Tent Sniffing for Beginners

A lazy post today, a bit of a trip down memory lane. A few festival pictures to show you what you've been missing and/or to get you in the mood for festival fun.

As I said yesterday, you should take some snacks but you won't get a full festival experience eating back at the tent each day! Festivals need grub! Take a while to look around and see all the food stalls there are. You won't be able to eat at each one! There are too many and Camp Bestival is too big. At a smaller festival you may have less choice. Why not let the kids plan at least one of your meals? I tend to snack at breakfast (I may be lying...The Grill does rather fine bacon rolls) then have a light lunch (or a massive plate of pasta) and then a medium sized tea ( a huge pie and mash plate from PieMinister) sometimes I have afternoon tea at the WI tent (every day). Cost varies, remember that small kids can share a portion to save money (though you may be surprised at how hungry the fresh air will make them!) Check out where the best bargains are to be had. I'm a fan of the Soup Library. Just have a look at some of the great food Camp Bestival has on offer L...

Food at a festival First thing to remember is that most times you will have no fridge. A cool box lasts only a day or two at summer heat, so don't take anything that will go off that you can't eat on day one. I like to take prepacked (individually wrapped)  pastry style snacks like Pitch or croissants for breakfast.  I take some eggs if I plan to cook, also soft noodles to stir fry with sauce. Baked beans of course, soup, chilli and packs pouched rice. Not everyone wants to cook of course, although Camp Bestival does allow small stoves. " Are Chinese lanterns, flares, fireworks or campfires allowed? No, we have a no naked flame policy at the festival and in the campsite. Fires, flares, fireworks etc will extinguished by our festival fire service. HOWEVER, there are designated cooking areas in the campsite where you'll be able to go to use small BBQs and stoves to cook food." You might want to plan and take a packed lunch for the first day, a...

A bit about an act which is actually on the lineup at Camp Bestival this year (2014) . And what better than the rather fab, and quite raucously fun Basement Jaxx. Basement Jaxx hale from Brixton and have been around for an amazing 20 years (really I thought they were a 'new' group....I think I'm showing my age!) so DD was not even born when they started belting out music. Thought it was the very year of her birth that they went mainstream when Red Alert made it to the top 5  in the charts. Never having seen them live, I am quite keen now that I've read what CampBestival describe as an "unstoppable live proposition as their Latin influenced vibes became an epic onstage extravaganza worthy of the streets of Rio at Carnival time." They have even headlined Glastonbury! (2005) Can't wait!

So you're at a festival and you've finally staggered back to you tent. You've taken your wellies off, crawled in, knocked over a can of something that you hope was stale beer. Your tent chum is snoring in the corner and your bed looks more deflated than you remember. The lamps that light the walkways in the camping field suddenly seem over bright and you appear to have pitched right under one. The tent next door is filled with crying children and there is a loud beat drifting across the field from the all night party tent. Sound familiar? Sound scary (if you've never been to a festival)? Well fear not! You can and will sleep! Top tips for a good festival night's sleep. Leave the tent relatively tidy when you go out. Yes you are keen to pee, yes you want a bacon sandwich and who cares where you flung yesterdays jeans and your warm sleeping bag? Well, you as it turns out, when you stagger back later tired out. So leave the tent - or at the very least the bed...

Festivals are filled with awesome people that like festivals. People like you and me that love to have a dance and a laugh in a field. People that have a drink and become friendlier, that migh laugh and giggle, hug you and fall over. They may fall onto your tent at 1am and spend 35 noisy minutes apologising. People at festivals are the best people. But like anywhere in life there are some exceptions, there are some twats, there are some people that can't hold their drink or become nasty on it. There are people that do illegal drugs, that like a fight...there are even ...thieves. So take a few precautions and stay safe. I tend to expect the best but plan for the worst. Don't keep all your money/cards etc in one place. If there are a few of you in group ensure you all carry some of the valuables. Maybe leave an emergency fund hidden in the car? Don't leave valuables in your tent. This includes cash, cards, electronic games and phones. At  night put your cash and p...

Toilets If I talk about festival toilets now, maybe you'll have forgotten about them by the time the festival swings around. No I'm kidding they are not that bad. Festival loos are something that all non-festival goers cite as reason they can't do festivals. And I'm sure some festival goers have horror stories too (I know I do) but with a little planning and some ability to be a bit more relaxed around poop than usual (more parents can cope with poop in my experience) the festival loo experience can be fine! Camp Bestival has two types of loo (well actually it has three but the last I haven't experienced...more about them later) The first is the old faithful, the portable chemical toilet. Most festival have them cleaned and emptied fairly regularly - don't camp too close to them or the 4am hose down and pump may wake you! They can get gruesome but it's down to the festival goers themselves being disgusting and drunk rather than the toilet itself! T...