Dear Mummy, you’ve been taking me to Camp Bestival since I was two – that was over 8 years ago! We’ve made some great memories together at this fab family festival. It’s like my summer holiday home.
It’s a massive UK festival and one of the largest we’ve been to. Well known pop stars and bands share the stage with children’s TV stars with the main aim of keeping the whole family entertained.
Location
Situated in the grounds of Lulworth Castle just outside Wareham in Dorset, the festival is run by Bestival founder and Radio 1 DJ Rob Da Bank along with creative director Josie Da Bank.
They pulled out all the stops to host four days of non-stop action to celebrate 15 Years of Camp Bestival this year and we were lucky enough to attend.
Camping
Over the years we’ve always camped in General Camping close to the carpark. The Yellow Area on top of the ‘Hill of Death’ was one of our favourite pitches, as the views of the campsite and the festival were amazing – but its a lot of walking to and from the heart of the festival, with a hill thrown for good measure. The nice thing about General Camping is that you can pitch-up anywhere, direct your tent depending on which way the wind is blowing, and have a little bit more room compared to Camping Plus.
This year we were in Camping Plus with our extended party in Front Row Campervan (next door). Camping Plus gives you an allocated space, so you can turn up at anytime and not worry about having to find a space to pitch. We found it was a bit blowy on this top field – so bring storm pegs! We also found that the queues to get into Camping Plus are less than General camping, as people turn up at different times.
Front Row Campervan is VERY popular as it is a stones throw from the Big Top and in the heart of the action, so not much walking and you can dip in and out of the festival for breaks, lunch and dinner. It’s also not as noisy as we’d thought it be, once the door of the van is closed.
Facilities
Toilets are what you’d expect from festival toilets. However all the traditional port-a-loos that we visited during the day inside the festival arena always had toilet roll and were clean and wiped down by attendants. Which was impressive! The compost loos were left to their own devices however. On Day 4 they were honking and would burn your eyes!
Free Water taps
There were water taps available all over the festival in both the arenas and the campsites. The water was completely safe to drink and totally free; you just needed to bring your own bottle.
Lockers/Mobile Charging
Lockers/mobile charging points on site were useful to store valuables and charge phones, just remember to bring a charging cable as these were extra. To hire a large locker with a universal plug socket and two USB ports for the full duration of the festival was £35. We’d strongly suggest pre-booking these!
Festival Trolleys and Festi-Taxis
Festival trolleys were available to hire at around £6 for 30 mins, and helped loads of people cart their gear to and from the festival. There were also Festi-Taxis in the campsites helping people around the site to the arena and carparks at £35 per trip (which goes to charity) it was well worth the queuing, especially if you have loads stuff, as it saved multiple trips to the car.
There were plenty of places to eat at the festival and I enjoyed visiting the Feast Collective behind the Castle, drinking Bubble Tea and indulging in Dudes Donuts. There were plenty of bars dotted around the main stage, and you are allowed to bring in your own alcohol into the festival (within reason – no glass or kegs) – unlike many other UK festivals which is a great perk!
The street food vendors were ace and we tended to have breakfast/lunch at the campsite and eat out in the evenings. Snacks are always on hand and there are plenty of options in the festival too, this year I missed my annual Corn on the Cob!
Free things to do
One of Camp Bestival’s strengths is the range of things to do for the whole family. With more than 100 free things to do all weekend I was never bored, if anything I was running around from one activity to the next.
My favourite area was Dingy Dell in the woods, where I could play in the mud kitchen, make clay models, play with musical instruments and do some free crafts.
I also liked the Science Tent in the Lower Kids Garden which had back to back activities and shows, it was very popular, so get there early! Also in the Lower Kids Garden was the Roller Disco (a new addition this year) lots of fairground attractions, circus tricks, BMX bike displays with Extreme Bikes and Ken Fox’s Wall of Death.
Pocket Money Treats
Dotted around the site are plenty of fairground attractions to spend my pocket money on, from the giant ferris wheel to the swing chairs, the helter skelter, giant bouncy castle and a carousel. At around £3+ per ride my folks had to budget me. Thankfully I had my own pocket money!
Musical Acts
Sam Ryder and Craig David were our highlights this year, we sang all their songs and danced in the Castle Field. We also enjoyed chart topper Ella Henderson. We were introduced to new sounds from Confidence Man and took a trip down memory lane with Mel C (AKA the Best Spice Girl) and Hot Dub Time Machine – the Aussies were out in force at Camp Bestival this year!
15th Birthday Surprises
What a surprise it was to see Mister Maker team up with Utah Saints! It was a match made in heaven and put a smile of everyones faces. We really enjoyed making shapes with this fab duo.
We also loved seeing Gok Wan on the HMS Camp Bestival with Rob Da Bank, I have never seen the Magic Meadow so busy with a sea of happy smiley faces.
Dancers, pyrotechnics and big party vibes filled the arena and the birthday celebrations peaked with Gok’s spectacular entrance scattering rose petal confetti from a giant light up heart 52.5 ft in the air. The 15th Birthday Mashup from DJ Jaguar Skills also had the crowd jumping!
Camp Bestival wouldn’t be complete without ending the weekend with the famous Fireworks Spectacular and even though the wet weather put a dampener on the proceeding it was still fun to watch the projections, fireworks and sparks coming from the new Mrs Earth Bot accompanied by an incredible soundtrack created by DJ Yoda.
Our Highlights
We loved watching the Circus Spectacular ‘All You Need is Love’ show from the talented Cirque Bijou crew, especially when a giant flashing heart emerged from the HMS Camp Bestival in all it’s glory with a singer inside. It was also pretty impressive to see a pianist suspended high in the air with the help of a crane! The message on inclusivity, equality and love was not lost on us.
There’s a fantastic vibe at Camp Bestival during the day, family orientated and magical, a bit like a thousand people on holiday! At night it comes alive in the Big Top and Bollywood Tent with raves and heavy metal just for the folks that want to let their hair down! Even the pop up DJs kept us dancing away.
We stopped by Caravanserai, a hidden area bordered by shanti-style stages with caravans turned into seating nooks. It was almost like an old travelling circus and my mummy’s favourite area. We loved listening to the Old-Time Sailors band inside Caravanserai.
Whereas daddy enjoyed the Feast Collective (It’s the epicentre for food after all), held in it’s own tent with sizzling sounds of cooking and smells of spices.
Fancy Dress
For those that have been following our blog and instagram, we love a bit of fancy dress and have been joining in with the Camp Bestival fancy dress parade for years, entering the Pimp My Trolley competition and even winning it one year.
This year the theme was ‘Animal Snap’ and we choose to do something a bit left field but still in keeping with the animal theme. We dressed up at 20th Century Fox and filmed the CB production crew filming us! It was a great laugh, strutting our stuff on the Kids Catwalk, however there were a lot of people dressed up this year, so it took hours for the competitions to conclude.
The festivalgoers at Camp Bestival really know how to put on a show and we loved seeing everyones colourful creations. It is the one family festival where you can be whoever you want to be!
Summary
Camp Bestival is the best family-friendly festi-holiday we’ve been too, we’ve been going for years and it’s a safe environment for kids to play and adults to relax in. There did seem to be more day trippers this year and young adults giving it a very ‘Bestival’ feel in the evening – but by this time I was tucked up in bed and not raving until 2am!
The line-up however could be greatly improved on the Castle Stage and we really would love to see some new acts perform and not the same artists. Maybe less DJ sets on the main stage and more current acts in the charts.
We enjoyed it regardless of what was playing though, as spending time with my family and friends for a long weekend is priceless and creating new festival memories last a lifetime!
I can’t wait to see what the 2024 theme is and who is headlining next year!
Love Bella x
Fancy joining us?
Camp Bestival Dorset is back 25th -28th July 2024. Early Bird Weekend Camping tickets for Camp Bestival Dorset 2024 will go on sale frozen at this year’s prices on Friday 4 August 2023 at 10am. Tickets are available from their website https://www.campbestival.net/tickets
Fancy some more fun sooner? Remember CB’s sister festival, Camp Bestival Shropshire, takes place in Weston Park from 17 – 20 August 2023!
Disclosure:
We were gifted press tickets in order to review, all photos, footage and thoughts are our own.
Want to see some videos of Camp Bestival 2023? Check out the below!
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Looks absolutely amazing! We have never been to a festival before, this one looks great for our family!
I cannot believe we missed you, although I did spy Bella playing football by our tent. I would agree that there were definitely more young adults this year and it did somewhat spoil it for us. I know Abbey had some issues with them in general camping. I also agree about the line up, I love that they have a variety of styles, but I know the kids would love some chart acts in there.
That said, now mine are now teenagers, it still feels safe and I am happy for them to go off and explore and find their own taste in music, instead of being dragged around by us oldies 😉
We need to go to this next year! Every year you look like you’re having three best time! I found this really informative, thank you 🙂