Last weekend, we were lucky enough to be invited to Wychwood Festival again. As you may remember, myself and the kids went last year and absolutely fell in love with its charm. When we were invited back, we jumped at the chance! Armed with our bubble wands and baby wipes, we were back for more fun.
This year we bought along the husband too, and all four of us immensely enjoyed ourselves: It really does cater for the whole family. To give you a good idea of how you can enjoy Wychwood, each family member has listed the reasons they loved Wychwood so much.
Tom (40 years young)
- Whilst worldly-wise, I don’t pretend to be a festival regular, in fact this was my first ever trip to a festival. It seems that festivals are more than just camping with a bit of music. Wychwood is an extremely relaxed family affair and being able to watch the children run off and do what they like whilst we sat in the sun and watched the acts on stage was fantastic.
- What’s not to love about a silent (headphone) disco?! A thousand people of all ages in a tent singing along to 2 different DJs – and it’s on every night until 3am. Brilliant!
- The “side-shows” are great and you can pick and choose what you take in. I loved the meet the authors tent but equally i enjoyed the Circus tent, having a go at the tightrope (OK, slack-line) walking;
- The food and beverage – good beer, amazing selection of global food stalls (Argentinian BBQ, Mexican cantina, “authentic Tibetan” – who knows?) and mostly it cost about £20 to feed a family of 4 at each meal which given the captive audience i didn’t think was too bad. You can of course bring your own food and we did picnic although some took this to new heights;
- The location on Cheltenham Race Course is awesome; amazing surroundings, good infrastructure and green space to run, roam, fly kites or kick a ball;
- It also turns out that there is more to music than Take That and Queen…I loved Kate Rusby, Thrill Collins and Demi Marriner and how good are Stereo MCs live?!
- Sign me up for next year please.
Megan (not quite 40)
- It’s a great way to introduce kids to a festival. It’s not overcrowded with the full-on party crowd, it’s got a really chilled vibe with people who genuinely love the music, culture and the quintessential festival atmosphere it has.
- The main site is quite initimate, and I feel happy letting the kids run around.
- I always discover great new music! This year, whilst we sat in the evening sunshine, sipping our Hobgoblin pints, the dulcet tones of Kate Rusby came from the main stage. A wonderful folk singer, with an equally lovely set list. Additionally, there was a young girl called Demi Marriner on the Sunday morning, who had the most incredible voice, and her country-inspired set list was spot on.
- I remember how much I love live music: listening to Peter Hook (of Joy Division and New Order fame) was simply divine and grooving with my daughter to Ms Dynamite was fantastic.
- The campsite is just so pretty! Camping is in the internal part of the racecourse, so it’s exceptionally green, with lots of lovely wild flowers growing all over the place. There is plenty of space, so you are not camping ‘cheek by jowl’.
Caitlin (aged 10)
- It’s fun and friendly, the staff all smile and say nice things to you!
- The stalls are really great – something for all the family!
- There is always something to do: I liked the literature festival and the circus workshops
- The headphone disco was really fun – I loved that they played so many different tunes that I like!
- I also love going on all the inflatables
Josh (aged 8)
- I like meeting the new authors, I find new authors I like and books to read.
- The camping area is really clean, and the toilets aren’t too dirty!
- I tried lots of new delicious food. I now really like chicken shawarma wraps!
- The Bubbles Inc stall is really fun, I loved playing there while Mum and Dad listened to the music on the main stage.
There you go: A whole plethora of reasons to why the whole family love Wychwood Festival. If we have persuaded you to go next year, tickets are already available at an early bird rate. Adult tickets are £102, 10 – 15 year olds are £42, and under 10s are free. These prices include camping, which to me, is a bargain for all that Wychwood offers.
We’ll certainly be going again, and we hope to see you there!
Just like last year, we’ve made a little film, so you can get a taste of what it is like!
We’d love to know if you went to Wychwood and what you love about it.
We were given press passes for the festivals, but our words and pictures are all our own!
