The big festival

[bigtastyplease]

Any one been to the big food festival in Oxfordshire ? Going for the first time next week and panicking if any one has been do you park car near tent ? Or is it a big walk to get to camp site ? Thanks

We are going to the Feastival and were there last year too, we had a great time & are very excited about next weekend.

The car park can be quite far away from the campsite, depending on which field you pitch your tent. From memory the family field is a good 15 - 20 minutes away from the car park, but is much closer to the Feastival entrance. Last year we camped in a one of the closer fields which was about 10 mins walk, and closer to the toilet . You can hire trolleys there, but unsurprising they were very popular!

Hope you have a lovely time

Thank you for your replay that's helpful just wondering is food expensive ?? & can we take drinks in ? also camping can we camp any where ? X

Food is quite expensive, yes. There were plenty of free samples being given away last year, I think we finished the weekend with 12 bags of popcorn! But meals were very expensive, we are taking lunch to eat in the tent this year.

I can't remember if you can take drinks in or not, we could certainly take drinks in for the children, bottles of water etc. I am not sure on alcohol, but bags were not searched on entry to the Feastival from the campsite. They were VERY strict about searching bags when we entered the campsite though, definitely no glass of any kind.

Camping, yes anywhere - first come first served. The first two fields were uncomfortably full, the further back you go the more space you had, but then much further to and from the Feastival.

Hope this helps!

If you're not camping but staying in local hotels I do recommend booking taxis early on in the evening (unless things have changed from a couple of years ago!) - we had a long wait one night... But we loved feastival!

mummellow do you mind if I pick your brain as this is you second visit?

I am expecting the food to be quite expensive but I wondered if you had any idea of an approximation?

Also, I'm taking my DS7 - have you any idea of how much activities cost?

Thanks!

From memory we are budgeting around £10-£15 for evening meal per person. I remember there was a burger there last year which cost £17, laced with truffle oil I think! That was the most expensive thing we found, fish and chips, paella etc were around £10-£12, it's not cheap! Also expect the food queues to be huge, try and order food when there are acts on the main stage, the queues were shorter then.

There were a lot of free activities for the children, I can't remember paying for a lot. My daughter was 7 last year, I think she spent an awful lot of time in the farm park area with the goats and pigs, we also made scones in the NEFF tent which was also free (but we ended up queuing over an hour to get a place for her).

The fairground was fairly expensive, about £3 or £4 per ride I think.

Oh, and most food outlets only accepted cash.

Hope that helps?

Perfect - thanks so much mummellow

I have budgeted £100 per day for the two of us so at least it should be doable with my budget xx

Oh yes, I'm sure that's more than enough. We are budgeting a similar amount.

Hope you have a lovely time, my two daughters are super excited about seeing Olly Murs!

Same to you mummellow, we just have to get the four hour journey out the way first 😩🙄!

My DS can't wait for Olly either - I'm looking forward to Toploader, Madness and The Cribs!

Just hope the weather stays dry - have fun and thanks again for your advice 😀! xx

Thanks for all the advice had a great weekend ( apart from queuing hours to get in ) will be definitely looking in to going next year , hope you all had a great time X

We had a lovely weekend too, but agree the queuing was very frustrating.

Found it so much busier this year though and the festival seemed to have lost it's intimacy some how. The camping was very squishy.

We still had an absolute blast though and very much looking forward to next year.

We just had the most amazing time and cannot wait to book for next year!

Once we got over the initial queuing to get in - nightmare - everything was fabulous!

A few things miffed me a little, Campsite Rules said no gas appliances near your tent only in the designated area yet every other tent had brought their own from boiling water for a morning cuppa to cooking a full English! Had we known this wouldn't be enforced we would have brought a ring!

Also our 'when nature calls' passes were very mis-sold as there were no shower facilities included! I wouldn't of bothered just for the loos as the others were adequate!

You live and learn though and we'll be twice as prepared for next year!

Fab experience all in all for our first trip xx

When nature calls passes ? Not heard of that ? Was our first year so didn't really know what to expect but compared to lullworth bestival toilets was 100% cleaner ! Stage was bigger with better screens ! Lots more free activities & chances to have tasters of food all in all much better weekend & cheaper