Tent Sniffing for Beginners

It's no secret, I love Wilderness festival . It's held in Oxfordshire in Cornbury park and since the first time we went (after winning tickets) I've been a huge fan. I dream about it all year and it's all over way too fast. This year was no exception. It's a festival where music plays second fiddle (see what I did there!?) to all the other amazing things that happen in the beautiful surroundings. Already it seems so long ago, and already I'm booking tickets for next year. From the Shakespeare play in the woods, to the camel rides; From the trapeze acts to the cocktails: from the naked knitting to the bearded burger chefs: from the skinny dipping in the lake to the cinema in the fields; from the posting anonymous postcards via the Wilderness postmen and women to the bubble teas,; from the roller disco to the gospel music at the shack; from the main stage and Sam Smith in the rain to the burning tower and fireworks in the ...

I was lent a solar light/charger. And also given a couple of solar lights to review by The Solar Light Co. After a few festivals over the summer (some of which had very few 'sunny' days!) I am ready to report back! The first test was the cute and frankly adorable ' Little Sun' . A cute yellow sunflower shaped solar light, complete with lanyard. Perfect for children to wear during the day and use at night. Having the solar panel on one side meant ensuring it hung with that side on display in the daytime! And at night it's super bright LED light (there are 2 settings but the lower one was always bright enough for us!) was great for walking back to our tent and then had loads of light for getting ready for bead and even reading, and the best thing was you didn't have to worry about falling asleep and wasting the battery because you could charge it again as soon as it was light! The light worked brilliantly (quite literally) at every festival. I would give the...

One of the things that used to terrify me when I first went to festivals was how close the tents were pitched to each other. Having joined the Camping and Caravanning Club I was all about the 6 metre rule (it's ridiculous really! 6feet would be more sensible) and of course a car between the tents too - all as a fire precaution, no one wants a fire sweeping across a campsite. Festival camping is much snugger - often tents practically touch! or at the very least are one a guy rope length apart. So fire safety in the tent, always important, becomes even more so! I have never seen a fire at a campsite or a festival, by the way, so don't get all panicked. With some basic common sense we can all stay safe. Why not involve the kids early in understanding fire safety when camping? At Camp Bestival the Disney Fire and Rescue team were on hand to help! With lots of fun and games and advice. And everyone loves a firefighter!! So here are some top tips and some fun activity sheets f...

I have been to a few festivals this summer (as always) and I have been muttering under my breath on occasion as people seem to forget their manners totally when in a field. Yes I think you should be able to let your hair down and relax. Yes I think children should be allowed to be children. yes having a few drinks is fun, but there are limits! So here are my top festival etiquette tips/rants about bad behaviour: Rubbish . There are bins, if there are no bins near your tent use a rubbish bag. There is no excuse. I don't care if you are 17 and it's your first festival, I don't care if you are on the litter team and will clean it all later anyway, I don't care if your kid did it, I don't care if you forgot bin bags! (ask someone, loads of campers bring a roll or two) There is no excuse! You are on someone's land. There may be animals there next week. Litter clean up is expensive. At the least you are adding to the ticket price and at worst the land owner m...

So we finally made it to Camp Bestival. The weather played pretty fair (except for Saturday morning when even Rob da Bank agreed that gin was acceptable for breakfast) @tattooed_mummy @CampBestival correct! line me up one :) — Rob da Bank (@RobdaBank) August 2, 2014 But apart from some brief rain the festival was awesome fun (as usual. My brother learned circus skills in the 'Kids' Field (he's in his 40s) I dressed up! We listed to music, drank cocktails, lurked in the woods and generally had a rather fine time. I even managed to just about keep tweeting for the whole 5 days I was away from a power source thanks to the Sun Bell light/charger (more on this later). One thing that Camp Bestival seems let down on is fabulous loos. The loos are adequate, but never restocked with paper or hand gel, and while there are nicer compost loo at the main site, the campsite area portable toilets are a bit basic. A shame at a family festival where little kids nee...