For some time, it’s been received wisdom that Bestival is the ultimate family-orientated festival. But is that still the case?
The capacity of the Isle of Wight-based early Autumn extravaganza has exploded to 42,000 this year (it was just 6000 when it all began six years ago), making its days as a boutique event long gone, and in terms of size, it has more in common with Reading and Leeds than the traditional small family-based events. And its own little sister festival, Camp Bestival, is aimed more squarely at the kiddie-friendly market and has siphoned off some of the families that used to frequent Bestival.
It’s true, down the front of the main stage is a scrum, especially later in the day. Not somewhere to take small children. But do you really need to? Assuming you can’t offload your kids onto a handy early-nighter in your party and go off clubbing in the dance arena of an evening, what can you do? Well there are big screens for starters – further back you can get a better view of the mainstage acts without the crush and sweat of being down the actual front. There’s the fancy dress – second to none and guaranteed to be a massive hit with the whole family (this year’s is ‘fantasy’!), the large free kid’s area and loads of kid’s activities.
There’s the luge at Robin Hill Country Park – huge queues, but what a ride and a view of the mainstage while you wait. The park also has a couple of adventure playgrounds, strutting peacocks and woods to play in.
The food is great and the ice creams are amazing. The crowd? Well, even the adult groups are generally up for a happy time and pretty indulgent of the littlest festival-goers. It’s not too ‘laddish’ an event.
There are long walks though from the furthest flung camping fields, so buggies or wagons are recommended to save little legs (and the parents who always end up carrying them). But the boutique (expensive) camping options are closer to all amenities and great for tired families.
So yeah, I’d say Bestival is still near the top of the list of family festivals to go to. What does anyone else think?
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Utterly shameless commercial rip off. Middle class mugs abound with tikes in Boden. Expect to be stung 10 quid for parking and another 10 for a programme that has an incorrect map and numerous missing info.
Go to latitude family field – not as big as kids garden but more magic and avant-garde and interesting than bestial can ever be. Robdabank “curates” the festival which is probably why 120db djs litter the air. Music line up was really lacking too. Thank heavens for the Cuban brothers and Billy Bragg
Alanski – don’t you mean Camp Bestival? Bestival’s not even happened this year yet. We went to Camp Bestival and it was great although I don’t appreciate being asked to pay for parking on top of the ticket price. Bestival is a very different festival though.