Camp Bestival 2011.

[QueeferSutherland]

Has anyone been?
Going?
Is there a festival thread somewhere?

DH booked tickets today. I haven't been to a festival in an age, and DH has only been camping once. We are taking the 3 DC who will be 1, 3, & 9.

Any tips/reassurance?

[Curlybrunette]

I am very grateful for your lists, we are CB virgins and have hardly ever camped before so don't really have a clue what to take.

Am LOVING the frozen wine idea, can you take your own alcohol into the main festival?

Also taking facepaints is fabulous, ds1 loves it so will save money that I can then spend on boxes of wine

[sfxmum]

curly this was the only festival where no one checked my bag ever, they did not even check bracelets to go into site from the camping area
not sure that is really ok but sort of worked for us

at Latitude the family camping was quite fenced in and the access to and from the festival site was controlled constantly

[rosieposey]

OK having decided to go to Camp Bestival can anyone tell me how far the family feild is from the loos, Having only camped once before in my life im wondering just how far the schlep is going to be in the middle of the night?
Can any one of you season Camp Bestival goers let me know?

[sfxmum]

The toilets blocks are dotted around so you are likely to be in reasonable range of one

[QueeferSutherland]

I've got some tickets through the post!

Not sure which ones as I've not opened them.

Just need a tent. Was a MNer selling their bell tent?

[DontCallMeBaby]

I have tickets! Mine and DD's weekend tickets, plus carparking. My friend has tickets too - I assume her and the DDs' weekend tickets, rather than the Thursday ones.

[luciadilammermoor]

I got my weekend & carparking tickets together, then the Thursday night ones came through this week. Still wondering about the Camping plus, I'm assuming they're separate - does anyone know?

[sfxmum]

we got all the tickets together yesterday, it started feeling like Summer

[MarionCole]

We have tickets but no Camping Plus tickets.

[Curlybrunette]

Bugger I've forotten to order car parking. Should I do it now, it'll cost £10 plus £5 booking fee. Can you turn up and park or do you need an advanced ticket?

I've got the rest of my tickets though, yay!

[rosieposey]

Ok thanks - i need a toilet fairly close for the middle of the night!

I am going to take my only tent and hope there is room for it (its a outwell hartford xxl) Is it a good idea if you get Thursday tickets to get there early or is there usually plenty of space for a while? Also is there anything to do at all on Thursday?

Getting quite excited now!

[sfxmum]

rosie have a look at their site plus FB page lots of info there

last year there was no Thu opening but we drove down from London and stayed overnight nearby, there was a huge queue to the site although we were early. the acts started around 12pm when less than half had arrived.

this year they sensibly opening on the Thu there will be stuff to do I am sure

[FebreezeYourJeans]

I hated CB when I went for the first time last year

Billy Bragg and Madness were class acts for me but the queues for food and drinks and the cost of ....EVERYTHING got me down. I also found that there was too much for children and it became all about them which, despite having 3 children, wasn't what I wanted at all.

We went to 80s rewind later in the Summer and the children had a ball, far less 'put on' for the children, so they hung out with me and actually got involved in the music.

However, am guessing I am in a minority - most people love CB

[MarionCole]

I do actually get your point Febreeze about the stuff put on for kids. I missed some stuff I wanted to see last year because DS wanted to go on the carousel again / have his face painted / watch Mr Tumble etc etc. The prices are horrific and we took far more food/booze with us last year than we had before.

[DontCallMeBaby]

Anyone got any rough indicators of prices for stuff, particularly food and drink? Just wondering HOW much I need to steel myself ... ulp.

[MarionCole]

About £5 to £7 for a meal. When there's six of you to feed 3 meals per day it quickly adds up!

[FebreezeYourJeans]

I remember paying over £20 for 5 of us to have a posh hot dog, and the children were hungry again an hour later. I paid £1.50 for a diet coke

I was a CB virgin and I'm sure most people come far more prepared than I did.

[DontCallMeBaby]

Ah - yes, that would all add up. Mitigation - have only one child (gosh, how foresighted of me ;)); eat only two meals a day plus tent breakfast and/or random snacks; drink Pimms instead of eating (not such a good option for DD, it's true).

My problem will be maintaining festival-friendly chilledness in the face of DD not liking expensive food we've queued ages for (terrible fussy child that she is).

[rosieposey]

Ok i will have a look at the FB page thanks SFX im also a bit worried about prices for food too Marioncole as there are six of us also. As a bit of a camping virgin (only did it once last year) i just dont know what we are going to eat for 4 nights.

Breakfast is fairly easy with the coolbox, longlife milk and cereal and lunch was going to be a pot noodle style affair but i am out of ideas for an evening meal thats fairly long life iyswim. Can you get off the site fairly easily and get to a shop or is that a no no?

I did think about taking squash, some large bottles and cups and just using bottled water during the day because it will (going on the prices febreeze is quoting for coke) cost us a tenner everytime we are all thirsty. There are far more important drinks to be worrying about such as cocktails

[sfxmum]

food is expensive but we generally have cooked breakfast in the tent
we take juice cartons and water with us, baked beans etc.
we take snacks (brioche keeps well, crackers, cereal bars etc) and fruit mostly apples
thinks like couscous and pasta are easy to cook in something like a Trangia

but we tend to eat the evening meal on site
I don't drink fizz or beer so keep to wine at bedtime wich we take with us

what someone said about being child centred, I see what you mean, in a way that is why we go, mostly I am not much into the music there for my entertainment I go to gigs, for me CampB is mostly just family fun

although through he years dd has seen a few acts like Nick Cave, Idlewild, The Breeders, The Vaselines, and many others IMO the trick is to make them listen to their music prior to live performance so they recognise and engage making allowances for age etc
we also swap responsible adult to fit our separate interests and try to keep everyone happy

[DontCallMeBaby]

I intend to eat an evening meal on site (food may be expensive, but it all sounds so good, got to have some ...) but evening meal ideas: Pasta'n'Sauce with added tuna and tinned sweetcorn; corned beef hash made with tinned potatoes, baked beans; 'instant' flavoured risotto (can't remember the brand); those ambient pouches of potato stuff, with beans again, or with a bit of bacon and an extra egg (frozen bacon will stay fresh a good while, and eggs don't need full-on refridgerator cold). Anything homecooked like a stew, chili or curry, which is frozen can last pretty well.

What's the situation with water on site? I pretty much only drink water, tea and booze, no problems with tap water as long as it's readily available and suitable for drinking of course!

[MarionCole]

Last year I decided to be brave on Sunday morning and leave site to find fresh bread and bacon. I drove to Wool, found a Spar/Coop with full shelves, took my pick and was back in the tent within 10 minutes. The idea had clearly crossed nobody else's minds.

[QueeferSutherland]

That's what we were going to do, Marion.

All the tickest have arrived except the under 10s Thursday night tickets.
Will the DC need them do you think? They have the regular tickets.

[rosieposey]

Some great ideas there Dontcallmebaby I am coming around to the fact that in all probability we will eat an evening meal/snack from one of the concessions too.

It did say on the FB page that cooking is only in designated areas so it will be a bit of a pita to have to walk over to the cooking area to make a cup of tea and fry a bit of bacon! SFX was it like that last year or did you just do it anyway? (wonders just how strict the no cooking near your tent rule is)?

Ive been eyeing up a trolley for our stupidly large tent and bits to lug from the car - have read its also going to be useful for DS if and when he crashes at night. Anyone else done or doing this?

Marion thats a good idea, i did mention this to DH but he said the car might be half an hour away or more, its a good idea though (and one ill bear in mind).

[sfxmum]

rosie last year they had a no gas cooker no BBQ near tent as they do at most festivals but Trangia is spirits quite small, I would still keep a fire bucket nearby just in case

I think quite a few people left to go to shops, mostly because there was no decent shop onsite but we just couldn't be arsed