Wilderness Festival 2012

Last weekend Lola and I headed over to the Wilderness Festival, which is set amongst the lakes and park lands of Oxfordshire’s Cornbury Estate. From the start it was easy. Access to site was well signposted. No car parking queues, no long treks to the campsite. We set up camp right near the entrance and it was less than a 10 minute walk to the site.

The festival had loads to do for the little ones. There were two dedicated kids areas. One as part of the Wayne Hemingway’s Vintage Festival which was at Wilderness this year and our favourite kids area. Lola painted, made a top, decorated a tile and could have also made a tutu and made a model. All included in the price of the ticket.

The other kids area was a little more ‘commercial’, the first stall as you walked in was a sweet stall. Not good for a toddler to set eyes upon but there was a show on which had kids joining in and having fun and the opportunity to play instruments, use stilts and other balancing objects.

Lola loved the site. She raced along the marked out running track, she played with sticks, paddled in the lake, went on a boat (again included in the ticket price), rolled down hills and generally had a great time. There was a nice chilled out buzz to the place.

The site was very clean compared to most festivals I have been too as were the toilets. But it should be noted there were not many toilets and they were badly signposted. There were no toilets where we camped so we had to trek outside to use them, although I have been reliably informed the families area had toilets and showers.

You would have noticed that I have not mentioned too much about the schedule and acts. Mostly because we didnt get too see many of them because the scheduling was all a little late. A lot of the events I would have liked to have seen didn’t start until nearly 11, and many went on until 2 am. As much as Lola is a little trooper, it was just too late. We did hang about the folk stage a lot, mainly because there was an ace bubble stall there that all the kids were loving. There were also bubble pros creating some amazing bubbles. Again, loved by the kids and adults alike.

Would I go again? Absolutely, for the setting if nothing else.

Read last year’s Wilderness review.

All images courtesy of The Wilderness Festival Official Site. I forgot my camera, and left my phone in the car charging!

Tagged bubbles, camping, festival, vintage, Wilderness