Last weekend we were getting our festival vibe going at Camp Bestival; yesterday I started a little series of posts with Baby’s favourite things about the festival. Today I want to share Hubby and my highlights. A festival with a toddler is utterly exhausting, but equally as rewarding and for someone who never stops, it was so lovely to spend some quality time with my family. So I have consulted with Mr Hubby and here are our joint highlights.
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Ella Henderson
I have watched quite a few live acts over the years and I can genuinely say Ella Henderson was one of the best in terms of sound quality. She sounded AMAZING! She might not be a dynamic front man who gets the crowd going, but there were some real goosebump moments in her set. Such a stunning talented lady.
Image courtesy of Camp Bestival
- The Kaiser Chiefs
Headlining the Saturday night was the Kaiser Chefs, who were on the top of my must see list. Ricky Wilson is such a great front man and I was really looking forward to seeing them live. I will say that the sound was a little disappointing further back where I watched the first half. The only speakers were at the front and so at times it was hard to hear Ricky at all. I then moved further forward (about half way up the castle field) and the sound was great. Everything you expect from a hit making rock/alternative band.
Images courtesy of Camp Bestival
- Food
I will start by saying the food isn’t cheap. As with all event catering it can be a little expensive, but the difference here is that the food available at Camp Bestival is really great. Such an eclectic mix, catering to everyone’s tastes. Some of our favourite meals were the garlic mushrooms, chilli and garlic bread from the Garlic Farm stand, Nachos and chilli and some yummy homemade pies from the Farmers Market tent.
- Catching up with friends
It was so lovely to catch up with friends while we were there. I spent some time with the gorgeous Michelle from The Purple Pumpkin Blog and also caught up with Kara, Caro, Emma and Bonnie, to name a few.
With the gorgeous Michelle.
With Emma, Caro and Bonnie.
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Wild Warriors of the Cossack
I have ridden all my life and had the honour of judging some of the best riders in the country and watching the best riders in the world. It is not often I am blown away by someone’s riding skill, but wow these guys and girls are super talented. I have seen Cossack style acts before and although they were brilliant, they were not a patch on Horses Impossible, who were the talent behind this act. Truly mind-blowing. The guy pictured in the top and bottom pictures was utterly remarkable and I have never seen anyone as talented as him.
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Firework Finale
Two nights we went to bed as a family and two nights we split up as Baby requested to go to bed! Mr Hubby gave me a pass to watch the Kaiser Chiefs and on the last night Mr Hubby got to experience the fireworks. He took a million photos and videos for me, so that I could experience it too. His verdict was – the best display he had ever witnessed.
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Spending time with Family
Although I did feel some stress knowing that work was building up for my return, it was lovely and really special to just have 4 days of being with each other. Watching Mr Hubby and Baby play together never gets boring.
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Dingly Dell
We didn’t explore Dingly Dell as much as we wanted to, but it is such a fabulous place. Magical and packed with stacks to see and do. Baby loved the playground. Next time we will be sure to get involved in many more of the activities.
Our negatives
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I truly hate camping – If there wasn’t a festival attached to camping, I would never camp. I do think camping gives you the full festival experience, but in a ‘normal’ tent, with a toddler it sucks! I would LOVE to stay in a tent or van that I can stand up in and that has enough space for us to feel organised.
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- Distance to the car park – We chose to pitch near the festival, so Baby would have less of a walk daily. However, this meant that the journey to the car was about 15 minutes without carrying anything and a very difficult and tiring 25 minutes when dragging a trolley (up some pretty big hills!).
- Toilets – I have been to a lot of festivals where the toilets were horrific. On the whole these weren’t bad until you reached Monday morning, when the ones by our camping were really awful.
- It isn’t cheap – Although we were lucky enough to receive our tickets free of charge, we still spent over £600! We bought all our food there, I picked up some sunglasses to replace mine which broke on the first day and we bought very little else, other than a few beers, but wow it adds up!
So there is our little round-up from an adult perspective. Check back tomorrow for tips on how to survive a festival with a toddler!
Have you ever been to Camp Bestival? Are you tempted to go next year?
Disclosure: We received our tickets as part of the official blogger programme. All opinions are honest and our own.