Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival 2013 Review

27th September-13th October

photo 6These days many music festivals have a “foodie” section. Camp Bestival has a farmers market, Young British Foodies and the River Cottage chefs with their wonderful workshops and gorgeous food. CarFest has dedicated marquees with local producers, Wilderness has chefs such as Valentine Warner doing cooking demos and this year Latitude had Gizzi Erskine hosting a cookery caberet stage where there were chefs such as Neil Rankin, Carl Clarke and Jack Stein doing demonstrations.

Music and food go together and at Aldeburgh food and drink festival, held within the beautiful setting of Snape Maltings where many music events take place they marry the two with a strong emphasis on the best food and drink that the county offers. Read more…

Big Fish Little Fish 2013 Review

As the weather gets colder even festival kids need to head indoors sometimes. Which leads me to the subject of ‘soft play’. The very mention of which induces a panic attack in someone like me – a festival-loving, easy going, more hands off parent.

The last time I went to soft play I was shouted at by a stressed out mother for the crime of sitting in an empty chair (which was hers, apparently, although I didn’t see a name on it). I was forced to crawl through tiny tunnels of sweaty, sick covered plastic in order to rescue one of my crying toddlers who’d yet to learn that getting down from somewhere is a lot tougher than climbing up. At that point I was dirty-looked by another mother who was coddling her (presumably only) child for apparently ‘abandoning’ my poor distressed baby.

Ah yes soft play. I would rather cut off my own feet with a pair of child proof scissors. Read more…

Appleyard Fayre 2013 Review

photo (5)Tucked away in a small village in Norfolk, opposite  popular tourist attraction Banham Zoo, is the Appleyard Meadow. In this meadow, in the last weekend of July, a little bit of magic happens. The magic is the tiny, yet packed full of fun and friendliness, Appleyard Fayre 2013.

The brainchild of local musician Liam Harvey, Wendy and Jonty, who run the popular Banham Barrel. With and a team of supportive locals, the Fayre brings a day of wonderful local music, food, craft stalls and activities for all the family for an absolute bargain price of £2 an adult (£3 after 6pm) and 50p a child.

 

Read more…

Open East Festival 2013 Review

Review and pictures by Naomi Jones – with her girls Eloise (6), Charlotte (3) and Amelie (3)

Open East

It’s not often you get the opportunity to bounce on a life-sized replica of Stonehenge. Open East Festival this weekend sees the return of Sacrilege, created by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller. A fun and interactive piece of art as you could ever hope for!
Read more…

LolliBop 2011 Review

2011 LolliBop Weather: Hot and sunny Friday, mostly cloudy Saturday, very heavy downpours Sunday.

Mixed reviews flooding in for LolliBop’s second year.  Most families who chatted to us in the Festival Kidz stall seemed to be having a pretty good time, but the queues did seem to be a common gripe.  We tend to agree with many of the reviews from parents with tiny toddlers that it is unfair that a 13-month old had to pay the same price as a 6 year old and yet they were too young to participate in some of the activities (go-karts and inflatable slide for example).  There were definitely too many traders selling the same type of products, and fairly limited food stalls meaning hefty queues at peak times.  Read more…

Fairyland Trust Fairy Fair 2012 Review

fairy treeThe Fairy Fair – 3rd and 4th June 2012

11th Fairy Fair at Holt Hall, Norfolk.  I attended with my husband and daughter Eila aged 3 and son Evan aged 5 months.

Getting there

The Fairy Fair is well sign posted once you reach the town of Holt so no problems getting there.

We arrived at 10:45 so we had to queue a bit but this was very well managed by the stewards and we were parked up quickly and ready to go in.

There was a bit of a queue to enter the main site but again this was well managed. I had to go ahead with Eila, as her booked workshop was about to start, but we got there in time

General layout

The main area consisted of the performance tent which had musicians, storytelling and children’s drop in activities and the “pub” which served a range of local beers and pork pies from Brays Cottage.

In the same area, in the shadow of the giant old oak tree, there were pirate based activities and games and cooking for trolls where you could make a mud pie for the trolls. You could also go to the Pixie Post Office and for a small charge choose a postcard to colour and write out to friends or family then the fairies would stamp it and pop it in their post box to post!

Round the corner Read more…

Jolly Day Out 2011 Review

Jolly Day Out 2011 – 26th to 29th August 2011

Held over 4 days with different headliners each night, this new summer festival promised to bring music and fun for all the family to Hampton Court Green on August Bank Holiday weekend.

Getting there by car was very easy.  Perhaps not quite so easy by public transport, but possible – just slow because of the location.  The festival was well organised with good signposting, helpful car park stewards and no queues to get in.  So far so good.

Read more…

Popblast Festival 4 Kids 2011 Review

Review by Karon Louise

What was the weather like?

Scorching, 30′ hate to say it but a little too hot… only a few gazebos for cover in main area and was on concrete… not soft ground, but there were lots of picnic benches! No water facilities except drinking water in toilets but first aid crew were great with overheated kids!

How old were your kids?

4 and 9

Getting there:

No camping as it was a dayfest over 2 days,  not well signposted at all, Read more…

Ben and Jerry’s Festival 2010 Review

Read more…

Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival 2013 Review

27th September-13th October

photo 6These days many music festivals have a “foodie” section. Camp Bestival has a farmers market, Young British Foodies and the River Cottage chefs with their wonderful workshops and gorgeous food. CarFest has dedicated marquees with local producers, Wilderness has chefs such as Valentine Warner doing cooking demos and this year Latitude had Gizzi Erskine hosting a cookery caberet stage where there were chefs such as Neil Rankin, Carl Clarke and Jack Stein doing demonstrations.

Music and food go together and at Aldeburgh food and drink festival, held within the beautiful setting of Snape Maltings where many music events take place they marry the two with a strong emphasis on the best food and drink that the county offers. Read more…

Appleyard Fayre 2013 Review

photo (5)Tucked away in a small village in Norfolk, opposite  popular tourist attraction Banham Zoo, is the Appleyard Meadow. In this meadow, in the last weekend of July, a little bit of magic happens. The magic is the tiny, yet packed full of fun and friendliness, Appleyard Fayre 2013.

The brainchild of local musician Liam Harvey, Wendy and Jonty, who run the popular Banham Barrel. With and a team of supportive locals, the Fayre brings a day of wonderful local music, food, craft stalls and activities for all the family for an absolute bargain price of £2 an adult (£3 after 6pm) and 50p a child.

 

Read more…

LolliBop 2011 Review

2011 LolliBop Weather: Hot and sunny Friday, mostly cloudy Saturday, very heavy downpours Sunday.

Mixed reviews flooding in for LolliBop’s second year.  Most families who chatted to us in the Festival Kidz stall seemed to be having a pretty good time, but the queues did seem to be a common gripe.  We tend to agree with many of the reviews from parents with tiny toddlers that it is unfair that a 13-month old had to pay the same price as a 6 year old and yet they were too young to participate in some of the activities (go-karts and inflatable slide for example).  There were definitely too many traders selling the same type of products, and fairly limited food stalls meaning hefty queues at peak times.  Read more…

Jolly Day Out 2011 Review

Jolly Day Out 2011 – 26th to 29th August 2011

Held over 4 days with different headliners each night, this new summer festival promised to bring music and fun for all the family to Hampton Court Green on August Bank Holiday weekend.

Getting there by car was very easy.  Perhaps not quite so easy by public transport, but possible – just slow because of the location.  The festival was well organised with good signposting, helpful car park stewards and no queues to get in.  So far so good.

Read more…

Ben and Jerry’s Festival 2010 Review

Read more…

Big Fish Little Fish 2013 Review

As the weather gets colder even festival kids need to head indoors sometimes. Which leads me to the subject of ‘soft play’. The very mention of which induces a panic attack in someone like me – a festival-loving, easy going, more hands off parent.

The last time I went to soft play I was shouted at by a stressed out mother for the crime of sitting in an empty chair (which was hers, apparently, although I didn’t see a name on it). I was forced to crawl through tiny tunnels of sweaty, sick covered plastic in order to rescue one of my crying toddlers who’d yet to learn that getting down from somewhere is a lot tougher than climbing up. At that point I was dirty-looked by another mother who was coddling her (presumably only) child for apparently ‘abandoning’ my poor distressed baby.

Ah yes soft play. I would rather cut off my own feet with a pair of child proof scissors. Read more…

Open East Festival 2013 Review

Review and pictures by Naomi Jones – with her girls Eloise (6), Charlotte (3) and Amelie (3)

Open East

It’s not often you get the opportunity to bounce on a life-sized replica of Stonehenge. Open East Festival this weekend sees the return of Sacrilege, created by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller. A fun and interactive piece of art as you could ever hope for!
Read more…

Fairyland Trust Fairy Fair 2012 Review

fairy treeThe Fairy Fair – 3rd and 4th June 2012

11th Fairy Fair at Holt Hall, Norfolk.  I attended with my husband and daughter Eila aged 3 and son Evan aged 5 months.

Getting there

The Fairy Fair is well sign posted once you reach the town of Holt so no problems getting there.

We arrived at 10:45 so we had to queue a bit but this was very well managed by the stewards and we were parked up quickly and ready to go in.

There was a bit of a queue to enter the main site but again this was well managed. I had to go ahead with Eila, as her booked workshop was about to start, but we got there in time

General layout

The main area consisted of the performance tent which had musicians, storytelling and children’s drop in activities and the “pub” which served a range of local beers and pork pies from Brays Cottage.

In the same area, in the shadow of the giant old oak tree, there were pirate based activities and games and cooking for trolls where you could make a mud pie for the trolls. You could also go to the Pixie Post Office and for a small charge choose a postcard to colour and write out to friends or family then the fairies would stamp it and pop it in their post box to post!

Round the corner Read more…

Popblast Festival 4 Kids 2011 Review

Review by Karon Louise

What was the weather like?

Scorching, 30′ hate to say it but a little too hot… only a few gazebos for cover in main area and was on concrete… not soft ground, but there were lots of picnic benches! No water facilities except drinking water in toilets but first aid crew were great with overheated kids!

How old were your kids?

4 and 9

Getting there:

No camping as it was a dayfest over 2 days,  not well signposted at all, Read more…