Wow what a cheeky couple of days.
We have been so lucky with the weather so we packed up all our favourite outfits (including lots of swim wear and sequins) and headed to Lulworth castle where Camp Bestival is based. THE place to be this weekend. We started the journey a little later than everyone else as Natalie who I travelled with and Luca her 4yr old son had to work (most people head down on the Thursday but there is nothing going on in the evening, it does mean that you can set up and be prepared for the Friday and the rest of the weekend.) As soon as Natalie had finished work we jumped in the car, chucked on some tunes and made our way to Dorset. The journey down was supposed to take about 3 hrs but it ended up taking us just over 5 hrs. With two kids this is never going to be fun, but we made sure to fill the car with lots of treats and luckily I had packed saved some Lol Dolls for Savannah to open on the way down and that kept her a little occupied & cheery for a while. We only had to stop of a couple of times for wee stops so that was not too disastrous.
We arrived in the huge field & were very lucky straight away to meet this amazing member of staff who told us to pull up and unload all of our camping gear and bags (perfect instead of going all the way to parking & having drag all the gear up the hill) We jumped out of the car, the sun was shining and our legs loved the stretch. Natalie then sat with all the bags, tent & the two kids whilst I managed to park the car not too far away in the camping plus car park. Another super cool member of staff was very helpful and gave me a lift back down the huge hill to where they were waiting for me, which was great fun and I felt like a celeb arriving at a festival very selfie ready, which of course I Insta storied! We picked up our tickets from the box office, and met one of the members of staff who was celebrating her birthday (what a wicked place to enjoy it!!) We loaded the trolleys and made our way through security. The staff here were fab, showing us roughly where our pitch would be & bringing me one of the sleeping bags I had dropped on my way. The staff here are not like other festivals where they treat you like you have done something wrong before they have even spoken to you. The camping plus camp site pitches are based on the rainbow so if you are pink you will be in between orange and green which is a fab idea and easy to remember when you are a little tipsy. The kids managed to find our space quite quickly and we unloaded all of our bags and popped the tent up quite quickly and just like that we were up and ready to party!
We got straight in to the festival mood and covered ourselves with glitter and make up and got our drinks ready in plastic mermaid glasses. We made our way in to the festival with the kids in their wagons dressed up in silver and gold with tutus over the top and hoodies to watch Rick Astley. The key to festivals with kids is to make them as comfortable as possible in their wagons so that when you head in in the evening the movement of the wagon makes them fall asleep, this happened straight away for Luca but as you can guess for Savannah it didn’t go so well. So she was up and dancing with me until about 10.30pm (I secretly loved it just being with her dancing and being silly which has made some super cute memories) When she finally fell asleep we headed to the silent disco, covered the kids in lots of blankets and warm coats pulled up, donned our headphones & danced until we wet ourselves with laughter!
Waking up in a tent can be unbearable in the heat, we weren’t lucky enough to have that happen. A storm arrived about 3am in the morning & so I was very unlucky and had a panic attack because of the noises & 30 mile a hr winds (not to mention our crazy neighbours having a massive argument, they then decided to pack up and go home just leaving the tent to flap in the wind (thanks guys). This meant I sat trying not to wake Sav whilst trying to calm myself with meditation apps! No one else in the tent woke and finally I fell asleep.
In the morning it was very windy but the sun was out and everyone was excited and so I decided to make the most of the day. We ended up having a fab day going on the rides, watching different entertainers such as Mr Tumble & having a rave up to big fish little fish! We met up with some other Mums from Insta which is always fun and got to drink some more rum with them whilst the kids played and Savannah had a tantrum. She cried, I cried, we all cried together but once it was over we were back on track!
The second evening was easier as Savannah and Luca both fell asleep early and so we wrapped them up in the wagons which were covered with fairy lights and shells, they even had Nemo and Dory as pillows to stick with the under the sea theme. We choose to sit and have some drinks and the most amazing duck wraps as we had definitely deserved a break and the drinks this weekend, then finished the night Mum dancing to Basement Jaxx living our best lives.
Sunday morning we didn’t know what to do the rain was pouring down and we were all awake relatively early (I hadn't had much sleep at all because of the weather and was feeling very groggy!) We popped our heads out from the tent and most people were leaving or had left because the weather was so bad. Do we stay or do we go? All of a sudden there was a huge gust of wind and our tent pole pierced the bell tent, we were sat inside with the tent on our shoulders, we couldn’t stop sweating and laughing (we would have been crying if not) Natalie held the tent with Lisa whilst I ran for some help. The staff were exceptional, they watched the kids in the first aid tent whilst us three girls managed to pack up everything, load the cars and get the tent put away safely. Absolutely soaked we grabbed the children, thanked the staff & jumped in to the cars. All stripped off with the heaters on full blast we made our way home with a cheeky McDonald’s en route.
Driving home with our wrist bands still on I felt like I hadn’t got the most out of the weekend,what with Savannah having been difficult on Saturday and the weather cutting our weekend short. Next year I will be heading down on the Thursday night and staying until the Sunday even if the weather or Savannah tells me I’m not!
I just want to mention one of the biggest plus sides of this festival is the staff and the toilets I honestly didn’t meet a bad member all weekend from start to finish they all couldn’t do enough for you. The best thing was they all talked to the kids and not just us which made them feel important and made me feel totally relaxed and not so nervous of something going wrong and when it did they were incredible! The toilets were incredible compared to other festivals and this is something I was really worried about especially whilst having a toddler having to visit them really. The food stalls are fab and the choices are great.
Next year the festival will be on Thursday 25th July to Sunday 28th July at Lulworth Castle.So pop it in your diary now & get booking.
http://www.campbestival.net
The Savvy Mummy xxx
