Guilfest 2012
For my first ever experience of a festival I found Guilfest 2012 amazing, a great family festival spread out over 3 days. We were there for the 3 days and stayed in the campsite there.
There was so much to do for all the family e.g. they had a huge enclosure for children with a Circus Tent (which had regular shows with fire acts, Clowns etc.), a tent where children could go to make their own costumes for the end of festival family parade which was lovely although we ran out of time to actually do this activity with the girls. Also in the family enclosure they had outdoor circus with activities for children (and fun loving parents) who could have a go at whatever they liked and to top it off they had some great fairground rides. There were also dozens and dozens of stands selling all kinds of typical festival bits and bobs and lots more to browse around at your leisure (you just have to be tough on the word no if browsing around with kids as they will have you spending a fortune).
The music was amazing, very well planned out and in total there were 8 stages with all different types of music to cater for everyone's varying tastes, if you didn't like what was playing at one stage you were sure to find something you did like not too far away. There was also a comedy tent for a really good laugh and a sit back and chill. Acts included:
The Guilfest Main Stage
Jools Holland & his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Olly Murs, Republica, Jimmy Cliff, Candi Staton and Rock Choir (plus many more).
The Good Time Guide Stage
ABC, Heaven 17, Gary Numan, Tim Minchin, Ash and Dodgy (plus many more).
The Big Cheese Cave
Kids in Glass Houses, Polar, Skindred, Kid Capola, Young Guns and Yashin (plus many more).
Vive Le Rock Stage
Buzzcocks, The Ramonas, The Beat, New Town Kings, The Undertones and Levi Roots (plus many more).
The Kane FM presents Funky End Dance Tent
Pyramid, Dub Fidelity, Miss Demeanour, Mr Tim, Friction and DJ Shep (plus many more).
The Acoustic Lounge
Massmatiks, TC Symthe, Aimee, Peach, Mungo Jerry and Uke Jam (plus many more).
The Surrey Advertiser Stage
The Rapids, Beyond Reason, Quarrel, Quiet Engines, It Varies and Mug Shot (plus many more).
The LiveClub Stage
Everything But Arms, Private Jet, Sevasa, Skyline, Upon the Shore and Slider (plus many more).
La Discotheque
Hillsy, Boo, The Vibe Tribe, Dr Zygote, Squeaky Da Riksta and Graham Taylor (plus many more).
The eFestivals Cosmic Comedy Tent
Mitch Benn, Yianni, Jarred Christmas, John Mann, Simon Evans and Tom Glover (plus many more).
On the other side of things was the camping and facilities. With the camping they put the family and the disabled camping sections at the furthest and most difficult parts to get to, although I understood why as this was to keep children away from the noise at night. I think they could of planned the parking better so that families could enter the family camping area from the opposite end of the carpark, we agreed this would be not only sensible but also not too difficult to do looking at the general set up. Other than that and the fact there was nowhere to have a wash unless you paid to go to the local leisure centre for showers (as with a lot of campsites) it really wasn't all that bad once you were in the arena.
All in all it was a great weekend and would definitely recommend especially for your first festival, as a festival virgin I loved it and look forward to going to another festival soon. Guilfest is lots of great music, comedy, theatre, arts and crafts and KidZone. Great fun for the entire family as there is something for everyone!
Rating: 4/5