Family Friendly Festivals
By Judith Schrut - Email: judith0777@gmail.com
Summertime is festival time in Britain, with over 400 fab fests happening across the UK each summer. From established big beasts like Glastonbury, Glyndebourne and the Edinburgh Festival and uber-cool newbies like Love Supreme Jazz and Greenwich Music Time, to weirder wonders like Bloodstock, New Forest Fairy Festival and Supernormal, there’s a festival for every age, taste and fetish.
Top of our family friendly favourites and the perfect excuse for a weekend away in the lovely Cotswolds is the Cornbury Festival. Variously described as a country fair with a rock and roll twist, a very English open air party and a farmers’ market with a dancefloor, Cornbury offers a chilled mix of pop, rock, blues and plenty of music that cannot be pigeonholed. You’ll also enjoy the fabulous Comedy Emporium, dedicated children’s areas, tempting choice of edibles and drinkables, posh loos and the joy known as ‘Glamping’— luxurious camping in yurts, tipis and podpads.
Cornbury 2015 welcomes lilting legends Sir Tom Jones and Lulu, indie rockers the Fratellis and Razorlight, vintage Motown from Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and homegrown alt- country heartthrobs, The Shires.
For another great family option head to Cornwall and the fairytale setting of Port Eliot Festival, a uniquely creative and laid back festival of words, music, fashion, flowers and extremely good food. Flower and Fodder is the festival’s phenomenal food and garden area, where top culinary and garden geniuses give talks and demos. The Bowling Green, Park and Caught by the River host authors, musicians and comedians, and the Wardrobe Department takes imaginative fashion full on. You can sample workshops in wild brewing, kotlich cooking, botanical illustrating and knicker making, and the festival has tons of events for families such as wild swimming, spooky nighttime walks, a woodland summer ball and a Pirate School. Port Eliot itself is a beautiful, historic stately home and former medieval monastery, packed with atmosphere and treasures.
Camp Bestival also prides itself on a particularly family festival focus. It takes place on the grounds of ancient Lulworth Castle, Dorset, with its backdrop of stunning coastal scenery. This year, Camp Bestival’s Go Wild theme summons“wild boys and wild girls to the wildest place on earth”.
Expect first rate music over multiple stages including Kaiser Chiefs, Alison Moyet, Ella Eyre, Buzzcocks and the Spooky Men’s Chorale plus a massive mix of comedy, dance and theatre. The Den is a festival within a festival, exclusively for teenagers. But above all are kids activities galore and plenty of chances for the whole family to release its inner beast, with bushcraft, foraging walks, stargazing, cooking in mud kitchens, campfires, tub bathing under the sky, mass sleep-outs and other natural pleasures. Don’t miss festival favourites like Insect Circus, Igor Rasputin’s Caravan of Lost Souls and Gorilla Gardening, and there’s even rumours of the Gruffalo making an appearance.
Port Eliot Festival, 30 July-2 August 2015, www.porteliotfestival.com
Cornbury Festival, 10-12 July 2015, www.cornburyfestival.com
Camp Bestival, 30 July-2 August 2015, www.campbestival.net
