Kendal Calling 2012 Parent Review

Kendal Calling 2012 reviewed by: Nic, Rob, Lily, and Evan (aged 5 and 7)

Weather: Warm during the day, cold at night, mostly dry.

Setting up and Arriving:  We arrived eagerly at 9am with two very excited children. The queue was enormous, almost like they weren’t expecting any guests! Finally got into site three and a half hours later – the organisation was really bad, not enough gates, not enough stewards.  Read more…

The Real Halloween (Fairyland Trust) Parent Review

Who said the festival season ends in September? The Fairyland Trust‘s second jaunt of the year, The Real Halloween was held once again in the beautiful surroundings of Holt Hall, North Norfolk.

The Real Halloween celebrates the magic of Halloween and late Autumn, without the plastic, the horror and the trick or treating and is designed to enchant and not to scare. Read more…

Shambala 2012 Parent Review

Shambala 2012 reviewed by Momof2MK (with 2 kids aged 10 and 4)

Parking and Setting Up: There was no queue for the car park, it was well signposted and the postcode (satnav) on the ticket info actually took us to the right field. We had to park very far from where we were camping as we were with friends who were in a camper which was the other side of the site, this could have been better explained as we would happily have paid the extra to have our car closer if we had known.  Read more…

Jersey Live 2012 Review

Jersey Live 2012
Jersey Live 2012

You may recall my piece on ‘destination’ festivals earlier in the year, with thoughts on combining a family holiday with a festival – well we bit the bullet and did it!  Read more…

Shambala 2012 Review

After having over a week to think about my Shambala experience this year, I can safely say that it has been my favourite yet! More kids than ever, good food, peaceful camping and a great crowd.  Read more…

Bingley Music Live 2012 Review

Bingley Music Live 2012 (c) Yorkshire Festivals
(c) Yorkshire Festivals

Bingley Music Live 2012 Review

This review was very kindly shared from the lovely people at Yorkshire Festivals – The Complete Guide to Festivals in Yorkshire.

Visit the Yorkshire Festivals website for the low-down on all types of festivals in Yorkshire – from food festivals to music to arts and literature festivals.

Over the last few years this once small festival has grown in both size and popularity. We attended the very first one back in 2007 when it was a 2 day festival with not much other than a stage and a bar. This year’s festival was a 3 day affair with 3 stages, a Kid’s Zone and a range of food stalls. However it was still only £45 for a weekend ticket which looked like great value.

Read more…

Towersey Festival 2012 Review

Towersey Village Festival 2012

Parent Review submitted by Clairem (with a 3yr old)

General – Really great and so cheap compared to other festivals at £8 a day for the main showground and under 5’s free. Very safe as quite compact. Showground area is separate to the music venues (it costs more for full access to all the venues and for camping). I only went as a showground entrant but music sounded good. Liked the idea of it being a separate area as it made it very family safe and indeed there were a lot of young families.  It was warm to hot this year, but there were plenty of covered areas if it had rained.

Kid’s stuff – Great kids line up, Read more…

Festibelly 2012 Review

festibelly-horse2012Festibelly 2012

Review by Mark and Sue (with two kids aged 9 and 7) 

Getting there – No queues.  The carparking field was a bit of a challenge to get into with ruts and a steep entrance but we managed OK.  It wasn’t far to carry our stuff as the camping was in the field next to the carpark.

When we arrived, no one seemed to know if there was a separate family camping area so we were directed to a spot closest to the Owlery kid’s area.  Unfortunately for us, this turned out to be the worst place for a family to camp because it was also adjacent to the Terrapin Station which was open and full of partying people until 5am!!

Read more…

Greenman Festival 2012 Review

So even though I live very close and have passed the wonderful Glan Usk Park many times, 2012 was the first time we had ventured into Greenman itself.

We, the family (made up of myself, James the only-been-13-for-a-week-so-don’t-shout-Teenager, Sam the wonderfully interesting 11 year old and my sister who had travelled up from her ‘normal’ life in London to stay with us for the summer) and I, packed up and were ready to go on the Thursday but as the heavens opened and the thought of pitching a tent in the mud became a real possibility, we decided to do a non-camping-weekend away. We met up with lots of friends inside, most of them were treating it as their only holiday this year, some were working hard as stewards and all were having a great time.

Even with our trips back and forth to Greenman, we had a blast and didn’t feel like we were missing out. The whole set up within a country estate meant that we never felt the presence of a big fence or heavy handed security. The only real issue with being inside Glanusk was that it is far from a flat site and with the mud, it was treacherous for the buggies and trolleys that took up residence around the foot of the hill at the main Mountain Stage arena.

Read more…

Beautiful Days 2012 Review

beautiful days photo collage
(c) Faceless Food

Beautiful Days Festival 2012

By Lisa from ‘We Don’t Eat Anything With A Face’

The law of averages should have meant that our third festival of the year was a dry one, having been to two wet and muddy festivals earlier in the year, but no; When we arrived at the rural Devon campsite for our first Beautiful Days festival, it was peeing down with precipitation.

Read more…

Kendal Calling 2012 Parent Review

Kendal Calling 2012 reviewed by: Nic, Rob, Lily, and Evan (aged 5 and 7)

Weather: Warm during the day, cold at night, mostly dry.

Setting up and Arriving:  We arrived eagerly at 9am with two very excited children. The queue was enormous, almost like they weren’t expecting any guests! Finally got into site three and a half hours later – the organisation was really bad, not enough gates, not enough stewards.  Read more…

Shambala 2012 Parent Review

Shambala 2012 reviewed by Momof2MK (with 2 kids aged 10 and 4)

Parking and Setting Up: There was no queue for the car park, it was well signposted and the postcode (satnav) on the ticket info actually took us to the right field. We had to park very far from where we were camping as we were with friends who were in a camper which was the other side of the site, this could have been better explained as we would happily have paid the extra to have our car closer if we had known.  Read more…

Shambala 2012 Review

After having over a week to think about my Shambala experience this year, I can safely say that it has been my favourite yet! More kids than ever, good food, peaceful camping and a great crowd.  Read more…

Towersey Festival 2012 Review

Towersey Village Festival 2012

Parent Review submitted by Clairem (with a 3yr old)

General – Really great and so cheap compared to other festivals at £8 a day for the main showground and under 5’s free. Very safe as quite compact. Showground area is separate to the music venues (it costs more for full access to all the venues and for camping). I only went as a showground entrant but music sounded good. Liked the idea of it being a separate area as it made it very family safe and indeed there were a lot of young families.  It was warm to hot this year, but there were plenty of covered areas if it had rained.

Kid’s stuff – Great kids line up, Read more…

Greenman Festival 2012 Review

So even though I live very close and have passed the wonderful Glan Usk Park many times, 2012 was the first time we had ventured into Greenman itself.

We, the family (made up of myself, James the only-been-13-for-a-week-so-don’t-shout-Teenager, Sam the wonderfully interesting 11 year old and my sister who had travelled up from her ‘normal’ life in London to stay with us for the summer) and I, packed up and were ready to go on the Thursday but as the heavens opened and the thought of pitching a tent in the mud became a real possibility, we decided to do a non-camping-weekend away. We met up with lots of friends inside, most of them were treating it as their only holiday this year, some were working hard as stewards and all were having a great time.

Even with our trips back and forth to Greenman, we had a blast and didn’t feel like we were missing out. The whole set up within a country estate meant that we never felt the presence of a big fence or heavy handed security. The only real issue with being inside Glanusk was that it is far from a flat site and with the mud, it was treacherous for the buggies and trolleys that took up residence around the foot of the hill at the main Mountain Stage arena.

Read more…

The Real Halloween (Fairyland Trust) Parent Review

Who said the festival season ends in September? The Fairyland Trust‘s second jaunt of the year, The Real Halloween was held once again in the beautiful surroundings of Holt Hall, North Norfolk.

The Real Halloween celebrates the magic of Halloween and late Autumn, without the plastic, the horror and the trick or treating and is designed to enchant and not to scare. Read more…

Jersey Live 2012 Review

Jersey Live 2012
Jersey Live 2012

You may recall my piece on ‘destination’ festivals earlier in the year, with thoughts on combining a family holiday with a festival – well we bit the bullet and did it!  Read more…

Bingley Music Live 2012 Review

Bingley Music Live 2012 (c) Yorkshire Festivals
(c) Yorkshire Festivals

Bingley Music Live 2012 Review

This review was very kindly shared from the lovely people at Yorkshire Festivals – The Complete Guide to Festivals in Yorkshire.

Visit the Yorkshire Festivals website for the low-down on all types of festivals in Yorkshire – from food festivals to music to arts and literature festivals.

Over the last few years this once small festival has grown in both size and popularity. We attended the very first one back in 2007 when it was a 2 day festival with not much other than a stage and a bar. This year’s festival was a 3 day affair with 3 stages, a Kid’s Zone and a range of food stalls. However it was still only £45 for a weekend ticket which looked like great value.

Read more…

Festibelly 2012 Review

festibelly-horse2012Festibelly 2012

Review by Mark and Sue (with two kids aged 9 and 7) 

Getting there – No queues.  The carparking field was a bit of a challenge to get into with ruts and a steep entrance but we managed OK.  It wasn’t far to carry our stuff as the camping was in the field next to the carpark.

When we arrived, no one seemed to know if there was a separate family camping area so we were directed to a spot closest to the Owlery kid’s area.  Unfortunately for us, this turned out to be the worst place for a family to camp because it was also adjacent to the Terrapin Station which was open and full of partying people until 5am!!

Read more…

Beautiful Days 2012 Review

beautiful days photo collage
(c) Faceless Food

Beautiful Days Festival 2012

By Lisa from ‘We Don’t Eat Anything With A Face’

The law of averages should have meant that our third festival of the year was a dry one, having been to two wet and muddy festivals earlier in the year, but no; When we arrived at the rural Devon campsite for our first Beautiful Days festival, it was peeing down with precipitation.

Read more…