Camp Bestival 2018 review of (probably) the best family festival on Earth

Hello! I am back from one of the best family festivals on earth, Camp Bestival,  and I'm not only saying that because they gifted me a ticket!
This year the festival was sadly cut short by horrendous storms and wind, but no one wants doom and gloom so here are the fun bits!

First off, we hired a camper van this year! So minimal tentsniffing for me, but the joy of a cute pink VW camper instead.(more of her soon)
pink vw campervan
Molly the Camper Van

Day one was Thursday. Hot and sunny we drove (slowly in the elderly camper) to the site. Parked high on the hill and gazed down over the festival. Thursday evening we spent lazing about because we assumed we had so much time...note to self, seize the moment! (rules for life and festivals) do not assume you have days and days left..)


Day two. The festival begins. There is much prowling and getting orientated, and this is because with Bestival being held on the same site one week later the layout had changed slightly. Initially (like many people I'm sure) I hated the changes.
"Why is the big top here?" 
"Where is the Pigs Big Ballroom?" 
"Why is there nothing much outside Bollywood?" 
"Why is the crazy wall of death stunt show down here?" 

but later I began to see that some of the changes had real benefits. The new Big Top had open sides and was now in a natural dip in the ground, meaning even people who were sitting outside (either to enjoy the sun or because the tent was full) could now see in to the stage really well. And moving the Wall of Death gave space on the hill for an entire ship! (DD was amazed..."how on earth do you get a whole ship into a field?")


The new live action retro arcade games looked hilarious although we didn't take a turn, and high wire skills? Wow, so many brave people that each day this activity was filled up very early!

There was much shopping and drinking and eating on day two too. The Feast Collective turned out to be just as delicious as had been promised with an excellent vegan selection for DD.

In the evening, Rick Astley, with the amazing Mary Berry on drums, no I have no idea either, but it really happened I was there.


DD had already been struck dumb with shock and awe at seeing her hero Mary Berry wandering about in the Magic Meadow.


After seeing Rick I dragged DD to the big top to see my favourite DJ Jaguar Skills, and that was so much fun, he also brought Jag Jr to the set which was rather adorable and just right for a kids festival.

Day three, which turned out to also be the last day was full of wind and hot sun, a desert theme would have been more in keeping than the sea theme we had! I dressed a bit like a pirate, but keeping a pirate hat on in that wind was impossible, so I mainly looked like a middle aged women with a plastic sword in her belt.


We didn't visit the kid's fields as much as in previous years as DD is now an adult! But the children all appeared to be having the most amazing fun that only a festival in sunshine which is designed almost exclusively for them can achieve. Sadly for the first year in a long time we missed the simply glorious Insect Circus.


Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer pleased his fans with some spiffing chap-hop despite his suffering with a summer cold, although some small boys in the front row were disappointed he didn't sing, Let's Talk about Kanye.


Clean Bandit were excellent on the castle stage at night.


After Clean Bandit we decided to investigate the Caravanserai, a mishmash of old caravans and fairground parts with bars and stages and it rapidly became my favourite part of Camp Bestival, I had planned to spend most of Sunday night there, but it was not to be.





The activity, the shows and the general atmosphere though were simply incredible, I loved it. Well done Rob da Bank and co for the amazing festival once again! So sad that we missed out of Sunday, I'm already counting down the days until next year...



The show goes on and Rob and the team are already making plans for Camp Bestival 2019, which takes place from Thursday 25th July to Sunday 28th July at Lulworth Castle.

From Friday 3rd August at 10am to say thanks to all Camp Bestival-goers for being brilliant, there is a very special 72-hour pre-sale with adult weekend tickets available to buy for the amazing price of £150.

Camping Plus, Hospitality and Backstage Camping upgrades will also be available at pre-sale prices. To take advantage of our pre-sale prices, head to the Camp Bestival website and sign up to the mailing list to receive an access code.

Following the pre-sale, early bird tickets go on sale on Monday 6th August at 10am from campbestival.net, with adult weekend tickets priced at just £160 and available to buy with our monthly payment plan.
Camping Plus, Hospitality and Backstage Camping upgrades will be on sale at early bird prices, too.

All Camp Bestival ticketing information and lots more can be found at campbestival.net

Disclosure: as an Official Camp Bestival Blogger I was gifted a ticket to attend the festival
Read The Previous Post

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Top 5 Tips for Camping at Download Festival - Guest Post from Tattooed Tealady

Festival Trolley - The best and the worst thing ever

No Fridge Required