This week has seen a few firsts for me. It has been my first festival and my first time camping. The idea of camping makes me feel all sorts of worried. I quite like my comfy warm bed and the idea of sleeping indoors not on the floor in what is better described as a piece of material with zips on the doors. But hey I thought I would give it a go as it would be a good experience.
So we were asked by little bears grandad and grandma if we wanted to come along to the Just So Festival which is a festival in the middle of Cheshire aimed at young children so we thought it sounded perfect for little bear. She would be able to explore and do things she wouldn’t normally do. We got there on the Friday and set up our tent with grandad. Well I say ‘we’ set up the tent. It was more like he did it because I had no idea what went where or what the different bits were for.
Once we were all set up and fed we went into the festival to have a look to see what it was all about. From the front gate it was clear that this was well planned out and walking through the different areas it was fully aimed at kids from little babies up to big kids like us. I don’t know what I was expecting at a festival but I was really surprised and amazed at the same time. The theming was incredible. I can’t imagine how long it took to set everything up.
After we figured out what was going on and where we were going we went back for tea and an early night (well earlyish) ready for a day in the festival the next day. One of the main parts of the festival was a tribal tournament where people could pick a tribe to join and then one of the tribes would win at the end of the festival. We chose the lion tribe who came 5th overall.
So us being big kids decided we would make an effort and all painted our faces as lions and dressed up as best as we could to get some extra points for our tribe. I have never laughed so much and never felt like such a kid in all my life but it was just the best. When we were all dressed we made our way through to the festival and started our day in the roll up roll up zone where there was amazing street food stands and gin bars. I have never eaten such a nice pizza. I mean what is better than a wood fire cooked pizza. Mmmm.
In the evening there was a lantern parade through the woodland which looked amazing in the woods as it was just going dark. Everything was designed to have some kind of sensory effect and it was quite easy to forget where you were. It was like being transported into a kids fairytale.
As everyone knows with most festivals camping comes hand in hand. I think I went through every emotion during the night from “oh my god we’re going to blow away in the wind” to “this isn’t actually too bad”. Our tent was fab and I think the fact that little bear slept all night both nights just shows how good the tent was. I think I’m just not as much of an outdoorsy person as I thought.
This weekend was probably one of the best weekends I have had and even though I wasn’t sure on the camping side, this festival, the food, the theming and the way the whole thing was run was just incredible and almost as if it was created through the eyes of kids. But one thing I know for certain now is that porta loos really are not what I though, especially after the first day.
I want to thank little bears grandad and grandma for taking us and thanks to everyone from the Just So Festival for making it such a memorable experience. We will definitely be back.
Life With My Little Bears 