Eight Unmissable Family Festivals for 2018

The last few years have seen a huge increase in family festivals in the UK. We’ve been to a few of them, this year we’re going to both the Timber Festival and Just So Festival. There are a few other festivals happening over the summer, here’s our pick of fabulous family festivals this year…

Timber Festival, 6th – 8th July

July sees the first ever Timber Festival.  Timber is set to be an extraordinary new camping festival exploring the transformative impact of forests. Music, art, philosophy and sustainability. Timber takes place on the 6th – 8th July in Feanedock, in the heart of the National Forest. The Timber Festival is set to be a thought-provoking three days in the forest, getting back to nature and learning to love the woods.

Eight Unmissable Family Festivals for 2018 / Preview: Timber Festival - a brand new family festival!

Just So Festival, 17th – 19th August 

Taking place on 17th – 19th August at the Rode Hall Estate in Cheshire this year’s Just So Festival is packed with familiar old favourites and an array of exciting new things to see, do and experience. Step out of your everyday life and enter a wonderland of world-class literature, arts, theatre, dance, music, comedy and creative pursuits together as a family. Immerse yourselves in a weekend full of magical midnight feasts, curious creatures, raucous pillow fights, hidden retreats, top-notch food, drink and boutique camping options and breathtaking beauty.

The Good Life Experience, 14th-16th September

The Good Life Experience is located Hawarden, Flintshire. The festival was founded by friends Cerys Matthews, Steve Abbott and Charlie and Caroline Gladstone. It is a celebration of great food, axe throwing, campfire cooking, group sing-a-longs, comedy, beer, raucous music, poetry, literature and so much more. It’s a real back to nature experience for the whole family!

Bluedot Festival, 20th -22nd July

Bluedot is really unique festival, located in the incredible grounds of Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, it’s an event that brings together science, education, music, food and culture and wraps it up in a big festival shaped bow. This year the headline acts at Bluedot are The Flaming Lips, Future Islands and The Chemical Brothers and each day is packed with really interesting things to see and do.

Geronimo Festival / Eight Unmissable Family Festivals for 2018

Geronimo Festival, 30th June – 1st July

Geronimo has been going for a few years now. This family festival features the stars of CBeebies and lots of old favourites, plus a host of new activities. When we visited Geronimo in 2016, we loves the arena area which had different shows on throughout the day. There are lots to see and do, but do take a picnic!

Lymm Festival, 21st June -1st July

Lymm Festival is a 10 day festival which runs each year in the lovely Cheshire town of Lymm. The Lymm festival features a wide range of events celebrating various aspects of the village, from the amazing Transport Day where the village is filled with all kinds of transport, old and new including the Batmobile and steam engines; to foodie events, music, literature, comedy, charity dog walks. We’ll be going along this year, so do have a look at what’s on to see if anything floats your boat!

Foodies Festival, various dates

The Foodies Festival does an annual summer tour around the UK, but sets up camp in Cheshire each July. It’s a real celebration of global food with stands and stalls from all over the world. We have visited the festival a few times over the years and it’s an interesting day out for foodies; they even have special cooking sessions and demonstrations for children!

bOing! International Family Festival, 25 & 26 August

The bOing! International Family Festival returns to Canterbury this August Bank Holiday to celebrate its 5th birthday in style, with its biggest and best line up yet. bOing! showcases the very best in theatre, dance, music, films created for all ages across Europe. This (mostly) free family festival is a brilliantly theatrical day out for all the family.

There are so many great family festivals on this summer, whatever you’re interested in, there’s bound to be something to suit your family. Which festivals are you going to this year?

Review: Geronimo Festival, Tatton Park 2016

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, we went to our first Geronimo Festival at Tatton Park. The sun was shining, we’d heeded the warnings about queuing traffic and left a bit later than we’d planned. The weather was glorious and we knew we’d be spending the whole day there, so it didn’t much matter to us if we were an hour or so late.

We arrived to a packed site, the parking was a fair bit away and with my mobility problems, I was worried about how tough the day would be and I was glad I’d asked my OH to bring my chair. There were no queues to get in, I guess leaving it a bit later meant that most of the crowds had already been through.

Review: Geronimo Festival, Tatton Park 2016

There were maps available just through the entrance and the site seemed fairly logically laid out. Our first mistake was only bringing snacks and not a full picnic, so I settled down near the Geronostage Zone to watch Mr Bloom with the boy whilst my OH joined a queue, a queue which he stood in for an hour and 45 minutes, returning with some cold and odd tasting corn on the cob and some cold but tasty lentil curry and rice. We were not impressed and in hindsight we should have just had burger and chips from the fast moving queue or taken a proper picnic.

Review: Geronimo Festival, Tatton Park 2016

The boy and I sat in front of the Geronostage Zone stage and watched a variety of acts, the sound quality wasn’t great and the boy got a bit bored and ended up just running around, even Swashbuckle couldn’t hold his attention. It was clear that we needed to move on to something which floated his boat.

Review: Geronimo Festival, Tatton Park 2016

I was keen to go at watch the Imaginary Menagerie show from Les Enfants Terrible’s, a show which I’ve seen before but really enjoyed. We settled down to watch it and he was utterly gripped and engaged by the whole thing from start to finish. Afterwards we explored the site, dipped into the craft tent, popped to the fairly nice festival toilets, looked at the stalls – the boy got a dinosaur tail, and saw a whale and a big dinosaur. We grabbed a coffee to power us through and ambled over to the Arena Zone.

For us the Arena Zone was the best thing about the Geronimo Festival, we watched the Motorcycle Imps display team roar their bikes over ramps and through fire, the boy was rapt. After the motorcycle display we wandered around meeting a huge puppet giraffe, a disco nun on a motorised piano, some horsey ladies, a scary dinosaur and much more, these were probably my favourite parts of the Geronimo Festival, accidentally stumbling upon some incredibly bonkers sight.

Review: Geronimo Festival, Tatton Park 2016

Towards the end of the afternoon we were keen to take part in the Jedi Training, we arrived early and bagged decent seats in the tent, but there weren’t enough lightsabres to go around and disappointed, the small and tired boy lay down on the floor and didn’t want to join in, so we left the tent which was probably for the best as we ended up watching a fantastic display in the Arena Zone – the Horsemen of the Knight. Ben has talked of virtually nothing else since, watching the galloping horses in the joust and the Knights in combat, it was probably the highlight of our day.

Review: Geronimo Festival, Tatton Park 2016

Review: Geronimo Festival, Tatton Park 2016

Once the Knights had finished we stayed put to watch the Sheepdog Show. I’m rather fond of this and I’m sure I’ve seen this shepherdess work at the Cumberland Show, herding geese and ducks and showing off the skill of the dogs and their handler. Once that was finished everyone seemed to be packing up and going home, so we did the same.

Review: Geronimo Festival, Tatton Park 2016

The weather had been very kind and had given us a great day, but Tatton Park was heaving and it did feel a bit like there were just too many people there. The day had been a sell out so it was busy and there were big queues. After queueing for so long for food we were all queued out, so refused to even consider queueing for anything for more than a couple of minutes.

If I were to go again I would plan my day better, I’d take a proper picnic, I’d focus less on the Geronostage and spend more time around the Arena Zone, I’d also explore more of the things happening in the fringe. There were aspects of the festival I really loved and things I was indifferent to, but I think all festivals are like that. There are so many things to do, see and join in with that there will always be things you like and don’t like, and so much you just don’t get time to see or do.

There was so much for the kids to do and Ben did enjoy himself, he ran around a lot and discovered and learned new things, his horizons were expanded and his imagination fuelled, which is one of the biggest reasons for taking him to events like this. The Geronimo Festival is a unique family experience and if you can experience it then I think it’s worth a visit.

Review: Geronimo Festival, Tatton Park 2016

You can find out more about the Geronimo Festival on their website.

We were invited guests of the Geronimo Festival and were not asked to pay for our tickets, all images and opinions are our own.

My Sunday Photo 5.6.16

Last Sunday we spent the day at the Geronimo Festival at Tatton Park. It was a glorious day, the sun shone, we watched and did so much. But for us the real highlight was the Horsemen of the Knight show – a live action equestrian show.

The Horsemen of the Knight are a group of professional stunt riders who regularly work in TV and film. The horsemen have appeared in Game of Thrones War Horse, Snow White and the Huntsman, Robin Hood, Harry Potter and the popular TV Series Merlin to name just a few.

At the Geronimo Festival they performed their jousting show, four horsemen going against each other in the Arena Zone, culminating in a sword battle with fire and the victor winning this beautiful unicorn.

My Sunday Photo 5.6.16

Keep your eyes peeled this week for my full review of the Geronimo Festival.

Have a great week! x

My tips for surviving family festivals in the UK

If you’re off on a day out, or you’ve got tickets to a family festival or event, it makes sense to plan ahead and prepare yourself for all eventualities. In the UK “all eventualities” essentially means prepare yourself for the weather, all of the weather.

We live in Manchester, which is not known as the rainy city for nothing (though it doesn’t actually rain as much as you’d think). We try to get out and about as much as we can, which often means standing in a muddy field getting rained on, but still managing to squeeze some fun out of our precious family time together. Here are my tips for surviving and enjoying outdoor events in the UK.

Check the weather forecast. This will give you a vague idea of what the weather is likely to do on the day of the event or festival. Although if it says it’ll be sunny I’d still stick a brolly in the car just in case.

Pack a Picnic. Regardless of whether the event has food on offer or not, I always pack some emergency provisions. At the very least a couple of bottles of water and enough snacks to tide a hungry tum over until a pulled pork burger can be foraged from the nearest street food vendor.

Plan your day. Check out what’s on, what time it’s on and where it is. If there’s something you especially want to see or do, then it helps to know where on the festival site it’s happening and when. It’s often worth printing out a little map of the site and an events listing, or taking a screenshot on your phone to refer to if you need to.

Take something to sit on. Festivals, events and days out can be a loooong day and you can guarantee there won’t be enough seating for everyone. Take something to sit on. A picnic blanket with a waterproof backing is invaluable, but if you don’t want to carry that around, a bin bag for each family member to sit on works just as well and is much lighter and easier to carry. I have a bad back so can’t sit on the floor, so I take a little camping chair to sit on and my son often climbs on my knee for a cuddle. I wouldn’t be without my chair.

Wear suitable clothing. Rain or shine if you get a couple of thousand people in a field you will need to wear wellies or good stout walking boots. If driving rain is predicted and you’re still going to the event, then pack a mac and wear waterproof clothing. Be prepared to get wet and have dry clothes waiting in the car.

surviving family festivals

Take a change of clothes. If you’re going in your car it’s easy to pack a change of clothing and leave that and a cosy blanket in the car. My son always snuggles under a blanket on the way home and we wouldn’t be without it. The thought of being able to change at the car if you need to can get you through an afternoon of dampness.

If you can’t take a change of clothes (including dry socks and shoes) to change into for the drive home, then I’d recommend packing a pair of dry socks sealed in a plastic bag. Dry feet can make the difference between abject misery and a tolerable bus ride home.

Bring a brolly. We keep a big golfing umbrella in the car as well as a small one to slip into my bag. When we arrive at the festival we make the choice which, if any to bring with us. If it’s raining then the golfing umbrella, especially when teamed with my camping chair makes a nice little shelter from the rain, and when it’s very sunny the brolly offers a little shade.

Use sun cream. Even if it’s cloudy in the UK, you can catch the sun by standing in a field all day. Slap on the factor 30 and top up regularly. Wear a sun hat and keep hydrated.

Bring some baby wipes. As a parent I’m never more than 2 metres away from a pack of baby wipes, they are an everyday essential and invaluable at events and festivals. From cleaning sticky fingers before lunch, dealing with the worst of the mud, for toilet times and for making yourself presentable for the journey home. We don’t leave home without them.

Take cash money. Festivals and events can very easily be done on a budget, but once you’re in you’ll have to buy everything you need and it probably comes at a premium. We tend to pack a picnic and then buy some treats like ice cream when we’re there. Just don’t turn up thinking you can pay for everything with your card, cash is king and most events don’t have ATMs on site.

If you’re prepared for the changeable and sometimes really miserable UK weather, you’ve thought about food, transport and you’ve planned your day then hopefully your family day out will go off without a hitch. Maybe I’m a bit odd, but I’ve started to have low expectations of what an event or festival will be like before I get there, that way I’m rarely disappointed and often surprised and enchanted by what happens on the day.

I have a bit of a go with the flow attitude to life and almost everything I do, which does mean that you can sometimes find me dancing in the rain. You can’t control the weather, but you can control how you prepare to spend a day in that weather. Come rain or shine you will find us having fun in a field somewhere this summer and I hope you won’t let a little rain stop play either.

Do you have any top tips for surviving family festivals and events?

surviving family festivals

We’re going to the Geronimo Festival 2016 – are you?

I’ve got a little bit of exciting news to share with you, I’ve been chosen to be an official blogger at the Geronimo Festival 2016, and what’s more, they’ve given me a very pretty badge to prove it!

Geronimo_Official-Ambassador_Large

I missed The Geronimo Festival last year due to a holiday, and I was gutted when I saw all the lovely pictures on social media of everyone having fun and posing with their favourite CBeebies presenters and characters, I knew I didn’t want to miss out on the fun this time around, especially as the tickets are very reasonably priced for a day of adventure and (hopefully) sunshine.

The festival is on at Tatton Park (May 29th and 30th) and also Harewood House in Yorkshire (May 1st and 2nd).  We’ll be going to the festival nearest our house, which is at Tatton Park in Cheshire.

The festival will feature Cbeebies star live shows, a full circus, 3 theatre companies, amazing bands, a full county fair arena including jousting, sheep shearing, motorcycle displays, funfair rides, tortoise encounters, spy school den building and 100 other amazing activities. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? 

This year Cbeebies megastar Justin Fletcher will be there, as well as Mr Bloom, presenters Andy Day and Alex Winters and Cook and Line from Swashbuckle. As well as Les Enfants Terrible who present their Imaginary Menagerie. We’ve seen this show before and it is fantastic, so we won’t be missing that particular festival highlight! 

geronimo festival

Looking through the festival highlights makes me want to get my marker pen out and start planning the day, but I’ll have to resist until nearer the time. The Geronimo Festival is aimed at families with children aged between 2 and 12 years old and I know that my 5 year old will love it, probably almost as much as me and his dad!

As a Geronimo Festival Ambassador I’ll be sharing updates on my blog and across my social media sites, so do keep your eyes peeled for updates and maybe more. I hope to see you there!

Tickets are currently available for £25 each. For more information or to buy tickets visit www.geronimofest.com.