Shropshire Magazine

One Step Beyond . . . Madness should provide a festival feel-good factor — but not enough to tempt the teenagers.

Vanessa joins the glamping converts and prays for the sun to respect her first festival foray

Vanessa Lloyd-Thomas

By the time youread this column I shall be enjoying (hopefully!) two firsts in my lifetime — camping and festival-ing. I’m nothing if not a sucker for a fad, and the cutesy camping spreads in all the glossy magazines with Cath Kidston pastel bunting and tents, and White Company Raj parasols and storm lanterns have sent their sub­liminal messages deep into my head.

Throw in a bit of music, art, literature, dance and the promise of gourmet food stalls and I’m more than ready to embrace my midlife crisis and inner earth child.

I’m hoping the Lloyd-Thomases first foray into outdoor living will be more glamour camping — or glamping — than Ging Gang Gooly.

I chose the festival with care, looking for something that would interest little Sammy and the teens as well as myself and Mr L-T. Camp Bestival at Lulworth in Dorset is consistently rated Best UK Family Festival and looked great fun.

I booked a fab little yurt in the Boutique Camping field which looked a solid little structure with a domed roof cheerfully painted with blue skies and fluffy clouds, and packed full of silk cushions, ethnic rugs and battery lanterns, together with an essential plug for the hairdryer.

One hot power shower for every three people and tea and toast if you have to queue, together with Hugh’s River Cottage catering tent over the hedge, clinched the deal.

First to opt out of our fun weekend was Will, who thought a five-hour journey to spend two nights under canvas en famille was ‘sad’. Even a hotel for the first night couldn’t persuade him he’d be missing out by dropping out.

A chance to join in with The Wurzels’ Combine Harvester song — truly a criminal record . . .

Then Tom took a look at the line-up and did a prompt U-turn too. Admittedly the list was a bit heavy on the ’80s acts — Madness, Human League and Marc Almond to name but a few — but Friendly Fires, Calvin Harris and Chipmunk are there too and, if you make it through to the final night there are The Wurzels and the Combine Harvester song to look forward to! Big Wow!

Seven-year-old Sammy tried to jump ship too when the children’s stage headliner turned out to be Mr Tumble instead of Spongebob, and Mr L-T looked decidedly unimpressed when he found out fancy dress was de rigueur and the weekend’s theme was Fairytales.

But hopefully at least three of us will make it to Dorset and, you never know, we might beat our personal UK holiday bests of lasting one night in a caravan on the Welsh coast and two nights in Tenby in the rain.