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Greenbelt festival

19 replies

jbabe · 19/08/2007 22:21

Taking the kids camping to Greenbelt next weekend.Never been before and getting nervous. Any tips on what to take from previous festival goers? My kids are 6 and 8.

OP posts:
Blueblob · 19/08/2007 22:59

Wow, havn't been for couple of decades when it used to be held in the grounds of a castle. I hugged Bono one year!!

UniSarah · 20/08/2007 22:11

Warm clothes, its getting nippy at night now. Its nice festival- one of the safest IMHO. If you can deal with all the queueing up to get them booked in for it the childcare area is pretty good and frees you up for a few hours.
Fishey music is fun, also kids/family poetry or comedy gigs. Lats time I was there the YMCA cafe was about the best value food on site. much of the catering is well over priced.
So- what to take. Basic food for pack lunches will save you a packet. Warm clothes for eth evnings, wet weather gear, a bowl to wash in (the shower queues are V long even with timed tickets). toilet paper, wet wipes. LOTs of cash.

Blueblob · 20/08/2007 23:00

Maybe something to sit on?

I don't know how things have changed but some sort of mat? one of those really low camping chair or similar.

Judd · 20/08/2007 23:10

Hi Jbabe, We're going as well! My children are 3 and 5. The children's area is very popular, so I would suggest queuing up about an hour before to get them signed in (you don't have to have them with you for this), especially on the Saturday morning. Fischy music is there, also Roly Bain the clown, Sticky Music, bouncy castles.....loads for the children!

jbabe · 21/08/2007 18:52

Thanx for all your messages. Do I need to take food for the whole wkend or will there be reasonable stuff to buy?

OP posts:
UniSarah · 21/08/2007 22:54

Its not far from town if you want to walk out to a supermarket.However the walk to get off site is quite long and steep so don't drag the kids off site for the sake of it. Food for sale on site is almost all "fast food" you might get a loaf of bread if your up early but IIRC they sold out quick. personally I'd plan on eating "out" one meal a day and taking bread, crisps, apples, peanut butter/choc spread etc for lunch and ceral and UHT milk for breakfast.

Low chairs or mats def a good idea. High back chairs will just get you relegated to the back of any busy seminar or gig.
Make sure your kids know your names, their own names and what BIG thing your going to next. its pretty easy to lose sight of each other in the crowd at busy times. The stewards are good with lost parents but need some idea of where to look for the kids.

RTKangaMummy · 22/08/2007 00:16

I went many years ago

One of my old school friends' is in Delirious? who are playing on Monday on MAINSTAGE

Hope you have a deffo brill time

Make your tent look distinctive and remember where it is in the dark

Get some wristbands for the children so they can have YOUR name and mobile number on them {if mobiles work} if not have a contact number for a friend or family member at their house so the steward can ring your mum and say where child is and you can ring your mum to say where you are

IYSWIM

Have funfunfun

Califrau · 22/08/2007 00:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

rachw1 · 24/08/2010 11:43

Greenbelt is brilliant for kids - my dd is now 13, we've been going since she was 3. The last couple of years I have only seen her when she has run out of money ;)

As folk have said, the children's area will have big queues however getting them in there will give you a couple of hours to explore alone and the activities are good. There is also loads going on onsite for families and the site is very family friendly and safe. You can download a copy of the daily diary from the website for a few quid which might help you plan your days in advance - or just get a paper copy once you get on site and have a planning session.

It is worth getting to site early on Friday if you don't want to end up with your tent miles away! There will be a queue of cars to get on.

There is loads of nice healthy food to buy - Nuts Cafe is usually good if a bit busy. We volunteer onsite and never do any cooking (no time) so if you can afford it then there is nice food, it's not all burgers and chips! Worth bringing water and cereal bars etc. though as you can spend a lot just on drinks. I don't think the food is particularly pricey compared to similar events. There is usually a convenience type store with milk and other basics as well.

Bring clothes for all seasons, I am convinced Cheltenham has it's own climate, I've been frozen and burned on the same day before. A lot of the festival is on racecourse facilities so it isn't a big muddy field - and some things are indoors not in tents so it doesn't tend to get too bad even if wet.

You can charge mobiles for a small fee in "The Tank".

Arrange a meeting point with your kids for if you get separated, somewhere they can see easily all around. A good place is next to 'the arena' as there is usually an information booth there, where someone would help them and you if you were separated.

Hope you enjoy it!

rachw1 · 24/08/2010 11:45

just realised I replied to a really old thread - weird, not sure how I got to that. Ah well, may be of use to anyone going this year :)

greenlotus · 24/08/2010 13:46

That was weird! but thanks for the tips, we ARE going this year.

SE13Mummy · 25/08/2010 14:26

We're going this year too - am meant to be packing now. Went for the first time last year when DD2 was a very straightforward 12 weeks old... it'll be a different story this year!

If anyone's going this year and doesn't fancy the 'queuing to register, then queuing to get in' they have with the children's sessions then it's worth knowing that the Messy Tent can be a good place to go as a family or to do what we do which is to club together with a couple of other families and each take an activity for all the children to do - reciprocal babysitting really but it works.

Oh, and I'd recommend taking ear defenders for your children. Athlete, for example, were pretty loud for little ears.

MrsJamin · 25/08/2010 14:55

We're going this year, with toddler and baby, so could be interesting but hoping to farm toddler out to children's work and my mum who lives nearby. Thanks for the reminder about ear defenders - will try to find them before we go! Not sure of the lineup but I did see that MN 'favourite' Oliver James is going to do a talk - anyone going? I actually think he says a lot of sensible things but doesn't get them across very sensibly. What else are people going to try to go to? Perhaps if there's a few of us going we could try a MN meetup?!

greenlotus · 25/08/2010 19:38

I'd be up for that, but not familiar enough with event to suggest a time/place.

SE13Mummy · 25/08/2010 19:47

Hmmm... there's the Messy Tent which might be appropriate, or the tiny tea tent if you can donate the offspring to someone else. I'm too stingy to pay for an unprintable download of the timetable so don't know what's happening and when aside from someone mentioning that beer and hymns is at 1pm on the Saturday.

Tammylan · 25/08/2010 19:48

take nothing - god will provde..

greenlotus · 25/08/2010 20:27

Absolutely, I mean he's providing mud, rain, puddles: my kids will think they're IN heaven.

I like the idea of tiny tea tent, maybe during the first kids session?

MrsJamin · 30/08/2010 19:29

Ah this didn't actually happen did it?! We came home this afternoon - baby with first tooth just about to appear and toddler woefully tired made us give up. Had a good time but the queuing was a bit tiresome and we didn't even try to get the toddler into the children's work having been told we had to queue for over an hour and a half - we weren't that desperate to lose him! How did everyone find it?

SE13Mummy · 31/08/2010 20:50

We always intended to come home yesterday - DH and I are both teachers and school starts tomorrow so we needed today to get organised. We had a great time although made no attempt to make use of the children's festival as the queuing for a token and then queuing again to get in is too much of a faff. Our 5-year-old sang in the kids' choir which was a turn up and drop off affair so that got her a few sessions of input.

We had a bit of a trauma at the start of the festival though... hired roofbox (including bars fitted by the hire company) slid off the roof in Cheltenham and onto a roundabout. Luckily no-one was hurt as I was in a residential area on the way to meet a friend who lives locally but it doesn't bear thinking about had it happened on the motorway! I brought the DDs home on the train so DH could drive back with a jam-packed car but empty roofbox. Didn't feel safe in an overloaded car with the small ones and jammed in.

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