Glastonbury with kids - madness?

[nicky111]

DP and I have a desire to relive our misspent youth (in a small way) by taking DD1 (5) and DD2 (2.5) to the Glastonbury Festival. Has anyone done this? Is there a family camping area? Is it good for kids? Any advice appreciated...

Yes yes yes. Tis brilliant for kids. Loads of family friendly stuff, kids entertainment tents, acrobats, circus you name it. Loads of friendlier camping fields. You will not see any bands, but they are the least interesting part of Glastonbury imho. Go, go, go.

Be aware that you will spend most of your time at a huge pirate ship play area. They do lovely tea there.

I personally like being hedonistic and free at festivals so NEVER take the kids. Maybe when they're teenagers but then they won't want to be seen with us anyway!!

I know lots of people who have done it. Your experience may be a bit different depending on how independent your children are.

more info here

One thing that does make it easier and more fun is going with another group of friends and their kids. Cos then you can share the childcare thing a bit and maybe go and see some comedy or a band...?

yes there is a family camping area, though it does fill up quickly apparently.

Yes - go for it!

Reading with interest, Dh and I were wondering about going to Greenbelt next year (have fond memories as a teenager) but we are not remotely Christian. Is that weird?

If you take the kids don't count on going to see any of the main acts - just walking between the stages is pure hell as there is so many people and very easy to lose kids.

But on a brighter note sometimes seeing smaller acts on bandstands or just busking etc is the most fun.

If you do stay in the family camping area you will be near a lot of fun cabaret stuff, street performers etc. Just hope it doesn't rain! I have seen parents trudging through very sludgy mud with kids in toe and it doesn't look like much fun to me. However there are creative ways to get round this, I have also seen 2 or three small children stuffed into a wheelbarrow fast aleep!

thankyou everyone for that...and thankyou for tha link beanie, that is very useful. We are hoping to fit Glastonbury into a holiday in the West Country. I went for years just working in beer tents when I was a teenager and I love the 'alternative' feel of it. I also want to kids to enjoy the circus performancesetc rather than the bands... don,t know who most of the bsands are anyway these days....