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!
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…
Eden Festival 2012 Review
2012 Eden Festival Weather: It was very,very wet. The main area near the big stage got muddy. The roads into the site have hardcore so you can drive in and out easy. However when it’s wet and not cold or windy you will get midges so prepare!
Review by: Ellen (with 3 kids aged 6, 10 and 14)
Getting to the festival and setting up:
We arrived by bus, 2 adults and 3 kids. We were worried about getting to the site but it was fine we got dropped off at the top of the road and it was about 5 min walk to the main gate and it only took that long cause the kids stopped and sat down.. From the main gate it was another 5 mins walk to where we camped.. we were there when the main gates opened so didn’t have to wait to get in.
Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:
The entertainment was great for the kids age,10 and 6. The 14 year old met friends straight away and I hardly ever seen her but the other 2 were excited the whole time – they never once said they were bored. 6 year old loved the kid’s tent making fairy wings, clay models watching puppet shows and lots of other things, 10 year old enjoyed some of the activities but she loved the circus skills bit so she spent a lot of time there. The kids also done a few workshops and loved making jewellery. We were so busy we didn’t really see many bands during the day. I was too busy playing. At night we went in to the Furry Chillum tent a few times. On the Friday night we all had a great time and didn’t leave till around midnight when the fire show was on. My whole family loved that – it was magical.
What would you change or do to improve the event?
Wychwood 2012 Review
Wychwood: 8th to 10th June 2012
WychwoodReviewer: Romany (from Festival Kidz)
I hadn’t planned on writing a review for Wychwood, and this isn’t really going to be a full-on review as such because we went to Wychwood last weekend as traders so it’s hard to get a balanced perspective. But I was so pleasantly surprised by the festival that it I had to say something!
We traded at Wychwood in 2011 as well, and if I’m honest I wasn’t terribly impressed back then. I had spent 3 days barely leaving the confines of my dusty stall and the little piece of the festival I saw hadn’t seemed that appealing. After that experience I found it confusing that it has such a loyal fanbase and that so many parents came into the stall raving about what a great time they were having!?… So this year I decided to find out exactly why it’s so popular with families…
PlayFest 2012 Parent Review
Playfest 2012: 1-3 June
Reviewer: Jessica (with a 3 year old and a baby)
—
Well as I said at the end of last year’s review of the first Playfest: “… with a bit of extra thought, Playfest could be amazing”, and you know what?… It really was!
Kaya Festival 2012 Parent Review
Kaya Festival, Faenol Estate, North Wales:
1st to 3rd June 2012
Parent Reviewer: Vashti (with a bump, 2 year old and a teenager)
Kaya Festival is a brand new festival in a beautiful location in North Wales, which was warmly welcomed by myself and other local festival goers used to long drives to reach festivals such as Glastonbury. The musical lineup was a treat for lovers of genres such as reggae, African music and afrobeat, with Lee Scratch Perry, Ska Cubano, Dub Pistols and more on the bill; plus a good selection of local bands. Faenol, a historic estate just outside Bangor, is a gorgeous setting for events, with a lake and rolling fields set against a backdrop of distant mountains; and the festival was small and full of friendly faces. Read more…
Fairyland Trust Fairy Fair 2012 Review
The 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…
Bearded Theory 2012 Review
Bearded Theory, 18-20th May 2012, Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
Festival Kidz Reviewers: The Hogan Family (Mike, Gaelle, Celeste & Lily)
Bearded Theory 2009-2011 Reviews
2009, 10, 11 Bearded Theory Weather: Quite cool but has been mainly dry every year.
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!!!
Summer Breeze 2011 Review
2010 and 2011 Summer Breeze Weather: Both years it was really hot, take shades as there isn’t a lot of shade!
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.
Alex James presents Harvest 2011 Review
2011 AJPH Weather: A mixture of sunshine, showers, cloud and a LOT of wind!
Review by: Clairem (with 2 yr old)
Getting to the festival:
Easy to get in. SatNav co-ordinates worked. No queues at all. Well organised. Camping looked nice and spacious and there was a tent that kids could play in which is a fab idea. We did have camping tickets but wimped out as we thought the weather was going to turn.
Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:
Line up was good. Some kids stuff you had to pay for but my little boy was too young for that. We finally (after many festivals) got in to see Charlie and Lola‘s Best Bestest play and were not disappointed. We made cheesecake in Kiddy Cook which tasted good although my son told one of the chefs it was yuck, made some clay food, played at circus skills and loved The Orange Hat and the interactiveness and puppets. 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…
Wychwood 2012 Review
Wychwood: 8th to 10th June 2012
Reviewer: Romany (from Festival Kidz)
I hadn’t planned on writing a review for Wychwood, and this isn’t really going to be a full-on review as such because we went to Wychwood last weekend as traders so it’s hard to get a balanced perspective. But I was so pleasantly surprised by the festival that it I had to say something!
We traded at Wychwood in 2011 as well, and if I’m honest I wasn’t terribly impressed back then. I had spent 3 days barely leaving the confines of my dusty stall and the little piece of the festival I saw hadn’t seemed that appealing. After that experience I found it confusing that it has such a loyal fanbase and that so many parents came into the stall raving about what a great time they were having!?… So this year I decided to find out exactly why it’s so popular with families…
Kaya Festival 2012 Parent Review
Kaya Festival, Faenol Estate, North Wales:
1st to 3rd June 2012
Parent Reviewer: Vashti (with a bump, 2 year old and a teenager)
Kaya Festival is a brand new festival in a beautiful location in North Wales, which was warmly welcomed by myself and other local festival goers used to long drives to reach festivals such as Glastonbury. The musical lineup was a treat for lovers of genres such as reggae, African music and afrobeat, with Lee Scratch Perry, Ska Cubano, Dub Pistols and more on the bill; plus a good selection of local bands. Faenol, a historic estate just outside Bangor, is a gorgeous setting for events, with a lake and rolling fields set against a backdrop of distant mountains; and the festival was small and full of friendly faces. Read more…
Bearded Theory 2012 Review
Bearded Theory, 18-20th May 2012, Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
Festival Kidz Reviewers: The Hogan Family (Mike, Gaelle, Celeste & Lily)
Summer Breeze 2011 Review
2010 and 2011 Summer Breeze Weather: Both years it was really hot, take shades as there isn’t a lot of shade!
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.
Eden Festival 2012 Review
2012 Eden Festival Weather: It was very,very wet. The main area near the big stage got muddy. The roads into the site have hardcore so you can drive in and out easy. However when it’s wet and not cold or windy you will get midges so prepare!
Review by: Ellen (with 3 kids aged 6, 10 and 14)
Getting to the festival and setting up:
We arrived by bus, 2 adults and 3 kids. We were worried about getting to the site but it was fine we got dropped off at the top of the road and it was about 5 min walk to the main gate and it only took that long cause the kids stopped and sat down.. From the main gate it was another 5 mins walk to where we camped.. we were there when the main gates opened so didn’t have to wait to get in.
Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:
The entertainment was great for the kids age,10 and 6. The 14 year old met friends straight away and I hardly ever seen her but the other 2 were excited the whole time – they never once said they were bored. 6 year old loved the kid’s tent making fairy wings, clay models watching puppet shows and lots of other things, 10 year old enjoyed some of the activities but she loved the circus skills bit so she spent a lot of time there. The kids also done a few workshops and loved making jewellery. We were so busy we didn’t really see many bands during the day. I was too busy playing. At night we went in to the Furry Chillum tent a few times. On the Friday night we all had a great time and didn’t leave till around midnight when the fire show was on. My whole family loved that – it was magical.
What would you change or do to improve the event?
PlayFest 2012 Parent Review
Playfest 2012: 1-3 June
Reviewer: Jessica (with a 3 year old and a baby)
—
Well as I said at the end of last year’s review of the first Playfest: “… with a bit of extra thought, Playfest could be amazing”, and you know what?… It really was!
Fairyland Trust Fairy Fair 2012 Review
The 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…
Bearded Theory 2009-2011 Reviews
2009, 10, 11 Bearded Theory Weather: Quite cool but has been mainly dry every year.
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!!!
Alex James presents Harvest 2011 Review
2011 AJPH Weather: A mixture of sunshine, showers, cloud and a LOT of wind!
Review by: Clairem (with 2 yr old)
Getting to the festival:
Easy to get in. SatNav co-ordinates worked. No queues at all. Well organised. Camping looked nice and spacious and there was a tent that kids could play in which is a fab idea. We did have camping tickets but wimped out as we thought the weather was going to turn.
Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:
Line up was good. Some kids stuff you had to pay for but my little boy was too young for that. We finally (after many festivals) got in to see Charlie and Lola‘s Best Bestest play and were not disappointed. We made cheesecake in Kiddy Cook which tasted good although my son told one of the chefs it was yuck, made some clay food, played at circus skills and loved The Orange Hat and the interactiveness and puppets. Read more…