Tent Sniffing for Beginners

Having told you about the festivals I'm off to this year I thought you needed a quick look at each one. First up is the PDSA PetLife festival at Cheltenham.  Founded in 1917, PDSA is the UK's leading veterinary charity. Operating through a UK-wide network of 48 Pet Hospitals, PDSA provides veterinary care to the sick and injured pets of people in need and promotes responsible pet ownership. The Petlife festival is a one day affair held at Cheltenham racecourse, and featuring Jessie J, Kaiser Chiefs and The Vamps . Gates will open at 11am on festival day with main stage entertainment drawing to a close at 10pm. Tickets are £38 for adults and £15 for children, and you can take your dog too! (Disabled visitors can take a carer with them for free, and their dog(s) of course) and a family ticket for four is £95. Your ticket also includes on-site parking close to main entrance and entry for your dog(s) - don't forget to register your dog on the website when you bu

Quick recap as to the festivals I'm off to this year. Please add the ones you will be attending, and why, in the comments as I love to discover new festivals. The first festival I'm off to is a one day affair, so sadly no camping or tent sniffing. The lovely smell of warm (or even wet) canvas will have to wait a while. But we will be taking Fizz the dog because the first festival we are off to is the PDSA Petlife festival at Cheltenham in May. Live acts are The Kaiser Chiefs, The Vamps, and Jessie J. My teen is extremely excited as she loves Jessie J, I love the Kaiser Chiefs and recently have developed a soft spot for The Vamps so we are both catered for. I just hope Fizz enjoys it, I'm not sure how she will cope with the noise and crowds but she adores meeting other dogs so that should cheer her up. Tickets are available here , if you like music and or dogs, this is the place for you. The next festival we are off to is not exactly a festival, but I get to dres

This year I'm off to some new festivals to expand my festival range. While there is much to be said for a familiar festival year after year, I think I should also look outside of that comfort zone and look at some other sites. I also wanted to wait to see some of the line ups this year before deciding and then... I was told about Cornbury Festival . I'd heard about it of course, but had never been before. The Cornbury Festival is in Oxfordshire, not too much of a drive for me and looking around to see what other bloggers have thought of it, it looks amazing. Travel Loving Family had nothing but great things to say about Cornbury Festival, not least a reminder that it is known as 'Poshstock' due to the number of celebrities that attend! And the line up!! This year the lineup just looks amazing , several of my absolute favourites and Alanis Morrissette headlining on Saturday night! In fact Saturday is all about the women! Where other festivals are being slated for

Every camper needs a penknife . A good penknife is a knife of course, fun for whittling sticks and making them sharp to use for skewering marshmallows or sausages to toast over an open fire, but a Swiss army style penknife is so much more. Many is the time my penknife has sliced cheese when I forgot to take a decent sharp knife, or has been used to slice open a tough plastic packet. But much more importantly my knife has a beer bottle opener, and a corkscrew so alcohol is never denied me when I have finally pitched up. No longer am I rummaging about for a tin opener either as while basic, my penknife has that too. Tweezers are in a secret compartment at one end, excellent for splinter removal and then there are screwdrivers, and spikes to make clean holes in tarpaulin or wood. A file for when you break a nail....or possibly for more rugged uses such as smoothing rough edges on pole repairs or fishing rods you have constructed from willow branches might be included, and scis

Number one in a series. My camping must haves are many and various, but for versatility there is not much to beat a trug . These flexible buckets are great for carrying stuff, from muddy boots, wet washing, dirty crockery, and water, to dog food, toys, and packets of food they are simply the most useful thing. Able to hold water, they are great for carrying it back from the tap to the tent. They can be used as a washing up bowl, as a bath for small children, as a sink and as storage for both dirty and clean plates. I always have a few of the small size (they stack easily too) and have a 'dirty' and 'clean' one colour coded for ease in sorting stuff after meals. If you don't yet have at least one, you can grab them here, Choose small (14L) for carrying water and using as a bowl/sink. Use a large(38L) one for bath and welly storage. (I have 4 small ones at the moment, and one large) All sizes are good for transporting bits and pieces, and for storage.

A couple of years ago my daughter and I were invited to England's Medieval Festival in East Sussex. Since then we've enjoyed visiting each year. I was wondering if a medieval festival would have much to offer, as I'm mainly a 'chill, listen to bands and have a drink in a field' sort of festival goer normally. But I was very pleasantly surprised. Ways that England's Medieval Festival is like all other festivals Camping . There is a nice campsite, with options of family camping, glamping and normal camping. The car park is close to the campsite.  Portable toilets . Yes, sorry folks, there are plastic portable loos on site and in the camping area. Food . Plenty of excellent street type food is on offer, and it's not all medieval hog roasts (though they do usually have a hog roasting by the beer tent). Food ranged from vegan curries, through chips and sausages, paella, seafood, and waffles. They had fried potato swirls on a stick! And the castle tea