Camp Bestival - Is it worth it?

AB-SO-LUTELY! I'm going to find it hard to describe how much I loved our first trip to Camp Bestival, but I'm going to try, because if I can convince even one other family to do it then I'll be happy. 

We arrived to the site on Friday lunchtime in the glorious sunshine. Unfortunately many of the best pitches were gone by then, but we wiggled into a little gap close to the entrance and after a hot and grumpy hour lugging our gear and putting up the tents we were all set up and ready to get stuck in. 

The festival site was a short and lovely ten minute walk away - giving you plenty of opportunity to people-watch. Beware them there hills though - travel light!

First stop was the Dingly Dell. A haven of nature inspired loveliness. Here the kids did a scavenger hunt, helped to build a huge boat with real hammers and nails, did a puppet show, played games, made clay shapes, did dress up and even hand-sawed and decorated a wooden necklace.

The site is big enough that there is always something else you haven't yet seen, but not so big as to be daunting and scary. Dotted around the grounds there are a myriad of different places to explore and cafes to find.

Our favourite spot was the upper kids field that hosted Big Top Mania - a circus inspired field of fun.

The kids loved joining in the shows, learning trapeze and generally being let loose to do as the pleased.

There was always something going on or some parade or human dinosaur passing through...

I managed to escape a couple of times over the weekend to The Guardian Literary Tent where some incredible speakers and interviews were taking place.

My lovely friend Lucy from Lulastic and the Hippie Shake talked about How Not To Wash Your Hair, I'm pleased to report that I'm on day seven of that journey now. Though granted I haven't been out in 'real life' yet.

If you're intrigued or fancy trying it Lucy has a book on everything you need to know.

I also got to do the embarrassing fan thing to Hollie McNish and get my photo taken with her. I'd like to think she was bemused and flattered, but I'd say freaked out was probably more the reality. 

Security!

Other than all that there was the food (incredible), the chill out zones, the fair ground rides, the places we never even got to, the lying in the sun, the cocktails, the bands, the DJs, the dancing and the incredible last night fireworks that we sadly missed. 

Baxter got to see his all time favourite band the Kaiser Chiefs. But were all sad to have somehow missed Steve Backshall from Deadly 60 on the main stage. And then, like a little bit of Bestival magic, he later came walking through the crowd and right up to Marley to shake his hand and say hello. Priceless.

Credit: Camp Bestival

Tempted? I'll be writing up a Getting There post soon, so if you are in Ireland you won't be able to use that as an excuse. I'll also be doing a top tips post so watch out for that one. In the meantime - checkout these posts from other Camp Bestival bloggers.

Camp Bestival is simply The Best.

Note: Early bird tickets are available this Friday 7th Aug at 10am. Ticketline 0844 888 4410

Disclosure: I was provided with Camp Bestival weekend passes for the purposes of this review. All words, pictures and opinions my own unless otherwise specified. 

Cool Kids - The Festival Edition

As you may know I'm more than a little partial to some virtual window shopping.

Not only do I regularly fill up never-to-be-purchased baskets for myself, I also do the same for my kids.

Lately I've been looking around the designer kids clothes site Melijoe which was launched in Paris by mother-of-five Nathalie Christen-Genty in 2007.

It's easy to get lost in all the gorgeous things on offer, but here are some of my favourites. A perfect outfit for my little festival chick Kaya. There's even a case to pack them all in. 

Cool Kids - Feb by katetakes5 on Polyvore

Tommy Hilfiger Knitted sweater with raglan sleeves, €82 / Billieblush Cotton voile skirt with a smocked waistband, €37 / Rykiel Enfant Small case Multicoloured, €47 / Monnalisa Leather boots, €190 / Monnalisa Sunglasses and matching case Flower print, €42

Here she is at Body & Soul last year. I think it's fair to say she rocks festival cool pretty effortlessly...

If only it was so easy for the rest of us. 

Hmm, might be time for some virtual shopping of my own. 


Disclosure: This post is in collaboration with Melijoe.com. All words and opinions are my own.

Wonderfest 2014 - Was it really that bad?

We've just come back from a weekend glamping at Wonderfest 2014 in Malahide. It was a weekend of self imposed offline-ness, so it wasn't until today that I caught up with all the negative publicity being generated on Facebook and beyond about the inaugural event.

Some of the issues raised were completely founded. Some people however seemed to be enjoying the public lashing a little too much.

I can only speak from my own experience - so here's how it went for us.

Check in was supposedly open from 6pm on Friday night. The early birds dutifully queued up ready to be admitted to the camping area. In hindsight it was a good time to get the queuing practice in - as it was going to be needed for the weekend. 40 minutes late and with no explanations they finally opened to the hatches to hand out the wristbands. Not a great start.

The glamping area was lovely, but on opening the tents there was a lot of confusion - two single inflatable mattresses per family. The poor festival staff were getting chased around the site by the poor campers trying to grab an extra mattress for the night. There were lists made, lists ignored, miscommunication and much grumpiness. We made the most of our extra duvets and blankets and bedded down happily enough. By the same time the following night the mattress fiasco was sorted. But still...

A brief moment of clear blue skies. 

Happy Camper

The next morning we set off for the free sunrise tour of Malahide Castle which was fab. Then on for free coffee, kids drinks and a gift from the Avoca cafe in the courtyard grounds. Unfortunately the communication issues continued and it seemed the Avoca staff hadn't actually been made fully aware of the arrangement. Oops.

Oh Deer

The castle, grounds and garden were lovely and there was lots of opportunity to wander and explore.

Then it was on to the festival itself.

The events on offer were a mixed bag with some considerably better than others. There were long queues for anything decent - the climbing wall (which disappeared after the first day), the Trinity College Makeshop, the bungee trampolines, even the bouncy castle - which were barely even up on the first day due to the wind and lack of staff. The magic and science shows were good, but the schedules kept changing so it was very much pot luck as to what you happened upon at any one time.

Free drinks at the lovely Vita Coco beach bar (non alcoholic of course)

Watching Knights of Leon with the rest of the audience

Since there wasn't enough to keep the kids occupied for the weekend in the festival grounds there was plenty of exploring of the area to be done. 

First up - a free rickshaw ride into town.

And then on to the beach

Poking Jellyfish on Malahide Strand

Sunrise at Malahide Marina

The festival had also organised free sailing and kayaking lessons - but they were sadly booked out before we called earlier that week. I also heard complaints that the complimentary transport to and from the site to the sailing school turned out to be non existent. 

Night times at the tent were cosy and fun. What kid doesn't love camping - especially when it involves a big bonfire and 'fire' twirlers. 

We had a really wonderful weekend, but the festival itself was a big disappointment. It is a great idea and has such potential - it was just badly organised and didn't live up to the promises it offered. The weather didn't really help either as it was mostly cold and cloudy - something no one can blame the organisers for. 

All in all I'm glad we did it. But I think it's safe to say we'll be booking the amazing Body and Soul next year instead. 

The weekend did give me one of my favourite photos of the year though - so all is forgiven!