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!
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…
Limetree 2011 Review
Limetree Festival, Yorkshire, 26th – 28th August 2011
Limetree FestivalOur competition winners for Limetree Festival tickets were Mike, his wife Gaelle and their 2 daughters (aged 5 and 9). Now Mike, as it turns out, was a music journalist in a past life so we asked him to share how they got on… (the photos are from Mike’s phone as they lost their camera)
Arriving, setting up camp and site layout
“We arrived on the Saturday after cowarding out of a 3 hour drive in weather of biblical proportions on the Friday (not wanting to put the tent up in a lake & lightning). The site was tricky to find, but beautifully secluded. On the way in I was fearing a lack of space in the family fields would force us to pitch up in the crowded main field but when we decamped from the car park, a very short walk into the family field put us at rest. The family field was bijou with no facilities but at least we had a spot and we quickly setup and got into the fray.
I was so glad we weren’t in the main field as it was fit to bursting, and walking through to the main arena was an A to Z of discarded booze, Friday had clearly been a heavy night 🙂
Harvest at Jimmy’s 2011 Review
2011 HAJ Weather: Windy and a few showers (but plenty of shelter so not a problem)
Review by: Danielle (with a 3yr old and a 5mth old baby)
Getting to the festival:
We arrived just after 1pm and the car parking was easy and quiet. We loaded the buggy with stuff and went to wait in the queue. The gates where supposed to open at 3pm but didn’t open until gone 3.30 ( maybe even 3.45 ) so we had one very fed up 3 year old!
We had a good choice of where to camp and chose the family area. We where all pretty spaced out and the families around us were fantastic: all really friendly and kind enough to give us some gas when ours ran out and the shop said they wouldn’t be getting any more!!! All the people round us had children a similar age so it wasn’t noisy and the children slept well.
Shambala 2011 Review
Louise went down to Shambala Festival to check out their family friendly credentials for Festival Kidz. Louise lives and breathes festivals, so much so that she even took her newborn baby to Glastonbury last year just days after an emergency c-section! So what did she make of Shambala then?
“Wow! It was all the best bits of Glastonbury, but smaller, more accessible, and less middle class. The very first thing we felt on entering the site was a warm welcoming vibe, something Shambala is well known for.”
80’s Rewind 2011 (Henley) Review
2011 80’s Rewind (Henley) Weather: Torrential rain for the first 2 hours, then it dried out on Day 1 and glorious weather on Day 2.
Review by: Caswasere (with 2 kids, 9 and 6 years old)
Getting to the festival:
Queue was about 20 mins to get to the camping arena. We did have to carry the stuff quite far – pull along carts available to hire, but the queue was horrendous for these. People had brought flimsy trucks to wheel things along – pointless: most broke before they got to their campsites – best inventions were those that had brought wheel barrows, or industrial strength carts.
Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:
There was a children’s entertainment area, we used this Fri evening after setting up the tent, but didn’t have time to go anywhere near it on the main Sat/Sun event. Entertainers were good and there was lots of circus equipment for them to try out, really good as it was free!
Beautiful Days 2011 Review
2011 Beautiful Days Weather: Mostly dry and warm. Sunny at times but with heavy rain on the Saturday morning.
Review by: Chris Luxford (with a nearly 3 year old)
Getting to the festival:
The festival was clearly signposted from the A30 with stewards to guide people along the local lanes long before reaching the site. There was a steady stream of vehicles arriving, but no queue (though getting out on the Monday took an hour).
LodeStar 2011 Review
2011 LodeStar Weather: Hot and sunny.
Review by: Steve (with 2 kids, 6 and 8 years old) – Attended SATURDAY only
Getting to the festival:
No queues to get in and very easy to find. We didn’t have a problem on the narrow country and village lanes as there was very little traffic when we arrived, but I did wonder what it would be like if it was busy.
Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:
The line-up was a good mix of well chosen bands – some unsigned, some up and coming. Most were really good. There was also an alternative stage with some comedy and a few theatre sketches, but we didn’t really spend much time there.
For the kids there was Read more…
Jolly Day Out 2011 Review
Jolly Day Out 2011 – 26th to 29th August 2011
Jolly Day OutHeld 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.
Standon Calling 2011 Review
Standon Calling 2011 weather: Rained overnight on Friday. Fine the rest of the weekend.
Review by: Sam Sugden (with two 12 yr olds and a 3 yr old)
Getting to the festival:
We planned to arrive Thurs eve, but rain was predicted so were lucky enough to stay at friends who fortunately live close by. We therefore arrived around 10am Fri instead and there were no queues at all. Unlike 2010 when camper vans were parked up on the hill, this year they had moved us to a spot much closer to the festival.
Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:
If you ask my daughter what her highlights were she would say the swimming pool and Big Love Gallery where they got to make lots of lovely badges. My 3 yr old son and I once again enjoyed listening to Morris and his reggae nursery rhymes, and the Punch and Judy show.
My highlight would be that we got to see John Grant up close and personal late Sunday, one of those moments that will stay with me for a lifetime.
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.
Limetree 2011 Review
Limetree Festival, Yorkshire, 26th – 28th August 2011
Our competition winners for Limetree Festival tickets were Mike, his wife Gaelle and their 2 daughters (aged 5 and 9). Now Mike, as it turns out, was a music journalist in a past life so we asked him to share how they got on… (the photos are from Mike’s phone as they lost their camera)
Arriving, setting up camp and site layout
“We arrived on the Saturday after cowarding out of a 3 hour drive in weather of biblical proportions on the Friday (not wanting to put the tent up in a lake & lightning). The site was tricky to find, but beautifully secluded. On the way in I was fearing a lack of space in the family fields would force us to pitch up in the crowded main field but when we decamped from the car park, a very short walk into the family field put us at rest. The family field was bijou with no facilities but at least we had a spot and we quickly setup and got into the fray.
I was so glad we weren’t in the main field as it was fit to bursting, and walking through to the main arena was an A to Z of discarded booze, Friday had clearly been a heavy night 🙂
Shambala 2011 Review
Louise went down to Shambala Festival to check out their family friendly credentials for Festival Kidz. Louise lives and breathes festivals, so much so that she even took her newborn baby to Glastonbury last year just days after an emergency c-section! So what did she make of Shambala then?
“Wow! It was all the best bits of Glastonbury, but smaller, more accessible, and less middle class. The very first thing we felt on entering the site was a warm welcoming vibe, something Shambala is well known for.”
Beautiful Days 2011 Review
2011 Beautiful Days Weather: Mostly dry and warm. Sunny at times but with heavy rain on the Saturday morning.
Review by: Chris Luxford (with a nearly 3 year old)
Getting to the festival:
The festival was clearly signposted from the A30 with stewards to guide people along the local lanes long before reaching the site. There was a steady stream of vehicles arriving, but no queue (though getting out on the Monday took an hour).
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.
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…
Harvest at Jimmy’s 2011 Review
2011 HAJ Weather: Windy and a few showers (but plenty of shelter so not a problem)
Review by: Danielle (with a 3yr old and a 5mth old baby)
Getting to the festival:
We arrived just after 1pm and the car parking was easy and quiet. We loaded the buggy with stuff and went to wait in the queue. The gates where supposed to open at 3pm but didn’t open until gone 3.30 ( maybe even 3.45 ) so we had one very fed up 3 year old!
We had a good choice of where to camp and chose the family area. We where all pretty spaced out and the families around us were fantastic: all really friendly and kind enough to give us some gas when ours ran out and the shop said they wouldn’t be getting any more!!! All the people round us had children a similar age so it wasn’t noisy and the children slept well.
80’s Rewind 2011 (Henley) Review
2011 80’s Rewind (Henley) Weather: Torrential rain for the first 2 hours, then it dried out on Day 1 and glorious weather on Day 2.
Review by: Caswasere (with 2 kids, 9 and 6 years old)
Getting to the festival:
Queue was about 20 mins to get to the camping arena. We did have to carry the stuff quite far – pull along carts available to hire, but the queue was horrendous for these. People had brought flimsy trucks to wheel things along – pointless: most broke before they got to their campsites – best inventions were those that had brought wheel barrows, or industrial strength carts.
Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:
There was a children’s entertainment area, we used this Fri evening after setting up the tent, but didn’t have time to go anywhere near it on the main Sat/Sun event. Entertainers were good and there was lots of circus equipment for them to try out, really good as it was free!
LodeStar 2011 Review
2011 LodeStar Weather: Hot and sunny.
Review by: Steve (with 2 kids, 6 and 8 years old) – Attended SATURDAY only
Getting to the festival:
No queues to get in and very easy to find. We didn’t have a problem on the narrow country and village lanes as there was very little traffic when we arrived, but I did wonder what it would be like if it was busy.
Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:
The line-up was a good mix of well chosen bands – some unsigned, some up and coming. Most were really good. There was also an alternative stage with some comedy and a few theatre sketches, but we didn’t really spend much time there.
For the kids there was Read more…
Standon Calling 2011 Review
Standon Calling 2011 weather: Rained overnight on Friday. Fine the rest of the weekend.
Review by: Sam Sugden (with two 12 yr olds and a 3 yr old)
Getting to the festival:
We planned to arrive Thurs eve, but rain was predicted so were lucky enough to stay at friends who fortunately live close by. We therefore arrived around 10am Fri instead and there were no queues at all. Unlike 2010 when camper vans were parked up on the hill, this year they had moved us to a spot much closer to the festival.
Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:
If you ask my daughter what her highlights were she would say the swimming pool and Big Love Gallery where they got to make lots of lovely badges. My 3 yr old son and I once again enjoyed listening to Morris and his reggae nursery rhymes, and the Punch and Judy show.
My highlight would be that we got to see John Grant up close and personal late Sunday, one of those moments that will stay with me for a lifetime.