One of the biggest events in our summer calendar every year is Camp Bestival! A whole weekend of fun, music, frolics with friends and ear to ear smiles from the smallest in the family to the biggest. For the past couple of years I have been on my own with both children and met up with friends once there and it has been the most amazing weekend despite having to pitch a tent sans help – which was tricky but oh so worth it!

This year I am hoping that Rocknroller Daddy will be able to join us and also hoping, as my bump will be a LOT bigger then, that we can take advantage of the pitched village which is something we have never done before. There are loads of options if you don’t want to pitch yourself from boutique camping and the pre-pitched tents to some even more luxurious options. I’ve known friends go in their campervan and LOVE the experience and obviously regular camping is pretty fab too.

Last year Katy from Modern Mummy and Carolynne from Mummy Endeavours and I pitched a little circle of tents and our kids just spent the weekend going a bit ferel with each other and literally having the time of their lives. Camp-B wouldn’t be the same without my girls and lucky for us we also got to meet up with other fab faces while we were there. When I say our smiles were from ear to ear all weekend I’m talking about going home with face ache from laughing and feeling free and to me that’s what Camp-B is all about. There is no other place like it I promise you and if you miss those heady days of festivaling pre kids then this is JUST the place for you only this time your little people get to come and enjoy it all as well – what could be better than that?!

This year the Camp Bestival theme is, in my opinion, the best theme YET! ‘Rock stars’ and ‘pop stars’ means on dress up day there’s gonna be some amazing costumes and we can’t wait to get totally stuck in! I’m thinking Madonna and cone boobage… Cause that’s gonna look AWESOME with  a big pregnant tummy right?!

We look forward to our year in faves like the Feast Collective (there’s some seriously good food at Camp-B), Circus Skills, Dingly Dell… Oh SO much and this year we can’t wait for head liners Madness as well as LOAFS of other acts like the Bootleg Beatles, Right Said Fred, The School Of Rock, Mr Tumble (you have to don’t you?) and EVERYTHING else! There’s too much to tell!

And what we most look forward to is just all being together and having fun. We try not to put too much of a schedule on things because we find it’s better to see where the wind takes us and we always have a blast. Here are my top ten tips for Camp-B whether you’re alone with the kids, with friends or with a big family… These are things I wouldn’t want to be in the know on!

• Wet wipes, a trolley (hired or your own – we have one which we bought in Robert Dyas) and face paints are my top three things to have to hand at all times… Believe me you’ll be glad of all of them!
• As you can only take plastic bottles in with you decant alcohol into old water bottles (labelled of course) for drinks in camp (don’t miss the jam jar bar when in the field – too good to miss)!
• Get up early and go have a shower before anyone else. If you’re in the queue before by about 6.30am you’ll be done by 7.30. Alternatively go in the middle of the day when no one else does and you don’t have to wait at all! The showers are free to use and absolutely brilliant. Clean, warm and big enough for an adult with two kids. There are posher showers which you can pay for but we’ve always found the regular ones to be brilliant!
• If camping in the field then try to get a spot close enough to the toilets so that you don’t have far to go but not SO close you will be ponged out by the Sunday – the toilets are cleaned every day (accompanied by a chorus of the song ‘poo lorries, poo lorries, come and take the poo lorries’ made up by Katy) but by the Sunday they can be a little more fruity than one would ideally wish!
• If taking food in with you for camp then use a decent cool box and add frozen bottles of milk to keep things extra cold. We have found that they stay frozen and cold for a good two nights and mean the food lasts longer and the milk will take you through the duration!
• Lots of snacks for little ones is essential – we always pack fruit and chocolate to throw at them when they utter the inevitable words of ‘I’m hungry’ as soon as you don anything!
• For the first supper of camp we tend to take BBQ food then we fully take advantage of the amazing fooder on offer around the main stage or in the feast collective. A fab tip is to save your pennies at lunch time by visiting the Women’s Institute tent for inexpensive sandwiches and then spend out in the evenings on something yummy and warm – I literally haven’t had a bad meal at Camp-B!
• Take clothing for all weather that you can layer up and remove (this is where a trolley comes in mega handy)!
• Buy Katoos which are tattoos with a pen to write your phone number on – the kids love them and then if they get lost your number is right there! I bought mine on Amazon very cheaply.
• Tie something to your car so that you can easily identify it when coming home – especially if you leave staright after the fireworks on the Sunday night (we always stay – far more fun) as it’s dark and obviously this makes it doubly hard!

Most of all just have fun and take it all in, it’s an experience you will be talking about for the whole year! Now, I could spam you with ALL my pics but I won’t do that so have begrudgingly chosen just 10 of my faves from last year and before! For more info and to book tickets please see www.campbestival.net and SEE YOU THERE!

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