Book Review :: What the Ladybird Heard Next ::

We're huge fans of the original 'What the Ladybird Heard' book, so we were thrilled when asked to review the follow up, 'What the Ladybird Heard Next'.

In a lot of ways I would have assumed that Milo was too old for this book already, but in reality he really isn't. Despite the fact we've moved on to 'chapter' books for most of our bedtime reading, this book has reminded me that he's really still interested in picture books and he absolutely loved this story. He still likes hunting out the ladybird on each page and loved the pictures too.

Effie has also been enjoying this book a lot. It's really only the last couple of weeks that she's shown much interest in books at all, but now that she has she really really loves sitting on your knee leafing through a book. She adores this book especially and will point to it on the shelf declaring 'dat', which I think means 'that book please' (we keep the paper books out of her reach but she has an easily accessible array of board books in both her bedroom and the living room). Effie especially loves the texture of the glitter on the pages. But her favourite thing of all is when Milo reads it to her, which is also my favourite thing of all.

Just like the original, the rhyming structure of this story is lovely (as is to be expected from Julia Donaldson) the illustrations are fun and bright with plenty to look at, making multiple readings a must and a pleasure and each page has both glittery elements and a little ladybird to find. It's fun and funny and bright and thoroughly enjoyable for everyone.

Milo made a little stop motion video of the book ::



The book is out on the 10th September but you can preorder here.

 **We were sent a copy of the book to review but all thoughts are completely our own.

Harry Potter ::

Harry Potter hysteria has gripped our household recently. Milo is utterly besotted and so completely engrossed. I am not remotely ashamed to say that I myself am a massive fan of the series.

Please note there are mild spoilers below if you haven't read the books yet.

I actually started reading Milo The Philosopher's Stone a year ago now. It took a bit of time to get him hooked, we dipped in and out a bit, I found myself having to recap what was going on a lot. I think he was probably just a little too young back then (5).  However after my lovely friend Melody visited with her kids a few weeks ago and Milo got talking to her eldest son about his own love of Harry Potter, he decided we should get back to the book. Which we did and to be honest we were pretty close to finishing so finish it we did and moved directly on to The Chamber of Secrets.

Originally I said he couldn't watch any of the films until we finished all the books, but I realised that was a little unrealistic, plus I watched the films as they came out, before the series was even all published. So we borrowed the films from my favourite Harry Potter fan. Watched The Philosopher's Stone one Saturday morning, devoted that afternoon and evening to finishing The Chamber of Secrets in book form, before watching the film the next day.

I did say we would then have a little break from the books, to let Johnny do a little bit of bedtime reading (he's not a Harry Potter fan). However Milo insisted we go straight on to The Prisoner of Azkaban. Part of my reluctance to move straight on was due to being a little uneasy about how Milo might deal with the subject matter in this book. It was the first one of the series that really drew me in and the first one that made me cry. However he loved it all and was totally gripped throughout. Of course, Sirius is now his favourite character and I greatly fear how he'll cope when we make our way to through book 5.
We tend to talk about it a little as we go along, Milo asks questions and I run through parts with him I know are important to make sure he understands. Then over breakfast I ask him to give me a recap of last night's reading. To be honest he's so engrossed at the moment, it's mostly all we talk about all day.

My original plan was to hold off before starting The Goblet of Fire but he was so eager to move on and had dealt so well with everything so far, that we jumped straight in. I completely forgot how terrifying the first chapter was, not to mention the scenes at the Quidditch World Cup. I will say that Milo has never been a sensitive child in terms of fear, he'll cry a lot at the end of 'Up', but he's not one for nightmares. If he was I probably would be less inclined to read this book to him at this young age. I'll talk more about The Goblet of Fire once we've finished it, we're currently about half way through.

I really think that the first 3 books are great read aloud's for a 6 year old. I don't think he could read them to himself yet, I think a lot would get missed along the way and he'd probably get quickly bored, but to be honest, it's an almighty pleasure to read them to him anyway. I would probably be wary about moving on to book 4 with a 6 year old. Obviously you know your child best, but just be warned it can be a little frightening in places.

Other than the joy I'm getting in sharing something so close to my heart with him, the other bonus that has arisen from this is Milo's interest in reading to himself. He is a reasonable reader for his age (probably average) and he has always loved books, but when he goes to bed he would usually write or look at lego books, more than read any stories. However, I think Harry Potter has helped him to really understand how utterly wonderful the written word alone can be and he's taken to reading to himself in bed. Finding something that he could happily read to himself but was engaging enough was a bit of a task. Nothing we had on the shelves already seemed to be up to it so at the weekend we took a trip to the library.
We took home with us, The Worst Witch and Oliver Moon and the Potion Commotion. So as you can see we haven't moved too far from the theme of magic! He's stated on the Worst Witch and loving it so far. Any recommendations for age appropriate read alone books, much appreciated.

Wychwood Festival 2015 ::

We had such a good time at Wychwood Festival this weekend, it's so nice to have a festival like this right on our doorstep. The weather was wonderful and much fun was had by all!

Despite it being a local festival we've never attended in the 7 or so years we've lived in Cheltenham until now. I wish we hadn't waited so long! We woke up on Friday morning full of excitement, only to discover heavy dark clouds and torrential rain. Needless to say at this point we were very pleased we had decided not to camp! Our plan had always been to wait until after Effie's morning nap to walk up to the site and fortunately once she had woken up and we had packed up our bags ready to head off, the clouds had lifted and the sunshine was glorious. I was really concerned that the floods of the morning, would have left the festival site a mud bath, but once we arrived I realised this wasn't much of a problem. Most of the site is made up of actual, proper, concrete type foot paths. Much relief to myself and Milo who currently have zero wellies between us.

First stop was lunch, we found a great stone baked pizza place, the price was reasonable, the queue super short and the wait time very quick indeed. The pizza itself was also delicious. We listened to some of the music from the main stage whilst we ate our pizza and talked about what we hoped our day would entail. Tummies filled we headed off for some exploring, well there wasn't much exploring to do, the site is tiny. Compared to any festival I've attended it's at least a quarter of the size if not smaller than any of them. However don't let this put you off, for a family friendly festival this is actually perfect in many ways. You don't have to walk miles up and down hills to get to different tents and I felt that Milo was perfectly safe the entire time.

One thing I would say is that the signage isn't especially good, both inside the festival and on the way in. In fact as we were approaching the racecourse and even upon arrival I was starting to fear I had got the wrong weekend. Eventually we spotted a couple of very small (A4) sized posters with simply 'Wychwood Festival' and an arrow on them. Whilst inside there didn't seem to be much in the way of signage at all. Being as it's so small this obviously isn't a huge deal but it would have been nice to have an idea of where we were going (I didn't buy a programme, so it's possible these had maps within them).

There were loads of fun things to keep both Milo and Effie entertained (not that takes much to entertain Effie). There was a great craft tent, full of tables with various projects to join in with, including screenprinting, knitting, mask making and painting. There was the fabulous, Rig, an array of musical constructions, where the kids can make a lot of noise. A croquet lawn of sorts was laid out for anyone who wanted a game. Milo really enjoyed watching people take part in the slacklining though wasn't brave enough to have a go himself. Waterstones had a tent, one side of which was a little shop, the other held workshops, we dropped in a couple of times to join in with these, but found not much really going on and didn't feel especially welcomed in by the staff, but this may have just been unfortunate timing on our part.

We bumped into one of Milo's school friends and his family on Friday afternoon and together we headed in to watch Graham Jones talk about his book, Time Travelling Toby and The Battle of Trafalgar. This was really enjoyable and educational and Milo really loved it, especially as he got to hold a big sword!

Music-wise, I know better now than to plan to watch too many bands, it just doesn't always fit in with what Milo wants to do and though he does really enjoying watching bands too, I want him to have an nice time, so mostly we just go with the flow. Some of the bands we did catch and really enjoyed included Songhoy Blues (everyone's favourites), Dreadzone and The Edwin Starr Band. However the whole atmosphere was so relaxed and laid back and as the venue was so small, we never felt rushed and that we needed to be somewhere at a certain time. The gorgeous weather certainly helped.

A few other points, the toilets were very good indeed. I know festival toilets are a hot topic! I was really impressed though, rarely any kind of queue to talk of and all very well kept. Food wasn't much to shout about. For a family friendly festival the lack of any kind of fruit stall seemed like a big oversight. I struggled to find much in the way of good food for any of us. Though the pizza was wonderful, no one wants to eat pizza all day everyday (well my other half probably would having said that). The range just seemed a little disappointing to me and more reminiscent of festivals of old rather the kind of food we've come to expect more recently. Although it is possible we were just massively spoilt by Camp Bestival last year, who's variety of food stalls was exceptional. We did eat there and everything we did eat was nice enough, but it could definitely be improved upon. In fact on Saturday night we opted to head home early in order to eat at there instead.

Apart from that though, we had a fabulous time and really enjoyed ourselves. It's definitely a small festival but well worth a visit, especially if you have little ones. I think it would be a great festival for your first with kids to give you a taste of how different festival times with little ones is without the worry of a vast, sprawling, busy location.

I failed miserably at taking photos, but I did take a little bit of video footage ::


wychwood from vicki brown on Vimeo.

We were given our tickets so that we could review the festival but all thoughts are very definitely our own.

G Nappies :: A Review ::

When it comes to nappies, we're pretty much stuck in our ways I'll admit. I tried so many different cloth varieties when Milo was a baby and one thing I learned quick, is that pretty doesn't usually mean efficient. We love motherease one size, which I tend to pair with Tots Bots wraps, this combination came to be as when I bought my stash of motherease off eBay, they came with a couple of Tots Bots wraps, they worked, there didn't seem much need to mess with that system. I have all manner of all in ones and pocket nappies, we use them occasionally but I'm always wary of leaking, because they so often do and nobody wants leaky nappies. There is one downside of my beloved motherease, they are massive! Especially on my wee little dot, as she grows they'll of course become less bulky, but at the moment, she does look a little bottom heavy.

I've had my eye on the gorgeous gNappies for a while now, so many of the lovely mama's I follow on instagram use them and they look so slim. I also really loved the look of the soft cloth cover. So when they offered to send me one to try out I jumped at the chance.

gNappies work as both a disposable or a reusable nappy, depending on the type of the insert you decide to use, the outer (the gPants) are reusable and you get two types of insert, disposable and washable. The benefit of using disposable nappies this way is that they're compostable, there's a lot less washing than full cloth and to be honest if you're not doing nappy washes anyway I have no doubt you can just pop them in the wash with the rest of your clothes. So far I've not had any incidents where the pants part has been especially dirty. Then you can simply compost the disposable part (wet only). This is fabulous, because anyone with a compost heap knows the best way to get that compost heap composting is by adding some wee to it! So I'm hoping adding the nappies will have the same effect!

I haven't used the cloth inserts so I can't comment on them, therefore my all my opinions relate to the disposable inserts.

When the nappy arrived I was thrilled with the look of the pants, I know it's silly to be concerned about the aesthetics of a nappy, but people really really do get quite emotional about these things. I opted for green and it's a lovely shade. The feel of the outside of the nappy is lovely and soft. I was surprised at how massive the disposable inserts looked compared to the pants, I couldn't see how it would be possible for them to fit. But they do, and perfectly nicely too. With the pants part of the nappy you get an outside layer, which is soft jersey type fabric, with two fastenings on each side, these do up at the back of the nappy and the two little bits of velcro are fabulous. One thing I find really tricky with Effie's one size nappy wraps is getting them tight around her leg but not super tight around her tummy. The two tabs on the gNapppies make this problem much easier.
Then within the pants part you have a kind of hammock, I guess we'll call it, which is plastic, this is where the insert goes. Overall the nappies are super easy to use and put together. This hammock is also removable and you can buy extras, which would be super useful and save you a lot of washing.

As for wearing, the nappy fits perfectly, I guess this is the benefit of having sized nappies rather than one size, and it's so slim. Barely any bulkier than a disposable. It's also quite a lot lower on her tummy than lots of the cloth I have.

It took me 3 attempts at her wearing it for me to get a photo of her doing so, because she managed to fill it all 3 times almost immediately after I put it on her! I was really wary of leaking, because the first ever cloth nappies I purchased for Milo back when I was pregnant with him, were the Mothercare ones, which also came with a disposable insert option (I don't think they do these anymore). Those were terrible for leaking and almost put me off cloth for life. However so far, even though she's tried with all her might, the gNappies have not had any leakages for Effie. I'm so impressed with them. The little hammock bit does a fantastic job of holding it all place.

Overall I'm massively impressed with these nappies, I would definitely recommend them as an alternative to disposables. We're still using disposables overnight and I'm seriously considering switching to using these instead, they'd also be great for going away. In terms of cost they're definitely not the cheapest option, the disposable inserts work out at just over 22p each, plus you have the added cost of the gPants, which come it at 14.95 each and you'll need to add to your stash as your baby grows. However as with most cloth nappies I expect they have good resale value. For comparison purposes, the Naty nappies by Nature Babycare which are 70% biodegradable (but not compostable as far as I'm aware) come in at just under 22p a nappy and you don't have any added costs. However if you don't like the idea of adding more unnecessary waste to landfill but don't feel you can take on the washing cloth nappies involve, this is a fantastic solution. I shall definitely be adding some more gPants to our stash and trying out some of the washable inserts.
**we were kindly sent a pair of gPants and some disposable inserts to review but all thoughts are our own.

World Book Day ::

Happy world book day to you, if you don't have children you may not be aware of this momentous occasion, if you do have children you will probably acquaint those words with the dread of having to put together a book themed costume for your little one. I actually really like making costumes, we're just not all that great at getting them ready any sooner than the night before. The other thing is persuading your child to go as a book character, not their favourite T.V. character. I won't lie a lot of mum's break these rules, I expect half the girls will be Elsa today, but I try to stick vaguely to them. 

Previous costumes have included, Charlie Bucket, Batman, one of Captain Hook's pirates and Max (from Where the Wild Things Are and my favourite).

This year Milo wanted to be Harry Potter. I tried to convince him to be the Gruffalo (he has a fab Gruffalo costume) but he wasn't having it.

So in the spirit of previous years we waited until after school yesterday to do anything about it. We collected a stick on our way home to serve as a wand, mended his batman cape and added a ribbon fastener, created a pair of glasses out of cardboard and decorated a t-shirt!

I had intended to hunt out a tie, knit a scarf and get hold of appropriate attire but well, time, baby and all manner of other excuses. However we were recently sent some Fruit of the Loom t-shirts from Buy T-Shirts Online, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to put one to good use. Using a lego minifigure of Harry as a guide I drew on the v of his v-neck sweater, the badge and the tie and Milo coloured them in with some fabric paints.

I'm actually pretty impressed with our handy work, yes it could have been better if I had done it all myself, there wouldn't be so many black smudges for a start, but where would be the fun in that? With some lipstick in his forehead he was ready and mightily pleased with himself.  

Dressing Babies in Merino Wool ::

It's probably no secret that I love wool. I use it a lot in my work and also my personal knitting and crochet. But probably my favourite wool both to work with and wear is merino. It's just so soft and warm and wears beautifully. It also has a host of other qualities that make it perfect for babies.

• Merino is one of the softest wool types available due to it's short, thin staples, making it less tickly than other yarns and meaning it can happily be worn next to the skin.

• Because of these smaller fibres it's warm even when you're using finer weight yarn. Which makes it great for babies who don't really want to be in big bulky sweaters.

• It's great at regulating body temperature. Perfect for babies as it keeps you warm without overheating.

• It draws water away from the body, so if your little one was to get sweaty, the yarn would pull it away, meaning they can avoid being damp and getting cold as a result of that.

• Merino wool also holds a lot of water and can do so whilst still keeping your baby warm. This would also make its great yarn for making nappy soakers.

• In my experience it also washes well, especially the superwash varieties. Though I would rather handwash handknits (partly I think I just enjoy the process) so I don't have much experience with knits in the machine I have occasionally thrown a handknit merino sweater in the wash and they've come out unscathed.

My favourite cardi I knit for Effie using merino.

I could go on about the wonders of merino all day (but don't worry I won't) I really feel that dressing babies in natural  fibres is the way to go. Their little bodies are so precious they should be bundled up in the finest temperature regulating fabrics. If you're knitting for babies then you are in luck because you can buy all manner of gorgeous merino yarns (a cashmere, merino blend is probably my favourite) in all yarn weights and gorgeous colours imaginable and across a wide range of price points. However you need so little yarn for a baby project you might as well splash out!

If you're not a knitter or crocheter, then you can find a wonderful variety of gorgeous baby clothes made from merino wool. Delicate Dream, do a range of simple, unisex baby essentials made from merino. We were sent this lovely snuggly cardi and trouser outfit from them to review and we love it. We've been using it as Effie's outside clothing, perfect for popping on over her existing outfit to keep her warm and snug in the pushchair without getting too hot if we're in and out of shops or if she's bundled up next to me in the sling. I love babies dressed in all the colours but there's also something especially darling about a perfect little baby dressed all in white.

You can shop the Delicate Dream unisex merino collection here.

**we were kindly sent these items to review but all thoughts are our own.

Sophie la Girafe Cosmetics :: A Review ::

Effie received her Sophie la Girafe toy in her stocking at Christmas. She was a little slow on the whole hand to mouth coordination required for it for a while. She loved the idea of putting it in her mouth and glared open mouthed at it hopeful that I would pop it in for her when presented with it. However now she's got the hang of it she quivers with delight upon seeing it and will actually reach out to take it from you, wherein it will go straight between her squeaky gums for a good old chewing.

So when I was asked to review some of the Sophie la Girafe bath products I jumped at the chance.

Effie absolutely adores bathtime now. She either uses her little chair, which fortunately fits perfectly inside our bathroom sink, meaning we can avoid the backache associated with leaning over the bath, or she comes in with me. She loves both, though now she can sit up, she finds lying down in her a seat a challenge and constantly attempts to sit up. I do think she enjoys sharing more, imagine having a bath the size of a swimming pool! She splashes and kicks and provides the most heart warming smiles.

It took us a while to get into much of a bathtime routine, in the early days we probably managed a bath a week, but we're much better now. I started popping a little bubble bath in a month or so ago, preferring to stick to plain water on her delicate skin in the beginning and she usually gets a little massage in coconut oil after. 

I was sent the Sophie la Girafe Cosmetics bubble bath and the baby oil to review and they smell heavenly. Just the right level of fragrance for little ones. The bubble bath is thick so you only need to add a little to create a beautifully smelling bubbly bath. I won't lie I'm loving using it too and also add some to my bath when I'm not sharing with Effie.

We've been using the oil for after bath massages for a while now and really liking it. I'm very sceptical about putting cosmetics on babies and as I said we were using pure coconut oil before, but as this product has passed the Eco-Cert testing I feel happy that it's safe for Effie's skin. The oil is a lovely consistency, not so thin it flows right off your hand like some I've used in the past and it smells wonderful. I can't really tell you what the scent is exactly, but it smells like babies should somehow! It is divine and Effie is even more delicious after it's application.

Everything about this product is lovely, from the simple, sophisticated packing to it's gentle nature, down to its wonderful scent. It does come in a little on the higher end of the price spectrum for baby products, but their body mass is so small they use so little and their skin so fragile and new that they are definitely worthy of such luxury!

You can see more of the Sophie La Girafe Cosmetics here

We were kindly sent these products to review but all opinions are our own.

Gro Hush ::

A couple of months ago Gro kindly sent us the Gro Hush to review. I was thrilled because I adore the Gro company and have had a love affair with their products since Milo was a baby.

We always used their sleeping bags for Milo and in fact Effie has just graduated to one of their sleeping bags herself after deciding swaddling was for babies. I also have their temperature egg, which has been in constant use for almost 6 years now and still going strong. Knowing the exact temperature really gives me peace of mind when it comes to knowing how many layers are needed and I love that a quick glance in the night can give me an idea of the temperature because of the colour coding. Even if sometimes, when the heating fails whilst you're away for Christmas, it doesn't provide you with the best news!

The Gro Hush arrived the morning of Effie's 2nd set of immunisations, perfectly timed to be put to the test, later that day. 

Fortunately Effie wasn't especially put out by the jabs but did need a few extra cuddles that evening so I was thankful for the Hush to help calm her down. I was surprised by how well it worked. If she was tearful I put it against her ear and the effect was almost instant, calmness ensued, even if it was only temporary.

The Hush is a clever little machine, with a lovely shape, making it easy to hold with the help of the strap on the back, and hold baby, so you can hold it next to your babies head, whilst it plays white noise. You can choose from 3 different sounds, rain, waves and heart beat, Effie seems to prefer the rain setting. It's deliberately set to a volume safe for your baby's little ears and cannot be altered, so you can feel confident that the sound level is correct. I know you can get all manner of apps which also play white noise, but I'm not sure I feel confident having my phone too close to Effie that much of the time. With the Hush you can put it right next to your baby's ear with confidence.

All in all I think this is a fabulous little piece of equipment, one I wish I had, had from Effie's early days, I imagine it would be an absolute god-send for those first few weeks. It would make a great baby shower gift or gift for a Mum to be. I'm also finding it super useful at the moment, whilst Effie is struggling with teething and not so keen on naps! It can sometimes take a few moments for her to notice it if she's very upset, but I find that once she does it certainly has an impact and stops her crying for a little while.

You can find the Gro Hush available to purchase over on the Gro Company website.

**we were kindly sent the Gro Hush to review but all thoughts are our own.

Effie and her Gingerbread Man ::

The day before we headed off on our Christmas holidays, this gorgeous little gingerbread man arrived for Effie from Hello Daisy and it was love at first sight.

I think it probably helped that Milo unwrapped and presented it to her, he is very much her favourite.

It's the first toy I've ever seen her have any interest in, it's lovely to see her face light up when he appears and she actually makes attempts to reach for and hold it too. Plus she does that super cute excited whole body shake baby's do when they're especially happy, when you present it to her.

This lovely fairtrade, crochet gingerbread man is soft with a little rattle inside, all his details are made of yarn so no choking worries, which is reassuring as putting things in her mouth is currently Effie's favourite.

The gingerbread man himself is handmade by Pebble in Bangladesh by local women and is run in association with Hathay Bunano, from their website: 'Hathay Buano provides fairly paid, good quality, flexible and local employment for rural women who are poor and often disadvantaged'. I love their ethos and especially love that the majority of their toys are crocheted!

Hello Daisy have a whole range of lovely Pebble crocheted toys along with a whole host of other gorgeous baby items, plus they are local to me, in Cheltenham.

**we were kindly sent this gingerbread man to review but all thoughts are our own.

Book Review :: The Book with No Pictures by B. J. Novak ::

The Book with No Pictures by B. J. Novak was sent to us to review the week that Milo was off school ill and it was the perfect thing to cheer him up.

On receiving the copy I excitedly declared to Milo, 'we've got a new book to read, it's called The Book with No Pictures', his immediate response was clear disappointment. 'What? Are there really no pictures, it'll be boring'.
Of course there really aren't any pictures, none at all, not even one, but that doesn't make this book any less entertaining, in fact it makes it even more so.
Milo was in complete hysterics throughout and couldn't wait for his Dad to get home to 'trick' him into reading it too.
I don't want to give too much away so as to spoil it for you, but here are some of Milo's thoughts ::

I thoroughly recommend this book it will be a great addition to christmas stockings and cause great hilarity on Christmas day getting various grown up family members to read it!

Below is a great video of B. J. Novak himself reading it ::

You can get the book here.

**we were kindly sent this books to review but all thoughts are our own.

Camp Bestival :: Camping ::

Yesterday we returned from a fabulous four days at the beautiful Lulworth Castle for Camp Bestival. I plan on doing a couple of other posts about some of our very favourite parts of the festival but for today I'll write a little about our camping experience.

We arrived Thursday afternoon, giving us plenty of time to set up camp and attempt a good nights sleep all ready for the main event starting the next day.
As we're non drivers, it was public transport all the way.  The train journey was fairly easy, two changes from Cheltenham to Wool, but everything ran smoothly and once we arrived in Wool there was none of the chaos of arriving at a train station full of festival traffic we were expecting.  We joined another group of 3 and shared a taxi to the site.  The journey was reasonably quick, the cab driver happily stopped at a shop for us and the fare wasn't too bad once it was split.  As we arrived at the taxi drop off rather than the main car park I expect our experience of arrival was probably quite different to others who did come by car.  It was super quiet and easy to get our wristbands sorted, the stewards were all really helpful and happy to give us directions as to where we needed to go.  I found the whole atmosphere strangely relaxed really, compared to other festivals where arrivals seem so hectic and confusing and queues so long.  Relaxed and easy going is really what you need when you've travelled far with children, luggage and are about to test the limits of your relationship with your other half whilst setting up camp.

The entrance from the taxi drop off to the campsite took you through the main arena, which was lovely as although most of it was cordoned off you could a get a good look of the area and where everything would be, thus creating much excitement in the little one.  It was quite a bit of a walk, but as you came onto the campsite directly from the arena, this was great for me, who was keen to camp as close to the entrance as possible.  Cutting down on the amount of walking a 33 week pregnant lady needs to do is always beneficial.  After much deliberation we found what I think was pretty much a perfect spot for us, about halfway between the arena entrance and the closest toilets. We choose a spot on the main thoroughfare, but as it was quite a short strip it was never too busy or noisy.

As we only had a 2 man tent already in our possession (which did us fine last year, but we're all a little bigger this year) we decided to purchase a brand new four man tent.  The only problem was, as is fairly common place for us, we left this until the very last minute, giving us absolutely no time to have a practice run at tent erection.  It took us a while to set up, I won't lie, but mostly we were nice to each other and didn't have any huge arguments about the problems we experienced with the, seemingly impossible, task of getting the tent poles to fit in the pegs.  I did think we probably looked, rightly so, like fairly incompetent, inexperienced campers, especially considering most of the others camped around us seemed to set up huge palaces out of nowhere in half the time it took us to set up our measly two room tent.

We also purchased a couple of self inflating mattresses, after we borrowed some and found them perfect for transporting and using last time we camped.  I took the smallest pillows I could find in our collection, a fleece blanket and sleeping bags for all of us.  Milo decided he wanted to sleep in a room on his own, so I used the towels we took, along with the blanket under his sleeping bag to create a cosyish spot for him to sleep on As a boy who tends to move from bed to floor to sleep every night at home, he seemed perfectly happy with this arrangement.

Like I already said, we are not super experienced or especially organised campers, so for us preparing food and the like was limited to boiled water.  I took pot noodles, cup-a-soups, coffee, along with apples, raisins, biscuits and cereal bars.  This worked for us and to be honest the range and quality of food available across the festival was spectacular and we ended up bringing home all the pot noodles and the cup-a-soups!

I was surprised and pleased to find so much going on, on the Thursday night as I knew the festival didn't officially begin until the next day.  The Soul Park and the Upper Magic Meadow were open and we were free to roam around quite a lot of the site.  There were lots of places to eat and even some boogieing to be done in the Matua Bar.  Milo absolutely adored DJ Dapper Dan the Rock n Roll Town Crier, as did we.

One thing I wasn't all that impressed by were the toilets on the campsite.  I appreciate that festival toilets don't generally have a great reputation and I've definitely seen worse, but as a festival so heavily aimed at families I do think perhaps a little more could have been done to keep them more pleasant.  I only witnessed the toilets near us being cleaned once, they may have been cleaned more than this, but it was such a noticeable improvement when they were that I think I would have noticed had this been the case.  There was almost never any toilet paper in the toilets both on the campsite and throughout the arena and after the first day the hand sanitiser was all gone and not replenished once.  Fortunately we took plenty of toilet rolls and hand sanitiser with us so were generally OK and Milo isn't too squeamish about yucky toilets, so we survived but it could definitely be improved.  The compost loos around the arena I found to be much better and maybe having these on the campsite would be a nice touch. We also found we very rarely had to queue and when we did there was only ever a couple of people in front of us, so it certainly seemed as though enough toilets were provided.

It took us a couple of days to find the showers, so we only used them once the whole weekend, but when we did I was really impressed.  Provided by these guys, we choose to go up mid afternoon, so we barely had to queue at all and found them clean enough.  They were even stewarded by two guys who squeegeed them out after every use.  I was really impressed, the best festival showers I have yet to use.

I was surprised by how loud and how late the music went on until as it's such a family orientated event. Milo was so tired by the time he made it to bed each night it made no difference to him, but I wish I had remembered to get ear plugs for myself as I found myself waking up a lot through the night.  However once the arena closed up for the night the campsite was surprisingly quiet, I expect this was due to there being so many families and not so many drunken antics! It was even fairly quiet until quite late in the morning, I would say most mornings I barely heard any others until around 8am, which was great.

Overall the camping experience was pretty great, the food stands were all open by the time we got up and there was some good coffee to be found pretty close by.  We were really pleased to be as close to the arena as we were, meaning we could nip back to the tent with ease throughout the day and the general atmosphere was pretty nice and friendly.

Packing up on Monday morning was easy enough, we trekked back through the site to the taxi pick up, watching everything be dismantled as we did.  Again the stewards were helpful and friendly, each one saying good morning as we passed.  We got straight in a taxi, no waiting around at all, had a lovely taxi driver take us back to Wool station, where we serendipitously arrived to a reasonably quiet station 10 minutes before the next train to Southampton.  Again we were so surprised at how easy and relaxed transport to and from the site from the train station was, really really unusual in my experience of public transport and festivals.

I'll cover more of actual festival itself throughout this week and next, but I've written much more than I ever intended on the camping alone so I'll leave it there for now!

If you're interested in attending Camp Bestival next year early bird tickets go on sale Friday.

Cheltenham Science Festival ::

We are so lucky here in Cheltenham to have such a great range of festivals taking place throughout the year.  We have Jazz, Literature, Music and Science taking place between April and October.  All of these are fabulous and have a great range of events within them.
Last week was the Science Festival.  We tend to go up to the main site every year to browse the tents and various free activities taking place, but until this year we'd never attended any of the main events for this particular festival.
Milo took a trip over with school in the week, to watch a show about dust, which he has been raving about ever since.  So at the last minute I decided to have a look through the programme and find something to take him to over the weekend.  For his age range there didn't seem to be that much on offer, but I booked us tickets to Kaboom, the Science of Explosions.

It was fabulous, we were lucky enough to get to our seats safely inside the tent just before the rain fell from the sky in a spectacular fashion.  The guys that put on the show did a great job, demonstrating a wonderful array of explosives, including gun powder, cannons, high explosives and fireworks.  As was to be expected, there were many loud bangs and lots of occasions where were encouraged to put out hands over our ears, or flashes where we were told not to actually look as we might blind ourselves.  It was so much fun I'm so pleased we decided to go.

After that we took a stroll around the rest of the festival site, where we played games, made a torch and watched ourselves in a thermal camera.  It was great, I'm not sure I was the best person to take Milo as my science knowledge is very limited, I expect if Johnny had joined us we would have both learned a whole lot more.

The only downside for us was, unfortunately this year there wasn't a main Lego tent on site (if you follow me on Instagram you'll probably know how much of a Lego obsessive my boy is), which there has been in the past and the Lego events that did take place were aimed at older children.  Knowing Milo's Lego skills I'm sure he probably would have enjoyed these regardless but I didn't want to risk it.

Overall it was a great day and definitely something I'd recommend to others.
We're already gearing up for the next festival, this weekend, the Food and Drink Festival, our family's personal favourite.