We had the BEST time at Camp Bestival this year and picked up a few tips to share with you! We’ve been for the past two years and can highly recommend it!
Camp Bestival Shropshire is a bit further up North, compared to their original festival in Dorset. We’ve been to both and they’re specifically designed by parents with the family in mind, it’s no exaggeration to say that Camp Bestival really does have something for everyone.
It’s a whole weekend of fabulous family fun trimmed with glitter and great music and our trip to Shropshire took us less than two hours so it’s very close! Here are some helpful hints!
We bought one to take with us and it was great to cart our chairs around and jumpers, drinks etc. There are also Trollies for hire and these were a lot more substantial – great for transporting your camping gear up to the campsite as you won’t necessarily get your car up to your tent, plus people were them using them to transport little ones rather than a pushchair – there is a LOT of walking and obviously late nights, the trollies make a cosy bed and people were creating a little shaded area for little ones to sit or sleep. It was so nice seeing babies, toddlers, children asleep in trimmed up trollies with fairy lights as it got late. There is a really fun ‘pimp my trolly’ competition too and we saw some brilliantly trimmed trollies.
Camping Chairs – load your trolly up and whip the chairs out wherever. We also carried a blanket but it was great to have the chairs with us. It’s such a big place with loads of space to sit and relax to take in the surroundings. We spent a fab few hours sitting on a hill over-looking the Disco stage. letting the kids run around playing ball and had great seats to watch the trapeze artists landing on the huge disco ball at night.
We saw some absolutely amazing costumes for the Family Fancy Dress Competition! So much effort had been put in, sometimes with parents, grandparents and kids all dressed up to co-ordinate. I loved this family dressed up as Octopuses! We also saw a family of prawns and flamingoes! Let your imagination run wild!
Glitter – I guarantee you will be wearing something sparkly by the end of the weekend. Lots and lots of glitter stations, henna tattoos, places to get nails done etc. If you want to save a bit of cash, take some face glitter with you or some stick on gems. We took our own hair chalk and had lots of fun putting it on.
Main rule is ‘Don’t Look Down!’ We were quite impressed at the amount of toilets – no queueing, but be warned they are eco friendly, water saving toilets so no flushing, do your business then cover it with sawdust and leave it for the next person. The kids were a bit freaked out by someone else’s big poo staring up at them but by the second day they were absolute pro’s at not looking down, just getting on with it. We took advantage of the #GoodLoos on a few occasions, making a donation to charity for the luxury of having someone wipe down the toilet before you went in and they threw the sawdust in (it was the same kind of toilet, but felt so much nicer knowing it had been wiped down). I have to say they weren’t so smelly as normal portaloos, and we all got used to them. Sanitiser – definitely take some, there was plenty around the toilets – no handwashing facilities though. There are water points around the site to fill up water bottles and wash hands but you would need to carry your own soap.
You will definitely need to take some for all the family, absolute necessity. There are drinks to buy, but we found plenty of areas to refill our water bottles which was great.
We saw a lot of very young babies and children with headphones on as the music is very load in some areas. They looked very cute and were loving it, but headphones definitely looked to be a good idea. There were also some silent disco’s which looked brilliant in the Big Top.
There were some lovely activities that provided a bit of calm and a change when you’re all danced out. Also some shade as it was really hot when we were there and an opportunity for the kids to do something crafty. We saw wand making and sword making – but do plan ahead and make those places first on your list to go and book a slot as they booked up really quickly. We made shields and puppets. Plan your days ahead if you can – the festival covers such a huge area, it’s great to explore but having a plan is a good idea. Check the website for any programme changes/updates to line-up when you get there as there were a few last minute changes when we went.
I’d also recommend checking out the Woodland Tribe adventure play – this was a ‘build it yourself’ play area, but entry was limited and there was a queue. It looked absolutely brilliant with children and their parents building the play area with wood and nails. Another place to plan ahead for.
We wished we had done it on the set up – we only realised that we could flag one of these down when we were packing up. It was a £35 donation to charity for a jeep taxi meaning all of our tent/camping gear went down to the car in one load, driven by a lovely charity volunteer. Mini Mumbler was pleased she got a ride in a jeep too – best £35 we have spent! Life changer when you are shattered at the end of the week!
We were in Camping Plus and there were nice showers and great ‘off-peak’ but do expect queues during busy periods. We adopted the Festival Hair Don’t care attitude and lathered on the dry shampoo
Despite it being really hot in the day, it can get pretty chilly at night. We always find putting a blanket on the top of the airbed, then one on top of sleeping bags keeps everyone warm.
No matter how old the kids, when they need to go in the middle of the night, they’ll still sit on a porta potty! Absolutely worth taking if you have one, or I saw lots of mums emptying buckets in the morning so that works too!
Hope this helps if you’re planning on going to a festival this year! Camp Bestival was a brilliant experience making some fantastic memories with the kids.
Tickets for Camp Bestival Shropshire are on sale now.
For tickets and details please visit: shropshire.campbestival.net
