Elderflower festival...whose going?

iwantanafternoonnap · 2013-05-21T20:15:05+00:00

Title says it all really. I am really looking forward to it as it will be first camping trip this year and with my shiny new icey-tek

MummyPigsFatTummy · 21/05/2013 23:43

We are (met already on iceytek thread). Just praying for good weather now...

bedhaven · 22/05/2013 07:37

We are, along with 7 other families, very excited...and sending out heartfelt wishes for sunshine.
It's our first camp in my new 40th birthday bell tent but we'll have a pretty uncool larder and cocktail cabinet!
I'm just thinking of all the really useful things I don't have, wellies, table and tarp for my one gas ring...I do have a nice line in bunting and plenty of rum and ginger ale

MummyPigsFatTummy · 22/05/2013 10:20

Oh bedhaven, so jealous about your bell tent . DH wants us to take the Decathlon pop up and I know he is right because if it rains on Monday we won't have to worry so much about drying it out (our bell is a bit large for the garden).

But I LUUURRRVE my bell and really want to take it!

We are now the proud possessors of a collapsible trolley cart thing from LIDL which will carry 50kg of stuff from the car to the campsite (the big stuff like the tent will go on the festival tractor). Also we may be able to use it for DD when she is tired in the evenings, although DH thinks it might be a bit big and anti-social so we will have to play that one by ear. I have heard people complain about Radio flyer trolleys at other festivals and this is maybe a fair bit higher on the sides. Currently, DD has adopted it for her dolls and may even insist on sleeping in it, so it will be used one way or another.

Can't wait!!!

Sleepyoto · 22/05/2013 14:03

I'm going too :-) went last year and had the most amazing weekend. I'm trying not to obsess over the weather forecast too much - just really hope it will warm up a bit.

I wouldn't worry about the trolley at all, as long as there aren't loads more people than last year then there really is plenty of space for everyone, no crowds etc.

Sleepyoto · 22/05/2013 14:06

Oh and bedhaven - how can a cocktail cabinet be uncool?!

Original poster

iwantanafternoonnap · 22/05/2013 21:20

just bought my booze and breakfast food...so excited xx

OP posts:

bedhaven · 23/05/2013 06:46

Come hell or high-water we'd be taking the bell tent! Not least because of the ease with which my DH can help put it up. Last year we had my monster 6 man which only I had ever put up before with seasoned camp friends, we required an intervention from a fellow camper as he couldnt bear to watch us anymore!

I'm taking our trolley cart too and imagined I would pull the kids around in it...it's will be far less antisocial than the taller phil and teds and we can't fit the P&T in the car!. I believe there will be twice as many people as last years but that still won't be hectic.
One of the main appeals from last year was that almost everyone had kids and wanted to have a good time, it felt really safe and relaxed.

My cocktail cabinet will be ice cold! But probably only on Friday on Saturday it will be so scorchy hot with the sun beating down on us!
I'm off to get supplies this morning and mostly pack the car today, then we can take off easily tomorrow! See you all tomorrow!

MummyPigsFatTummy · 23/05/2013 09:51

Hurrunph. Not going to get there until the evening. Worried we will end up in some overflow field (as we did at Camp Bestival) and miss booking the under 5s activities. I am such a panicked about this sort of thing. But work can't be avoided sadly.

bedhaven · 23/05/2013 10:09

Have you seen the site map? Will hopefully reassure you! It's nothing like the size of bestival and I should imagine most people are limited by work and school so don't worry. It'll probably just be busier for the camping truck

MummyPigsFatTummy · 23/05/2013 10:21

Thanks bedhaven I am sure you are right. I tend to get a bit uptight about stuff like this. Once we are pitched and DD has a few activities booked in, and I have a chilled glass of wine in my hand, I will relax and have a brilliant time I hope.

Camp Bestival is the smallest festival I have been to at 5000 people at the time so I don't probably have a proper feel for what a genuinely small one will be like. In our 20s/early30s we tended to go to V, Isle of Wight and similar so sardine camping is more what we are used to.

I am intrigued by your cocktail cabinet though. Is it one of those Lakeland/LIDL jobbies with the table that rises out of the icebox? I do fancy one of those but think it might be one camping indulgence too many.

Sleepyoto · 23/05/2013 11:48

Am liking bedhaven's confidence in the weather!

We arrived last year at 5-6ish and apart from having to queue to sign in the only difference it made was there was less choice of where to camp, but there was still plenty of room. They will know how many children are coming in advance and I'm sure they will make sure there is room for them all - they have said on facebook not to worry about spaces running out so I'm sure it will be fine!

MummyPigsFatTummy · 23/05/2013 12:19

Great new Sleepyoto - I don't have access to Facebook at work so that is good to know.

Think the weather is not actually looking too bad (not on my weather app anyway) so fingers crossed bedhaven is right

Getting so excited!!!!

bedhaven · 24/05/2013 03:52

Ah, I seem to have aggrandised my rubbishy coolbox into a camping gadget supreme! It's just the contents that resemble a cocktail cabinet.
Looks like my with in the weather is paying off, there's a whole sun out on saturday. It (the all seeing met office) said Thursday would be rainy here (not far from Lewes) and we only had a splatter. Fingers crossed, bags mostly packed! The weekend starts here!

MummyPigsFatTummy · 24/05/2013 11:57

What time were you packing to bedhaven !?! I am so excited now even though weather dreadful.

If you see two adults and a 3year old in a Quechua family 4.1 tent looking a bit frazzled come and say hi! And come and have a VAT with us (with ice if the Coleman xtreme does its job). Enjoy the weekend everyone!

MummyPigsFatTummy · 27/05/2013 23:35

Wow. What a brilliant weekend. Fab weather, totally chilled atmosphere. DD had a blast. We are definitely signing up for next year. Only slight shame is not getting to see loads of bands but that was having a 3 year old with new friends and her own plans rather than down to the festival.

Also I have not been so cold sleeping in a tent for ages. That was probably not having a fire to sit round in the evening so going to bed cold. Hey ho. Will know for next year.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

NettleTea · 28/05/2013 00:28

So glad it went well, and apart from Friday you had fab weather!!

MummyPigsFatTummy · 28/05/2013 08:06

Oh God yes. Friday was dreadful. we nearly bailed and headed for a Premier Inn. It cleared up for a while to see some bands in the early evening so all good. Then Saturday was dry and Sunday beautiful. Baltic every night though.

bedhaven · 29/05/2013 14:39

Glad you enjoyed the festival. We had a lovely time too, amazing how quickly the memory of Fridays rain was burnt off by Sunday sunshine!
So chuffed with my beautiful bell tent but after freezing every night I'm now wondering if I was a bit rash in thinking I would never need a wood burner!

MummyPigsFatTummy · 29/05/2013 14:58

We took our pop up with an inner tent to avoid freezing and still froze. I think it was just unbelievably cold at night. I have never been so cold even in a bell tent.

That said, a wood burner would have been lovely. Someone near us had a clever one they kept outside their tent to sit around at night. I wish we had brought one of these: www.amazon.co.uk/Firebowl-Barbeque-Folding-Carry-Portability/dp/B004J9B7UA/ref=pd_cp_lp_1

bedhaven · 29/05/2013 16:25

Funnily enough I have exactly that firepit but it went missing somewhere between the tractor pick up and drop off. It turned up leaning against the loos on Sunday! Restored my faith in human nature but a bit late to warm up the nights.
My daughter (2) slept really well in one of those mini tent travel cots, it has a thermarest on a padded layer. Dressed in pjs with a fleece pair on top in a sleeping bag with a fleece blanket on top. We had a futon mattress and even fully clothed under a 9 tog duvet wasn't quite enough. Friend had some similar to this www.amazon.co.uk/Nauticalia-Interlocking-Rubber-tiles-Comfort/dp/B002ZO3A60/ref=pd_sim_sbs_kh_35 which definitely would have helped.

bedhaven · 29/05/2013 16:26

Funnily enough I have exactly that firepit but it went missing somewhere between the tractor pick up and drop off. It turned up leaning against the loos on Sunday! Restored my faith in human nature but a bit late to warm up the nights.
My daughter (2) slept really well in one of those mini tent travel cots, it has a thermarest on a padded layer. Dressed in pjs with a fleece pair on top in a sleeping bag with a fleece blanket on top. We had a futon mattress and even fully clothed under a 9 tog duvet wasn't quite enough. Friend had some similar to this www.amazon.co.uk/Nauticalia-Interlocking-Rubber-tiles-Comfort/dp/B002ZO3A60/ref=pd_sim_sbs_kh_35 which definitely would have helped.

MummyPigsFatTummy · 29/05/2013 17:09

Funny that - DH said he saw one of those firebowls at the festival. Perhaps someone decided to 'borrow' yours for the duration and then returned it at the end. I think we will definitely get one for next year.

People were honest there though. DD lost her (99p) pirate eye patch at the pirate show and it turned up later on a picnic table. Sadly DH lost his flat cap and that did not magically reappear - he is a bit gutted. We do seem to be rather bad at keeping hold of our things in our family.