It might have been ‘Madness’ to travel back from France having just moved there, to go to a festival. It could have been… if that festival was any other festival. It wasn’t though, it was Camp Bestival’s tenth anniversary and having experienced the magic twice before it was a no brainer to return. Camp Bestival has a reputation for being dry; allowing revellers to bask in the summer sun. This year…. not so much! The rain and mud definitely dented the joy on a few occasions, but overall the magic was still there in spades!
VENUE
Camp Bestival is split into seven main areas; the Lower Kids Garden, Dingly Dell, the Upper Kids Garden (The Feast Collective), The Magic Meadow (Bollywood and Big Top), the Castle Field, The Den (which is for teenagers) and Slow Motion.
After pretty much a day of travelling we arrived at the festival site around 4pm. We were so happy not to have to pitch a tent this year, as we were guests of PodPad this year (more on that soon!).
The walk from the Boutique camping car park to the Boutique campsite was much easier than our previous years treks. I was so excited to have a bed to sleep on!
Music
It feels weird as a festival goer to say Camp Bestival is not about the music for me, but it really isn’t, it’s much more than just music. Hubby really wanted to see Madness and I fancied a blast from the past with Right Said Fred. Ava and I had a ball dancing to those tunes!
FOOD & DRINK
The food at the festival is always AMAZING! There’s so much choice and everything we have had has been pretty good if not really yummy! We never take food and just buy all our food there. If you want a lush (cheap) cup of tea or hot chocolate, the WI Tent is the place to go at £1 per cup. A couple of our favourite spots to eat were Annie Mac’s mac ‘n’ cheese and the Chicken Katsu Noodle bar, oh and the fish and chips! There was a great breakfast place (with award winning sausages!) near the camping shop that did an epic breakfast roll too!
Dingly Dell
This year Ava was so much more adventurous and she even had a go at zip lining! Such a bargain £5 per child and only about a 5 minute wait.
Look at her go!
Lizzie’s Way is such a cool place (within Dingly Dell) and Ava had a lovely time, puppet shows, mud kitchens; a kid’s dream.
There’s always so much to do, whether that’s watch the Insect Circus, ride the carousel, create in Art Town or visit the literary tent; the choice is almost overwhelming.
Ava and hubby also loved riding the big wheel, always such a pretty site in the evenings. On the first evening we attended the opening of Kidfornia which was a super cool camp area, with drinks for us parents and a playground for the Kids. Ava adored it! I adored catching up with Alison and Emma too.
I counted my blessings all weekend that we weren’t in a tent, I heard stories of tents collapsing in the rain and could just imagine how miserable that would have been. The team at Camp Bestival were super organised with tracking and wood chip, to help in some of the worse hit areas.
Just look at the mud! We hunted and hunted for wellies for Ava. I was so touched when a lady in the face painting tent gave us some she had in her car boot! So kind.
There’s always so much colour, energy and a vibrancy that you just don’t find elsewhere. We shared moments that I will always remember; Ava on her daddy’s shoulders shouting at him to ‘dance horsey’, and him running around the field in the fading evening light. The magic of being together.
Ava’s spirit for 90% of the festival was amazing. At one point she said ‘you know what you do when it’s raining?’ ‘You eat an ice cream!’, as she happily chomped on hers in the pouring rain.
The Saturday blogger’s get together is always a highlight for me. Chatting with friends for a couple of hours drinks in hand. This year it wasn’t quite the usual event, as people huddled in small groups sheltering from the rain and some people didn’t stop by at all. However, my favourites were there.
With the gorgeous Emma
Although the rain dampened spirits a little, it was still an amazing festival. You will literally not experience anything like it elsewhere. If you fancy going the early bird tickets and payment plans for Camp Bestival 2018 at www.campbestival.net. Do it now, I know you’ll love it!
Disclosure: We were given tickets in return for an honest review.