jeckadeck - I think your assessment of the current festival 'scene' is pretty spot on, but... from my (v limited) experience of festivals in the last few years, I can see how they have become money spinners as never before, particularly for families, and why quite a few people now choose to do a couple of festivals as a family, rather than going away on holiday.
They are massively sanitised in almost every respect compared to what they were like a couple of decades ago, but in terms of 'entertainment', they do a good job of ticking all boxes (theoretically at least).
So... you can now:
- entertain your kids (specific child-orientated activities - some of them really good);
- wander around between music/theatre/authors' readings/a spot of ballet... you get the picture (I think it's this sort of diversifying that's really led to their blossomig)
For all I know (and this wouldn't surprise me at all), you can probably do cooking workshops with a range of TV chefs after you've done all the above, taken part in live Radio 4 show, had beauty treatments, etc...
Oh yes, and if you've got truly appalling taste in music, you can dance along to naff 80s 1-hit-wonders until the small hours and pretend you're being ironic, in the 'Guilty Pleasures' tent.
All a tad tragic, IMO, but fun for all the family, dontcha see?