Camp Bestival 2017 - Our First Time....plus lots of MUD!

You might have heard of Camp Bestival - it's one of the biggest family festivals in the UK and happens right here in Dorset. I've always fancied going but the thought of camping with 2 small children frightens the life out of me! This year I discovered that day tickets were available so I took the plunge and booked tickets for the Sunday. The line up was pretty good on all days (the festival runs all over the weekend) but we found out that Andy Day from CBeebies would be appearing with his band, The Odd Socks on the Sunday so that made up our minds really!

Usually Camp Bestival has glorious sunshine for the entire weekend but typically, this year the weather was terrible! Saturday was just torrential rain and unfortunately a lot of people struggled with camping and left early. Luckily, Sunday morning was bright and sunny but the rain had turned the festival into a bit of a mudbath. We arrived onsite nice and early at 8am armed with wellies, raincoats, black binliners and our biggest buggy with the all-terrain wheels!

Just look at that mud...gives me flashbacks to Glastonbury!

First stop was breakfast so we headed straight for the Dorset Farmer's Market - the smell of bacon baps was just too nice to resist! As the name suggests there were lots of local producers selling local food and drink - we also picked up a wild boar scotch egg which wouldn't have been my first choice for breakfast but it was very tasty.

After brekkie we explored the Magic Meadow area and there was just so much to see including the Love-Bot (an interactive art installation), inflatable church, Bollywood area. the world's largest disco ball and much much more. More on the disco ball later....!

We headed down to the Big Top where Andy and the Odd Socks were due to play and managed to get a front row spot much to Elliot's excitement!

Andy's Number One Fan! 

Andy & The Odd Socks did not disappoint! There was high energy from the start and the crowd (mostly children!) were having the best time singing and dancing along to the songs - all of which are SO catchy! Here's what Elliot had to say:

"I had a really good time and my favourite bit was singing to the Dinosaur Football Legend Mega Match. I loved the giant football that kept bouncing around near our heads!"

We've been singing the songs for the last couple of years since we got the album  but this is the first time we've heard it live and I think Andy and the band have done a great job. Unfortunately the show was over far too soon and Elliot did get a bit upset when he realised it was the last song! 

We were really lucky to be able to meet Andy after the show and he was so nice to Elliot. Elliot actually smiled in the photos too which makes a change from the last two times we met him when he looked like a deer caught in the headlights! 

After that bit of excitement, we headed in the direction of the kids gardens - Elliot said his legs were tired so we decided to have a little break. Paul got himself a pint and Elliot and I got ourselves a Mr Whippy and we sat down to enjoy the sunshine. We found ourselves sitting on a catwalk so rather than resting his "tired" legs, Elliot spent the next half an hour leaping on and off the catwalk and chasing the bubbles that I got talked into buying! I spotted Brummy Mummy of 2 - one of my favourite bloggers. Had to say hello, what a lovely lady! 

The next few hours were spent in the lower kids garden where there were tons of things to see and do. We watched a bit of the Insect Circus, we designed t-shirts in the Family Traveller tent, we made Go Jetters masks in the CBeebies tent and then met Duggie and Ubercorn, we watched the Science demonstrations in the science tent, we bumped into lots of friends, we danced to some crazy live music at Oberon's Observatory, we did lots of people watching and we had some amazing burgers and fries for lunch! We also really wanted to go on the World's Largest Bouncy Castle but the queues were just crazy long so we decided to give that a miss. 

Heading back towards the Castle Field we managed to catch Right Said Fred on the main stage who drew a massive crowd and had everyone singing along to Too Sexy! Despite the muddy conditions it wasn't actually that bad in front of the stage and we were able to put our blanket down without worrying about getting too submerged. 

We headed back to the Magic Meadow and we found ourselves in an area called Caravanserai - it's built entirely from vintage caravans and fairground rides and it was certainly an experience sitting in an old waltzer chair watching the world go by! 

Paul fancied another drink so he went off to get himself a beer while me and the kids went back to the Disco Ball - they were blasting out some absolute gems like Britney - Stronger and S Club 7's Reach , we couldn't resist having a quick dance!! 

note the front wheel absolutely caked in mud! 

We did consider calling it a day at this point as it was gone 6pm and Elliot was starting to flag but we decided to head back to the Upper Kids Garden as we didn't really get a chance to see much of it earlier as it was so busy. Elliot made a bee line for the Big Top Mania Kids Theatre and Circus and he had loads of fun trying to balance on a tight rope! There were lots of things for the children to do such as bikes and unicycles to ride on, big inflatables, hula hoops and more. 

After a quick look in the Feast Collective (the smell of the amazing food lured us in), we headed back to the Lower Kids Garden as Elliot wanted a go on the Carousel. By this point the crowds had really thinned out and it was raining so it was a good time to go on with no queues. We also stopped off to get some yummy Pad Thai and Corn on the Cobs which we ate under an umbrella while the rain got heavier! (Typical brits enjoying the "British Summer"!)

After a slow walk back past the Castle and having a quick singalong to Brian Wilson, we decided it was probably time to go home. It was a pity to not experience the festival after dark and to miss the fireworks but Elliot was walking slower than a snail and I knew he'd be asleep as soon as the car started! (He was). We were a bit worried about getting out of the car park due to the mud and hearing about other cars getting stuck but we had no issues and were back on the road to Poole relatively quickly. 

Good job we packed the waterproofs! Here's Elliot modelling his new jacket from www.drykids.co.uk :)

We had a brilliant day at Camp Bestival despite the mud and it definitely hasn't put us off going again. There were so many things that we missed seeing so next year I would ensure we actually had a map rather than just wandering! Highlights of the day were meeting Andy, dancing to Britney at the disco and bumping into lots of blogger friends :) 

Roll on next year!