Wychwood Festival 2013
Reviewed by Claire Humpidge
I like to think of my hubby and myself as seasoned festivalgoers. We’ve been to many of the big UK events several times. We’ve always had an absolute ball, although they’ve most often been muddy, and perhaps would’ve therefore been miserable, if it weren’t for excessive alcohol consumption. I guess it’s the likelihood of wet weather, combined with the fact that you shouldn’t really get totally inebriated whilst in charge of minors, that have meant we’ve not actually been to a festival since the birth of our first daughter in 2009. She‘s almost 4 now though, and along with her twin sisters (who turned 2 in February), is truly following in their parents’ footsteps (I teach dance and their dad is a DJ), with an appreciation for music and having a good time. So, indulging this in them, off to Wychwood we embarked…
And I can honestly say we had the best time ever!
After a week of rain, we had glorious sunshine all weekend, and although that played a significant part in cementing our enjoyment, the festival itself was so well thought out, organised, varied, and family-friendly, that the weather was simply the proverbial icing on the cake.
Upon Arrival
We were impressed with the speed and organisation at the box office. There was a bit of a queue, but lots of people on hand to issue wristbands and advice. Once I’d collected ours we had a short wait in a ferry style camper van queue before being directed collectively to our designated area. All the stewards were helpful and friendly, and it was great to be given a multitude of recycling bags as we entered the site; I didn’t see any litter where we camped, or on the walk into the main festival arena, so the initiative clearly worked.
As we rounded the site and entered the van area, my girls went ballistic at the sight of the inflatable slide, which they assumed was a bouncy castle (shame it wasn’t a bouncy castle, or something similar for younger kids/toddlers, as unfortunately they weren’t big enough to go on it after all the excitement).
As well as standard camping and caravan/camper van areas, we drove past an early curfew area and quiet camping, which I thought would be great for a lot of families. That said, our camping area was really peaceful at night, not that it would have mattered much, as thankfully my kids would literally sleep through anything!
Facilities
First things first: I’m very pleased to report that, uniquely in my experience, there were clean toilets the entire weekend. Every visit I made to them there was always a ready supply of toilet roll and hand sanitiser.
There were also hot showers, a place to charge phones, a hot tub where those daring enough (or those who were aware of its presence and therefore suitably equipped!) could view the main stage whilst relaxing, a healing garden and paintballing.
All the stalls were different, so we really couldn’t fault the variety on offer. The multiple-Guinness World Record holding bubble stall was captivating, and the kids loved the regular blasts of ginormous bubbles/smoke filled bubbles that billowed out across the crowd towards the main stage. Everyone liked the free popcorn provided by World Vision, who’s stall made for really interesting reading about the charity's work. The double decker bus 'Tea Stop' looked lovely, unfortunately because we had a double pushchair with us we couldn't actually go in it, but we would've loved to otherwise.
There were loads of activities for kids – a variety of different crafts in the workshop area; circus skills; story telling Roald Dahl museum; and a parade on the Sunday for all the children to show the crowds their work.
Thankfully there were cash machines on site. Which was just as well, since we definitely needed one after we’d spent all our cash by Saturday lunchtime (oops!), and ended up visiting it twice.
There was a vast variety of food: we all really enjoyed thin crust pizzas and fish finger sandwiches, but the biggest hit was the Spanish churros dipped in chocolate. Unfortunately though, the food worked out quite expensive when you have to buy for a family of 5. For example, a milkshake was either £4 or £5, and any extras were another £1 each on top. After buying 1 adult English cooked breakfast and 2 kids’, we realised it would be cheaper to have bought a camping stove and ingredients from the onsite daily camp shop, which was somewhat disheartening since the breakfasts we bought were quite cold. With hindsight I wish we’d been better prepared and taken more food provisions with us, as the prices weren’t extortionate compared with other similar events, but it just works out steep for families.
What Worked for Us
We loved the simple layout of the site and always sat in the same location, partly as a safety measure so the girls recognised their surroundings, partly because it gave the right balance of being near the stage, yet far enough away to be comfortable.
The Potette Plus portable potty was the best bit of kit we brought with us, perfect for 3 toddlers’ frequent needs.
We used a double pushchair and buggy board but felt very jealous of the many, many families we saw pulling along a cart on sturdy, air fill tyres, with kids, provisions, warm clothing for when it got dark etc. The family opposite us had even customised their child's trolley to look like a VW split screen camper (we used to have one that we used on our wedding day & to go travelling through Europe on honeymoon in. It was our anniversary on the Sunday – it was nice to have the flashback!)
A couple of times I wondered if my kids were just slightly too young. The majority of the onsite children’s activities, whilst fabulous, were geared at older children than my 3 and 2 year olds, who frequently asked for stuff and threw tantrums when they didn’t get every single whim met, however just as I was close to losing it, another friendly bystander gave us the best compliment, saying she'd been watching us and it was clear we were seasoned festival goers with 3 so young and staying cool. Totally perked me up again and reminded me that tears and tantrums are just typical toddler behavior that would have been experienced regardless of the setting.
On the Saturday we let the girls have their faces painted. It was £5 each and I negotiated a deal of £12 for all 3. I was a bit disappointed though – there was a huge difference in the quality/detail depending on which face painter you got. My 3 girls got a basic flower/butterfly whereas some kids got really beautiful, intricate works of art. My kids weren't bothered, and were genuinely happy with the result, but I didn't feel it was particularly good value for money.
There was a good turnout at 11:30 on Sunday for CBeebie’s Mr Bloom. We thought it was really nice to have something just for the kids and we saw lots of very excited faces as we looked around us. After his stage performance we migrated over to the workshop area and got to meet Mr Bloom in person too. Unfortunately Flo was asleep, but Boo & Lola had a chat with him. I'd never really got why he was the mum's favourite on CBeebies, but he's actually quite yummy in the flesh!
Although a wee bit pricey (at £9 for an item that needed to be returned twice before finally getting one that worked), we bought the girls a bubble gun. They absolutely loved it. It caused numerous fights (as anything fun seems to at the moment!), with each of our kiddies desperate to be the one firing the bubbles, but it was definitely worth it to hear their shrieks of excitement.
What about the acts?
We didn’t make our way to the main stage area on the Friday until late afternoon; by the time we’d pitched our awning. I’d say the music was quite folk inspired on the first day, not my usual bag, but actually it was pretty good and my girls seemed to really like it. We got some great photos of the girls dancing around.
If they liked the earlier folk music, they LOVED The Beat. Being Brummies ourselves, we’d seen them before so knew to expect a good set, and they really didn’t fail to deliver. It’s the best feeling in the world, dancing to The Beat with your daughters. We’re used to causing a bit of a stir simply by having twins but we certainly got a lot of attention leaping around to Ska music, especially with Boo in her two-tone style hat!
Friday’s headliners, Soul II Soul (who don’t look any older now to how they looked in their heyday… what’s their secret?) were fab. Really entertaining and got everyone on their feet. We found it hilarious when Soul II Soul called for the crowd to bounce. Flo hit the deck and promptly performed her absolute favourite song, Sleeping Bunnies. Those with kids will get the relevance of this!
The first act on Saturday was replaced (unsure why) with Thrill Collins – who were ace. The 3 piece act with guitar, bongos & double bass, performed really funny covers of ‘classics’ like Peter Andre Mysterious Girl, and got everyone rapping along to Will Smith’s Fresh Prince of Bell Air theme tune.
Kate Nash cancelled due to illness; I was disappointed at first as she was one of the few acts I was familiar with on the bill, but it turned out it didn’t matter greatly, as there were several bands we’d not heard of who were fantastic. Caravan Palace was so entertaining. I love it when you discover a new band at a festival.
Saturday’s headline act, Human League, was simply fantastic, and everyone young, old and older was engaged. The lighting effects were really impressive and we, actually, everyone, were pent up with anticipation as to whether we’d get to hear Phil Oakey’s hit with Giorgio Moroder, ‘Together in Electric Dreams’. Thankfully we weren’t disappointed and it made for an incredible encore.
By the Sunday, our girls were tiring somewhat after being up until 11pm for the previous couple of nights, and we weren’t sure how they’d be for the final day of the festival. Thankfully though, they each had a long nap in the pushchair, even my big girl, who actually slept for twice as long as her sisters, so everyone coped pretty well.
Another new band to us was the Duallers. They were a great Ska band, perfect for at a festival. They got everyone on their feet and dancing in the sunshine.
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain was really entertaining and fun to watch. I LOVED the juxtaposition of a suited/bow-tied accountant looking fella plucking away on his ukulele, doing an alarmingly good rendition of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’!
Bill Bailey was very funny, and his particular brand of intelligent humour seemed to appeal to all. Some of his act I'd seen on TV previously, but it was still hilarious, even though I knew how the owl story panned out.
We were quite surprised when the crowd thinned out massively after Bill Bailey finished. A lot of acts would have wilted at the sight of a largely vacant area at the foot of the main stage, however Dreadzone were amazing and suddenly the crowd grew. Everyone was on their feet and finishing off the weekend on an absolute high. I've never seen a frontman that sat for the entire performance before, but what his legs didn't do were more than compensated for by how animated his performance was; it was incredible. One of my twins had crashed out a couple of hours beforehand, but my eldest and youngest were just as engaged and easily partying as hard as we were. It made me so proud watching them leap around to dub reggae, adorned in free glow stick necklaces!
All Good Things Come to an End
We'd already packed down our awning and loaded the camper with all our gear, as we'd decided to leave on the Sunday instead of Monday morning. I've never found leaving a festival so easy – whenever I've left others, be it the last night or the morning after, it's always been a logistical nightmare. Leaving Wychwood was a synch though, straight out, straight home, girls still plastered in glow sticks, & the most incredible 1st festival experience to treasure for years to come.
Rating: 4/5
For more information or to buy tickets for Wychwood Festival 2014 visit www.wychwoodfestival.com
