Reviews
The good bits, the bad bits; all the fun and frolics of a festival brought to you by Festival Kidz reviews… and don’t forget the mud!
One Love 2012 Review
One Love 2012 weather: Lovely sunny weather with a breeze – couldn’t have been better!
Parent Review by Nancy (with a 2yr old)
Getting there and entry: We arrived on the Saturday morning: no queues to get into the site and immediately found really helpful staff in the car park who were happy to help us out. The campsite was a short (and flat) walk from the car park and was really well appointed with incredibly clean toilets – with loo roll! – and a shower block. My daughter was very happy to be given a wristband.
No dedicated family camping area, but lots of families around; my 2 year old and I made lots of friends. There were a couple of drunken hollerings at 4am, but nothing too antisocial: certainly nothing like my pre-children memories of Reading festival. Our lovely neighbours were happy to chat to my daughter while I wrestled with the tent. A really friendly atmosphere.
LolliBop 2012 Review
LolliBop 2012 – Regent’s Park
17,18 and 19th August 2012
We have been sent some reviews of the festival by our readers – it’s a very mixed bag. Read more…
Wilderness 2012 Review
Wilderness Festival 2012 – review by Vicky Lane
I am normally a Glastonbury Lady so when asked to review a much smaller festival I really went with an image in my head of 5 stalls, 1 stage and a handful of people!
The website for Wilderness (although somewhat confusing to navigate) was beautifully illustrated and presented and this carried on throughout the whole festival.
WOMAD 2012 Parent Review
Taking 4 kids to WOMAD? Not a problem…!
Parent Review by the Dersons Family
My husband and I, and our 4 children, enjoyed a wonderful weekend of mind-blowing sounds, amazing sights and delightful tastes at WOMAD, Charlton Park.
Having packed everything required for the wide variety of weather that could come our way we arrived at WOMAD in the scorching heat and quickly had to find sunhats and sun cream. We hired a cart to take our huge amounts of stuff from our van to the our camping spot and before long we were set up and the children were cooling their feet in buckets full of cold water!
We had paid extra for Thursday tickets and arrived at 11am, the campsite was already busy and buzzing with anticipation.
Being there early gave us and the children an opportunity to get to know the site and to take in the sights, sounds and smells. The children’s area was not yet open so could spend our time exploring. A lovely evening was finished off with an energetic dance to the Soul Rebels.
The Magic Loungeabout 2012 Review
July 27-29th 2012, Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire
Reviewers: The Hogan Family (Mike, Gaelle, Celeste & Lily) & The Wharton family (Mark, Louise, Maddy & Maisie)
We were very excited about “the Loungeabout”, and with good reason: we were eager to see what looked like one of the most interesting line-ups of music and entertainment in the festival calendar, located in a serene part of Yorkshire, and we were helping our friends break their (adulthood) festival cherry.
We spent many hours poring through the recommendations on festivalkidz.com to find the most suitable festival that would meet the needs of our two families; a good mix of live music, lots of activities for the kids and within 3 hours drive of Merseyside. The promise of a “refined unwind” at the Magic Loungeabout with its heavy focus on family friendly activities is what won us though.
Firefly Festival 2012 Review
Firefly Festival 2012 – a new festival is born!
Review by Sarah Dodd from Love Music News (with an 8 year old)
Setting up and Arriving: No queues, very polite and helpful staff, very well organised. We had approx a 5min walk with stuff. Huge camping field with plenty of toilets and loo roll! The other campers were lovely, friendly, helpful and polite. Felt comfortable leaving tents unattended etc.
Entertainment: Line up was fantastic and there were craft tents etc for children as well as plenty of room to run around!
Penn Festival 2012 Review
Penn Festival 2012 weather: Weather couldn’t have been much worse! Torrential rain on the afternoon before opening meant the water-logged ground was knee-deep in mud. Rain continued off and on for whole weekend with some really heavy downpours.
The festival organisers had kindly given us some tickets to share with several of our family blogger/website friends. It was a great opportunity for us to get together and meet somewhere other than Twitter! Do take a few moments to hear their differing accounts of the weekend: Kideeko (and her HUGE family group!), The Mummy Whisperer (as she encounters her first ‘proper’ festival mud) , and poor ‘ol Melksham Mum (whose unfortunate trip culminated in a midnight journey to A&E!). And below we have some reviews from our followers.
—
Review by The Stones (with 2 kids aged 6 and 5)
Getting there and arriving on-site:
The main carpark was closed by the first night as you couldn’t get cars on/off. However, a shuttle service was immediately set up to ferry people in – great bit of emergency planning that seemed to work well. Staff were superb in helping to push cars out & they had a queue system organising two tractor-like vehicles to tow cars and campervans out. Boards were brought in on Friday evening and placed at the entrances & exits.
Chilled in a Field 2012 Review
It was with some trepidation that we packed what seemed like our entire house into the car, to set out for our first ever overnight festival, Chilled in a Field 2012, with all three children.
We had already taken our eldest to festivals before the twins were born, but this was an entirely different and some might say more insane affair.
A five year old and two year old twins? Were we mad? Maybe a little but we love our festivals so much we had to try!
Camp Bestival 2012 Review
Camp Bestival 2012 weather: Hot and dry the entire weekend.
Review by Michelle Rock-Davis (with a 2yr old and a 4yr old)
CB is in a beautiful location, held in Lulworth Castle grounds in Dorset. A big drive for us from West Yorks, but we over-nighted in The New Forest and so arrived fresh and early.
Set Up – The car parks were well organised and we were prepared with our own truck for carting the tent etc. However, we had underestimated the size of the event and over packed as usual. The trek from our car to a camping spot near some loos and showers was a long walk for little toddler legs and involved a few too many hills. Read more…
WOMAD 2012 Review
After several festivals in awful weather this year… mud, gales, rain, more mud… I wasn’t sure I could face another one. But at the last minute I had been offered a ticket to WOMAD and as it’s been on my wishlist for a few years, and I wasn’t committed to anything else, it felt too good an opportunity to miss.
My husband couldn’t get time off work, so I took the girls on my own – they’re a bit older now at 9 and 7 and very comfortable in a festival environment so I figured we’d be OK. I wouldn’t baulk at taking them to a smaller festival on my own, but I did think twice about WOMAD because 20,000 people is a sizeable crowd. But I needn’t have worried – turns out the WOMAD crowd are the most chilled, friendly and relaxed bunch of people I have ever shared a festival with! Even the security staff had time for a friendly chat and smile as you went through. Read more…
One Love 2012 Review
One Love 2012 weather: Lovely sunny weather with a breeze – couldn’t have been better!
Parent Review by Nancy (with a 2yr old)
Getting there and entry: We arrived on the Saturday morning: no queues to get into the site and immediately found really helpful staff in the car park who were happy to help us out. The campsite was a short (and flat) walk from the car park and was really well appointed with incredibly clean toilets – with loo roll! – and a shower block. My daughter was very happy to be given a wristband.
No dedicated family camping area, but lots of families around; my 2 year old and I made lots of friends. There were a couple of drunken hollerings at 4am, but nothing too antisocial: certainly nothing like my pre-children memories of Reading festival. Our lovely neighbours were happy to chat to my daughter while I wrestled with the tent. A really friendly atmosphere.
Wilderness 2012 Review
Wilderness Festival 2012 – review by Vicky Lane
I am normally a Glastonbury Lady so when asked to review a much smaller festival I really went with an image in my head of 5 stalls, 1 stage and a handful of people!
The website for Wilderness (although somewhat confusing to navigate) was beautifully illustrated and presented and this carried on throughout the whole festival.
The Magic Loungeabout 2012 Review
July 27-29th 2012, Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire
Reviewers: The Hogan Family (Mike, Gaelle, Celeste & Lily) & The Wharton family (Mark, Louise, Maddy & Maisie)
We were very excited about “the Loungeabout”, and with good reason: we were eager to see what looked like one of the most interesting line-ups of music and entertainment in the festival calendar, located in a serene part of Yorkshire, and we were helping our friends break their (adulthood) festival cherry.
We spent many hours poring through the recommendations on festivalkidz.com to find the most suitable festival that would meet the needs of our two families; a good mix of live music, lots of activities for the kids and within 3 hours drive of Merseyside. The promise of a “refined unwind” at the Magic Loungeabout with its heavy focus on family friendly activities is what won us though.
Penn Festival 2012 Review
Penn Festival 2012 weather: Weather couldn’t have been much worse! Torrential rain on the afternoon before opening meant the water-logged ground was knee-deep in mud. Rain continued off and on for whole weekend with some really heavy downpours.
The festival organisers had kindly given us some tickets to share with several of our family blogger/website friends. It was a great opportunity for us to get together and meet somewhere other than Twitter! Do take a few moments to hear their differing accounts of the weekend: Kideeko (and her HUGE family group!), The Mummy Whisperer (as she encounters her first ‘proper’ festival mud) , and poor ‘ol Melksham Mum (whose unfortunate trip culminated in a midnight journey to A&E!). And below we have some reviews from our followers.
—
Review by The Stones (with 2 kids aged 6 and 5)
Getting there and arriving on-site:
The main carpark was closed by the first night as you couldn’t get cars on/off. However, a shuttle service was immediately set up to ferry people in – great bit of emergency planning that seemed to work well. Staff were superb in helping to push cars out & they had a queue system organising two tractor-like vehicles to tow cars and campervans out. Boards were brought in on Friday evening and placed at the entrances & exits.
Camp Bestival 2012 Review
Camp Bestival 2012 weather: Hot and dry the entire weekend.
Review by Michelle Rock-Davis (with a 2yr old and a 4yr old)
CB is in a beautiful location, held in Lulworth Castle grounds in Dorset. A big drive for us from West Yorks, but we over-nighted in The New Forest and so arrived fresh and early.
Set Up – The car parks were well organised and we were prepared with our own truck for carting the tent etc. However, we had underestimated the size of the event and over packed as usual. The trek from our car to a camping spot near some loos and showers was a long walk for little toddler legs and involved a few too many hills. Read more…
LolliBop 2012 Review
LolliBop 2012 – Regent’s Park
17,18 and 19th August 2012
We have been sent some reviews of the festival by our readers – it’s a very mixed bag. Read more…
WOMAD 2012 Parent Review
Taking 4 kids to WOMAD? Not a problem…!
Parent Review by the Dersons Family
My husband and I, and our 4 children, enjoyed a wonderful weekend of mind-blowing sounds, amazing sights and delightful tastes at WOMAD, Charlton Park.
Having packed everything required for the wide variety of weather that could come our way we arrived at WOMAD in the scorching heat and quickly had to find sunhats and sun cream. We hired a cart to take our huge amounts of stuff from our van to the our camping spot and before long we were set up and the children were cooling their feet in buckets full of cold water!
We had paid extra for Thursday tickets and arrived at 11am, the campsite was already busy and buzzing with anticipation.
Being there early gave us and the children an opportunity to get to know the site and to take in the sights, sounds and smells. The children’s area was not yet open so could spend our time exploring. A lovely evening was finished off with an energetic dance to the Soul Rebels.
Firefly Festival 2012 Review
Firefly Festival 2012 – a new festival is born!
Review by Sarah Dodd from Love Music News (with an 8 year old)
Setting up and Arriving: No queues, very polite and helpful staff, very well organised. We had approx a 5min walk with stuff. Huge camping field with plenty of toilets and loo roll! The other campers were lovely, friendly, helpful and polite. Felt comfortable leaving tents unattended etc.
Entertainment: Line up was fantastic and there were craft tents etc for children as well as plenty of room to run around!
Chilled in a Field 2012 Review
It was with some trepidation that we packed what seemed like our entire house into the car, to set out for our first ever overnight festival, Chilled in a Field 2012, with all three children.
We had already taken our eldest to festivals before the twins were born, but this was an entirely different and some might say more insane affair.
A five year old and two year old twins? Were we mad? Maybe a little but we love our festivals so much we had to try!
WOMAD 2012 Review
After several festivals in awful weather this year… mud, gales, rain, more mud… I wasn’t sure I could face another one. But at the last minute I had been offered a ticket to WOMAD and as it’s been on my wishlist for a few years, and I wasn’t committed to anything else, it felt too good an opportunity to miss.
My husband couldn’t get time off work, so I took the girls on my own – they’re a bit older now at 9 and 7 and very comfortable in a festival environment so I figured we’d be OK. I wouldn’t baulk at taking them to a smaller festival on my own, but I did think twice about WOMAD because 20,000 people is a sizeable crowd. But I needn’t have worried – turns out the WOMAD crowd are the most chilled, friendly and relaxed bunch of people I have ever shared a festival with! Even the security staff had time for a friendly chat and smile as you went through. Read more…