Big Tent Festival, Falkland Estate – July 2012
Reviewed by Lorraine from Kidding Around Fife
Having never been to a festival before with our kids, I really didn’t know what to expect as we headed off toward Falkland Estate to what our kids have been so excited in attending.
When we arrived at the entrance to the Estate, and showed our tickets, we were informed that we were in the “upmarket” campsite. Smiling, we headed off to Campsite One and whilst not expecting 5 star glamping, we were so delighted with what we found. Plenty of toilets, shower blocks and lots and lots of tents in amongst a buzz of activity. The kids were having great fun playing within the camping field, along with many little girls in fairy costumes and wellie boots – a perfect family festival atmosphere.
We went as a family of four, myself, my husband, our 9 year old son and our 7 year old daughter and we all came away with a fantastic positive view of our first family festival. Once our tent was up, we wasted no time in heading towards where all the action was happening. Hitting the main stage first the kids just loved The Chipolatas. A funny, entertaining and talented group of people. In fact we had to go back and see them play the next day as we liked them so much.
The weather certainly plays a huge part in weekends like this, and on the Saturday we could not have been luckier! The sun was out, sun cream was applied, shorts, wellies and sun hats all round! The amount of stallholders was significant, there certainly was lots to see and do for all of us. The kids in particular loved a stall which was selling circus toys (stilts, hula-hoops, unicycles, etc) and they had a “playground” at the side of their tent to try out the equipment – which was highly entertaining!
The beauty about attending an event like this is that you can take it all at your own pace. The Main Stage and the Wee Shindig Tent were full of musical surprises with the highlight being The Proclaimers as the last act on the Saturday. The sun had set, the field was full of people waiting to see them in anticipation, and they did not fail to deliver. I am sure that they enjoyed playing the gig as much as we did watching it!
Amazingly for such a busy campsite and the majority of us heading off to our tents at the same time (post The Proclaimers) it was a quiet and restful experience. The campsite fell into silence so quickly and whilst the rain had started at that stage, and was echoing throughout our tent, we all had a great night’s sleep!
Day 2 was just as good for us and we knew what we wanted to go back to see and do. We enjoyed the relaxed ambiance in The Wee Shindig, whilst sipping some delightful fruity fizzy wine…
Heading home, the kids were asleep in the back of the car, content and happy after what was a fun and memorable experience for us all. If I could change anything about it, I would want to camp for more than one night, or certainly bring a tent that doesn’t take three people and two hours to put up!
To round up, the event was well organised, the staff were more than helpful and the line up was perfectly geared towards adults and kids alike. As a family we are looking forward to the Big Tent Festival 2013 already!
Lorraine x
