Berkeley, Gloucestershire, GL13 9BQ

Size: 5000

Website: www.larkinthepark.info

Children under 10 years old get in free.  10 to 15 year olds get in pretty cheap.  In fact this is probably the cheapest festival to take your family to.

There will be a Trader’s Village with Street Entertainers, but as this is the first year of this festival, exactly what that will look like is hard to say.  Picture this… face painting, ventriloquist and more…

… It’s your chance to support a grassroots festival… according to the organiser’s, the music is the best… Doreen Doreen (Fri Headline) are regarded as the 3rd best band in Bristol (next to Portishead and Massive Attack), whilst Shire Straits are regarded as the UK’s leading tribute to Dire Straits.

Any profit raised will be used to support local young people.

Site and facilities:

Limited showers, level and suitable for buggies, plenty of room for picnics.

Tickets:

Standard Ticket prices:           Adult                Child
Friday evening                                   £10                     £6
Saturday all day                                 £15                     £8
Weekend deal                                    £22                    £11
Family weekend deal   £58

20% Discount for limited number of Earlybirds

Camping is no more than £5pppn see website for details:

www.larkinthepark.info

Size: 1500

Location: Upton Snodsbury, Worcestershire, WR7 4NZ

Website: www.snodfest.com

Snodfest is a small family friendly charity music festival held in the village of Upton Snodsbury, Worcestershire.

The festival is now in its 5th year and is situated on the village park with stunning views of the surrounding countryside.  Camping is available for both Friday and Saturday night.

SnodFest provides a safe and secure environment, activities for all ages, hot food and a real ale bar. There are lots of free workshops and over 10 hours of CONTINUOUS live music performed on two stages.  Introduced by Andrew Marston from BBC Hereford & Worcester, it’s the recipe for a perfect day…

Site and camping facilities:

The park is level with wide pathways.  Campsite is over the other side of the lane in a beautiful spot.  Toilets available.

Tickets:

Adults £12, Junior (6 – 17) £6, Under 6′s FREE

Please visit the website for further information and tickets:

www.snodfest.com

Eventually the novelty will wear off... for you anyway!

… or what to do when the sun won’t shine…

Of course we all hope and pray that the sun will shine all weekend and we can bask in the glory of it’s soft warm glow, chilling with a cold beer, lazing on the grass, kids dancing around happily to the beats from the stage…

But occasionally we are not so lucky and it’s a good idea to have some plans in place in case of wet weather.

I have been to some horrifically muddy festivals in my time… some so wet I didn’t even dare take the camera out of the tent.  But amazingly enough – it didn’t spoil the fun and so, rather than waste the price of your tickets, think twice before you don’t bother going.  It is harder work of course (especially with littler ones) and it does require a lot more preparation and equipment, but for kids often the muddiest festivals are the most fun!

Waterproofs and Thermals

So the first thing you need is good waterproofs.  By that I mean ones that keep persistent rain out all day.  None of your cheap showerproof kagouls – you will be wet to the skin in under 15 minutes in a deluge.  I recommend PU for kids or something with a hydrostatic head of at least 3000.

These rainbow waterproofs are our favourites!

Make sure you get trousers/dungarees too.  That way you can still sit down… spending all day on your feet is really exhausting, especially when you have spent half of it wading through a foot of mud.  Waterproof trousers should go OVER the wellies – otherwise all the rain will just run down straight into your wellies and you’ll have very wet feet.

We sellthe gorgeous Swedish-designed KoziKidz range of high quality waterproofs, wellies, soft scrummy fleeces, and thermals.  We haven’t uploaded everything to the webshop yet, but if you see something you like then let us know and we will tell you if it’s in stock – we can order in anything from the full range on the KoziKidz website.  You are generally looking at about £25 for an unlined PU jacket (£20 for dungarees/trousers), or a bit more for fleece-lined.

Ponchos – a good lightweight solution

If you don’t have good waterproofs, a bin liner with arm and neck holes over your clothes helps… but much better than that would be an emergency rain poncho.  The ones we sell are reuseable and although they are a bit on the pricey side, they last longer than the cheap disposable ones.  You can undo the poppers on the sides of ours and use them to sit on too once the rain stops but the ground is still wet.  Disposable ones are too thin and tear too easily, so are a bit of a false economy and harsher on the environment because they end up in the bin so quickly.  Ours come in a plastic pouch with strap so you can hang them off your buggy or backpack and keep them handy.

Wellies – essential

The second obvious necessity is wellies… and do make sure they don’t have holes in them before you get to the festival, otherwise you are going to end up paying an arm and a leg for a pair at the festival.  If it is your child that needs a pair then you’ll be lucky to even find a pair in their size.  Little Stomper do a lovely range of kid’s wellies and some incredibly funky footwear, and it’s run by the lovely Claire, one of our festival-reviewer mums.

Pay attention to how deep the mud and puddles are for your toddler – I have seen many poor little ones lose their wellies in mud so deep it goes right over the tops of their wellies!

Transporting kids

Although walking in the mud can be really good fun for your kids, littler ones do get exhausted eventually so now is when you may need transport more than ever.  Unfortunately thick mud is also very difficult to get buggies and wagons through.  You’d think an all-terrain wheel with fat tyres might be best but you’d be wrong… they are great on dryish mud, but if the festival is so wet that the mud is liquid then big thin wire spoked tyres are brilliant – they just glide through.  So if the weather looks wet try to get something like a second-hand Urban Detour off your local free-ads.

For babies and smaller toddlers you may be better off ditching the buggy or wagon altogether.  This is where baby-wearing comes into its own.  Using a sling, carrier or hip seat helps keep bubs warm and reassured.  You will have to take extra care to wrap up though because you won’t have the luxury of a rain cover and your baby could end up quite exposed.  We have found a universal waterproof cover for baby carriers which does seem to fit most carriers well.  Waterproof ponchos are great if you can fit one over both of you, but depending on the position of your child’s head this may not be practical – you don’t want to risk suffocating them!

Head for covered spaces

When it’s tipping down you will inevitably seek cover in the shelter of marquees and big tops.  You and everyone else that is!  It will get very crowded anywhere out of the rain but if you find a nice spot then you’ll probably end up enjoying a performance or activity that you would have missed if the sun was shining.  Sometimes the rain is a good excuse to go back to your tent and chill out for a couple of hours – perhaps giving everyone a much-needed siesta.  And let’s face it – there is something very cosy about being tucked up in a tent listening to the raindrops overhead

Lock down – keep your tent dry

When you do get back to your tent you should pause before rushing in to think about how to minimise the destruction of 4 sets of muddy wet waterproofs being pulled off in a hurry.  I found a great method (felt a bit like a submarine airlock) using one of those big blue IKEA bags:

I put the bag at the entrance of the tent, stood child 1 inside it, peeled off their waterproofs and lifted them out of their wellies into the tent, leaving all the wet muddy items inside the bag.  Push them to the edge of the bag and repeat with child 2… etc.  If you have more than 3 people to deal with then you may need more bags.  Leave the muddy boots inside the waterproof trousers too – just roll the trousers down round the boots and step out of them, leaving the whole lot ready to step back into next time you venture out.

Trust me, you will appreciate keeping your tent relatively dry and mud-free.  Oh and it goes without saying, a tent with a porch is almost essential in wet weather.

Umbrellas – rubbish!

Personally, I am not a great fan of umbrellas at festivals for several reasons.  They need to be held, so making it more difficult for you to look after your kids and help them with zips etc.  They are rubbish and unwieldy in the wind.  They get in other peoples way when you are walking around.  And they block the view of the stage something chronic if you are behind one!  However, if it’s not a busy festival they can be very useful, especially if you are using a sling to carry your baby or if it is just showery, so use your own judgement on that score.

Wet Weather checklist:

Full waterproofs, non-leaky wellies, reusable rain ponchos. If you get leak in your wellies, put a carrier bag inside them – it will keep your foot dry!

Spare socks: cold wet feet = misery!  I was given a free sample of some Smartwool socks, and they are fabulous!  I never would have considered investing over a tenner for Merino wool socks, but now that I have some I would argue that it is well worth it.  You should be able to find them in a good Camping or Hiking store like Go Outdoors or Cotswold Camping.

Towels – take at least two: an old one for mopping up the floor of your tent, and one for bodies so you can indulge in a hot shower and wash all the mud off – getting clean again feels SOOOO good!

Suitable transport / carriers for little ones

Good sense of humour and loss of cleanliness neuroses!

Plastic matting or small tarpaulin to sit on once the rain has stopped (or a good poncho or decent waterproof trousers)

Big IKEA type bags or if you want to invest then a Moonbag does a great job.

Tent with PORCH area – this really helps to keep your bedding relatively clean and dry.  We like the Vango Beta 450.

Boginabag or Travel Potty etc so you don’t have to venture out for a wee in the rainy night.

Bin liners for keeping bags  and gear dry while getting them to and from the car park.

Waterproof covers for expensive gear like mobile phones – check out these great bits of kit from Proporta

Games and activity ‘rainy day’ packs (cards, puzzle books, Festival Top Trumps and dry wipe activities)

Who says muddy festivals are no fun?

Rainbow Waterproof Jacket

£36.99

Verberg Fleece-Lined Waterproof Dungarees

£21.99

Flower Wellies – Size 13

£14.75

Moonbag

£14.99

You may have worked out by now that I have a bit of a soft spot for CoolCamping books… and this one is no exception.  I loved the first edition.  I read it from cover to cover like a novel.  And guess what?… when this one arrived I did exactly the same thing!!

The photography is gorgeous – it just makes me want to pack the marshmallows and head for the nearest campfire with the kids…

We have a free copy of Cool Camping Kids to give away:
www.festivalkidz.com/competitions/current-giveaways

There are 75 hand-picked unique sites in the new edition, and every single one is enticing and an absolute joy for children of all ages.  These are proper campsites where children can explore and enjoy being wild.  These are places where adventures beckon and memories are made.  You’ll probably find your kids swinging from rope swings, playing in streams, grubby as street urchins, smelling of woodsmoke and beaming with happiness.  And there’s some fab ideas for games in the book in case there’s ever a lull.

If you want to experience something a bit different, there’s a number of not-quite camping sites included too: yurts, tipis, tarpaulins, gypsy caravans and even treehouses…  I soooooo want to stay in one of those!!

Useful little bite-size sections on campfire cooking, residential camps, and festivals may encourage you to spread your fledgeling camping wings a little further, but for the full lowdown you should check out their other books: The CoolCamping Cookbook and the CoolCamping guide to Festivals.

Cool Camping Kids is the perfect book for families with a thirst for fun and adventure.  But don’t just take my word for it, here’s the lovely little Kira (age 7) telling me what she thinks of it:

Cool Camping: Kids (second edition) is available now on Amazon or from CoolCamping.

If you are only going to buy one camping guide then make it this one: it’s FABULOUS!

We have a free copy of Cool Camping Kids to give away on our Current Giveaways page:
www.festivalkidz.com/competitions/current-giveaways

We at Angel Gardens bought Daisy the Caravan a few months ago and I have spent many hours making her into the perfect fairy family home…. but sadly after only two nights away in her we have realised she is too small for such a big fairy gang like ourselves.

Check her out on our eBay listing and contact angelbrookdesign@aol.com if you are interested in buying her for your brood!!!

See the caravan: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221018273980

NB: The pics are from when we were decorating her so some things are now slightly different, such as: the little lights are covered in matching fabric and the wooden plinths are now covered with red and white check vinyl.

Location: Cockermouth, Cumbria

Size: 5,000

Website: www.cockermouthrockfestival.com

“A non profit festival in aid of the Cockermouth Mountain Rescue & The Pride of Cumbria Air Ambulance”

Friday Headliners:
FUN LOVING CRIMINALS!

Cockermouth Rock Festival is a non-profit 3 day grass roots festival held in Cockermouth, Cumbria. Affectionately named ‘CockRock‘ by local festival goers, the festival is now in its 8th year and is situated on the edge of the beautiful Lake District with idyllic camping, full panoramic views of the Cumbrian Fells and a friendly atmosphere that is second to none.The original festival was set up in 2005 to help provide support in the way of funding for two local causes, The Pride of Cumbria Air Ambulance and the Cockermouth Mountain Rescue, as well as to encourage and promote local bands and musicians.  The ethos remains to this day and to date the festival has raised nearly £45k for charitable causes.

What are the highlights for families?

The festival appeals to all ages.  CockRock has been enjoyed by everyone from babies to OAPs. The festival incorporates a full 3 days of music, activities, workshops, dancing, camping and fun for every member of the family!

A new addition to the festival in 2011 was ‘The Green @ CockRock’ which was an area dedicated to families, making their experience one to remember. This was a great success so will be developed further this year with more activities and entertainment for the family audience.

The festival has lots of live music and entertainment, lovely food, stalls and cafe’s, workshops, ethical market and healing area.

CockRock 2011 included activities such as: MokyKidz, a fun, dynamic and unique children’s entertainment package which incorporated exciting dance routines and movement games to all the latest pop songs that the kids loved. There was also the UV Sandpit, which was a space provided for families to spend a great time together, letting the little ones play in the sand pit while the adults got to chill out, or to create and make things together. During the day many workshops for all ages take place including: Jelly fish making (made with UV materials so look great in the sandpit), Bracelet and Belt Making!

As well as this there are also many walkabout entertainers to keep all members of the family pleased.

Family camping is available at the festival at no extra charge.

New for 2012:

More toilets, including the very popular Eco toilets introduced in 2011.

CockRock has been chosen as a festival partner for Live & Unsigned 2012.  Four acts from the competition will be given the chance to play to an ever welcoming crowd at CockRock 2012!

They will also be introducing new areas to the festival including a new home for The Session Tent which will be expanded and developed further with more music and activities for young people. Also on the cards is a new Reggae
tent ran by Cumbria’s only dedicated Reggae sound system.

The campsites will also have a major revamp and big improvements are planned. There’s even talk of a new Major Stage being planned but details are being kept under wraps for now.

Tickets:

Ticket prices have been released for CockRock 2012 which now include a limited amount of Day Tickets.

The festival is encouraging more families to attend with Free entry planned for all 12 and under’s (accompanied by a ticket holding adult over 18).

Adult tickets are reasonably priced with a Weekend & Camping ticket costing just £60, a Young Adult ticket (13-17) has also been introduced.

Advance tickets will be on sale from Saturday 10th March and outlets will be announced shortly.

See website for details.

www.cockermouthrockfestival.com