Nice to hear good things about solfest! My friend and I went to harvest in 2011 and portmeirion 2012. Harvest was nice and small, portmeirion was ok but the campsite was squashed and horrible. We too are in our 40s and having our midlife crises by attending festivals. The crowd was entirely different and despite great reviews portmeirion was a bit freaky and full of 'smack heeds' as we used to call them in the good 'ol days.
We are taking my big tent and airbeds and are looking forward to being able to park the car next to the tent.
So don't give up looking for the ideal festival, we haven't yet!
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We've been going to Solfest for years (its just down the road from us) and it is excellent, though the weather can be hit or miss and the mud in the central field this year was something else though it was fine round the tents. It has a fab atmosphere and ive never seen any problems in the family fields though there have been problems in noisy camping in the past.
Weve also done camp bestival a couple times which is a totally different beast, expensive but you can prebook your pitch with posh flush toilets and all sorts. Its a little bit too sanitized for me but weve always had decent weather, it was really hot this year.
I saw an article about the very rich people that put on bestival and think I also prefer the ethos at solfest! Also thanks for the reassurance that we won't get people peeing up the tent in the early hours...it's my £45 eBay bargain tent after all !
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We used to go to Cropredy a decade or so ago. It was really nice, though things were nicked on occasion. (We never lost anything, we just heard about it). My lad works as a steward at Cropredy these days. He's been going for years, and says it's still very family friendly.
We've camped at folk festivals all over the place, Chester, Bracknell, Cardiff, Bromyard, Upton-on-Severn, and never had any problems (though the tents and cars are so packed in at Bromyard, you couldn't get out in an emergency).
I loathe feeling unsafe, and no amount of great music would prompt me to go to a festival where I felt anarchy ruled.
I think it's a good idea to find out all you can about festivals and pick the one which suits you. I'm old now, and I would still go to Cropredy, but not Glastonbury.
Went to carfest and have ever seen so many outwells in one place! Had a nosy around someone's vermont xlp as we were looking to buy one. Now thats a small festival tent.
All tents were close together but the place was quiet at night and everyone was so polite we didnt see any drunkeness all weekend.
The security guards at portmeirion worked on all the festivals and said womad was the safest and best organised of them all . In his words he'd work there for free!
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Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Festival Camping
