Last Updated on 23 March 2026 by Colette
This post features a gifted experience & affiliate links
It has taken me a few days to even sit down to start to write this post – I think in part as it has taken me a while to get my head together after such a hectic weekend, but also as I was worried I just wouldn’t be able to find the words to do Camp Bestival Shropshire justice . . .
Camp Bestival has been on my radar for quite a few years now but it always falls on an awkward weekend for us and the near 300 mile drive to Dorset has always been a bit of a deterrent. However, this year Rob Da Bank answered our prayers by hosting the very first Camp Bestival Shropshire – a sister festival in a far more accessible location for us Northerners – less than 100 miles from Manchester.
Weston Park in Shropshire (or Staffordshire depending on who you ask) was previously home to V Festival for the best part of a decade so is no stranger to hosting large scale events and, after our experience this weekend, I would say it was a near perfect festival site.
I think my friend Caro hit the nail on the head when she described Camp Bestival Shropshire as a “festival for old ravers who have got kids now” – this carefully curated line up meant that whilst yes, there really was something for everyone, the music and headline acts were really set to make you move. We danced like we were in our early twenties again and it was bloody brilliant.
Nineteen things we did at Camp Bestival Shropshire
Had the tent pitched within 90 minutes of arriving on site!
We arrived on site about 6.30pm on Thursday evening and by 8pm we were ready to go and explore the Camp Bestival Shropshire site! This is in part testimony to our Berghaus Air 6 being a dream to pitch but more to do with how well organised the site was – there was no queuing or messing about to get on site, the car park was well managed with a clear pathway marked to the campsite entrance, no queues to get through security (which was a quick and painless bag check for glass) and the walk from the car park to the campsite was impressively short.
We tend to set up camp as close to the car park as possible as I’d rather have a longer walk into the festival than to have to lug all our gear any further than necessary. (As it was, even with parking in the first campsite we came to, we still only had a ten minute walk to the main arena – Camp Bestival Shropshire is just really well laid out so nothing is too far away!).
What I would say is that at 6.30pm on Thursday night, the Green campsite already felt pretty full and it took us a few minutes to find a spot big enough for our tent – I was extremely glad we’d decided to head down on Thursday night as we might have struggled on Friday morning! If you’ve got a small tent, you’d easily find space to nestle in between other people but as a family of five, our tent is pretty big! If you want to camp with friends, I recommend arriving in convoy so that you can find a spot together.
Spent a fortnight’s grocery budget on food
Festival food is expensive, there’s no getting away from it – I think we all know that at any event you’re a bit of a sitting target and prices are always high.
The food at Camp Bestival was fairly standard festival prices and mostly pretty good quality.
We ate our breakfast at the tent (mostly just cereal and pain au chocolat) and then bought lunch and tea in the arena – setting a budget of £10 per person for lunch and £15 per person for tea.
We made it clear to the kids that that was a budget rather than a target, but when they wanted to have waffles for afters in the evening, we allowed them to “save” money from their lunch / tea budget to be able to afford them. (I should say the waffles were probably the nicest thing I ate all weekend!).
Mostly this was just a lesson in making sensible choices with their money and budgeting (though of course the most sensible choice would probably have been to not eat six festival meals and to make food at our tent!)
Marvelled at being able to take our own drinks into the arena
Typically at a festival I expect to be provided with water to top up my drink bottle but beyond that to have to pay through the nose for drinks and food – at Camp Bestival Shropshire, you were actually allowed to take your own (sensible amounts) of alcohol into the festival arena with you! This is a game changer as its obviously much cheaper to buy your beer (or in my case cans of caffeine free diet coke!) off site and bring them with you.
We agreed that actually, being allowed to bring our own drinks with us meant we didn’t resent buying the odd beer at the bar too. Had we realised this was the case ahead of time, we’d have definitely bought more beer / coke / capri-suns before the festival and taken them with us! We’d probably have taken packed lunches too to save a few quid on meals – though of course there is always the issue of keeping things cold and you only have limited space in the cool box!
To go along with this, I think it’s worth mentioning that I didn’t see one person who had taken advantage of this – not one person who was really drunk – just loads of people having a good time. The atmosphere was fun and safe – I guess by virtue of being a family festival, most people are going to manage to be quite sensible and as such I saw very little in the way of security. There was a police presence at the event and people on hand to help you out if you were stuck but there just wasn’t any trouble or drama – which meant we felt perfectly safe to let the kids have a little freedom to go to the toilets by themselves, go and order their own food or to sit outside Bollywood when the drum n bass really wasn’t doing it for them!
Danced like we were young again
One of my favourite comments of the weekend was during the middle of Gok Wan’s set (packed with 90s house classics and bringing all the smiles) when Ben said to Dave, “You’ve lost your dignity”! The kids just didn’t get Gok at all – Chloe said she did quite like the music but it was too loud and she didn’t like being bumped about by other people dancing around her (fair point) and Ben just looked bemused. In the end, the kids all went off to go on the Ferris Wheel with friends whilst we danced our hearts out for an hour – I had heard that Gok was good fun so I had been looking forward to his set already but he surpassed expectations and and was a definite highlight of the weekend for us!
Relived primary school discos
Sara Cox presents Just Can’t Get Enough 80s was absolutely bonkers – she had the whole crowd sat on the floor for Oops Up Side Your Head, instigated an enormous conga and launched massive red balloons into the crowd during 99 Red Balloons. As we were doing the full Superman routine, Ade said to me, “It’s like a primary school disco” and he wasn’t wrong! Everyone was fully on board and finding it hilarious – kids and adults alike!
Appreciated the attention to detail
Rob Da Bank and the Camp Bestival team really know how to throw a party – the whole of the site was just beautifully decorated with flags, enormous elephants, twinkly umbrellas – particularly outside the Bollywood arena where we spent quite a lot of time playing in the tuk tuks (well the kids, not Dave and I) or sitting chatting to friends and watching the world go by!
Hung out with friends
So whilst we didn’t actually go to Camp Bestival with friends, we did have friends who were going – friends like Caro & Richard who we know from blogging and then friends like Lauren and Ade who we’ve known for pretty much my whole adult life.
Having friends at the festival was a massive bonus – especially as Amy and Ruby became practically inseparable over the course of the weekend which was just gorgeous to see. Having other people to hang out with at various points over the weekend meant we were able to share recommendations of things we’d seen, done or eaten, it meant we could send the kids off to the toilet with one adult whilst the others held a space back at the main stage, it meant we could give each other half an hour or so’s peace whilst taking care of each other’s kids! But mostly it just meant we had people to make memories with and to share the experience. If you can go to Camp Bestival with friends – I definitely recommend it!
Slept through Fat Boy Slim
Ok, that’s not strictly true – Chloe slept through most of Fat Boy Slim’s set, Ben just moaned ’cause he didn’t like it and Amy raved her heart out sat on her Dad’s shoulders with her glow sticks! I’d not seen Fat Boy Slim before and I don’t think I really knew what to expect, I don’t think I was even that bothered about it until he started playing and then everything from the parrot costume to the crazy visuals and the tunes just came together to offer up ninety minutes of pure joy!
I honestly don’t think I realised how much I miss just dancing – the lasers, the smiles of the people around me, the hands in the air. It was an all round win. (Though Amy and I were both disappointed that at the end of his set he just walked off stage with no fanfare, we’d expected some confetti or something like Becky Hill had had the night before!)
Introduced our kids to some new music
Generally I would say our kids are kids are exposed to quite a range of music from old school trance on a sunny day to indie and general TikTok popular sounds (as if that’s now a way to discover music?). Ben has been to see Everything Everything, the girls to see The Wombats and they all loved YNot Festival a few years ago (think Kate Nash, Franz Ferdinand, Two Door Cinema Club, Reverend and the Makers, and Elbow). Chloe does tend to like a bit of “strong girl pop” and I don’t really know what Ben likes to be honest – I think he listens to more podcasts than music.
The line up at Camp Bestival Shropshire allowed us to introduce the kids to some new music. Big Fish Little Fish offered up some Drum n Bass in the Bollywood tent on Saturday afternoon – the kids weren’t fans but we were thoroughly entertained (especially by the fella in the leopard print jumpsuit and massive ‘tache). Scouting for Girls was a surprise hit for all of us – I hadn’t expected to enjoy their set particularly but lead singer Roy Stride was really entertaining and watching them at sunset, with a huge smile on my face felt really special – I had one of those moments where I knew just how lucky I was to be there. Showhawk Duo playing dance classics on two acoustic guitars were brilliant – we didn’t know whether to laugh, be astounded by the skill or just enjoy the nostalgic tunes! I didn’t really know what to expect from Example but he unleashed something in Chloe who was bouncing around all over the place during his performance (this probably contributed to her falling asleep during Fat Boy Slim – girl needs to learn to pace herself!)
Had some very late nights
So following on from Chloe sleeping through part of Fat Boy Slim’s set – each of the headline acts were on pretty late – Becky Hill on Friday night was on from 10.30pm to 11.45pm, Fat Boy Slim on Saturday night was on from 10.15pm to 11.45pm and Rag ‘N’ Bone Man was on from 8.55pm to 10.25pm followed by the fireworks till just before 11pm – that’s three really late nights for the kids. Mine are pretty used to staying up till about 10pm when we’re camping anyway so powered by churros / waffles before the last set, they usually made it through to the end of the night. Amy missed the end of Becky Hill’s set (which she was gutted about as she loves her but she knew she was too tired to stay out any longer), Chloe slept through part of Fat Boy Slim and Amy slept through a good chunk of Rag ‘N’ Bone Man. There were plenty of children fast asleep in festival trolleys – tucked up in blankets with their ear defenders on – but I do think that perhaps the headline acts could have done with being a bit earlier! That said, Sasha’s set on the Friday night in Bollywood (from midnight to 2am) was so loud that we all commented that we could feel it when we were back at the campsite tucked up in bed – I’d definitely rather have been out enjoying that one!
Queued for showers
I always go to a festival prepared for a few days of wet wipe washes – it’s not the best but it does the job and gets you through. We have previously been spoiled with incredible shower facilities at both Timber and Just So Festival but have equally baulked at paying £10 for a shower at YNot Festival.
The shower facilities at Camp Bestival Shropshire were spot on in that they were free, hot and clean – there just wasn’t enough of them.
On the Friday morning, Dave went to get a shower on the basis that the it would be his best chance with the festival not starting properly till Friday afternoon – he was 10th in the queue and seemed to get his shower pretty quickly. The following morning we both decided we needed a shower (let me tell you that coming on your period two weeks early whilst at a festival is not the one) – and despite setting out fairly early for his shower (in fact a good hour and a half earlier than the day before), he was 27th in the queue – the queue seemed to remain fairly long then for much of the morning – with there still being a queue of around 30 people waiting to get in the shower when we walked past to head into the arena at lunchtime.
The best time to get a shower at Camp Bestival was mid afternoon or on the way to bed when they were mostly unused.
Craved soap, hot running water and flushing toilets
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t go to a festival expecting luxury facilities – but the composting toilets at Camp Bestival Shropshire were a new level of festival toilet! Basically you climbed up the steps, opened the toilet door, climbed up some more steps to a proper toilet seat (which was almost always clean and not once did I go to a toilet that didn’t have toilet paper) which was essentially had a wheelie bin under it! The idea being that all the waste was collected and then composted – there was no flush, if you had a wee you just wiped and left (which felt really odd!), if you had a poo then you covered it with a cup of sawdust (a cup of sawdust you had to collect on the way in as some sort of announcement that you were going to defecate!) Top tips – don’t look down, don’t breathe.
There was plenty of hand sanitiser available to clean your hands after – though I preferred to use my own as I know it won’t irritate my hands. I did really miss being able to wash my hands with soap and water though – layers of hand sanitiser just aren’t the same! We said afterwards that we should have used shower gel and the water butt back at the tent to give them a wash when we could – or taken a small bottle of hand soap to use the cold water taps that were there for washing up.
The composting toilets were obviously way more environmentally friendly than your standard chemical portable toilet and far less hassle then plumbing in a full water supply etc so I expect to see more of these at festivals as time goes on.
Sought shelter in the woods
The weather across the whole of the Camp Bestival Shropshire weekend was a festival goer’s dream to be honest – not too hot and pretty much no rain (just a slight shower during Shed Seven’s set but we put our hoods up and fronted it out (turns out my coat isn’t as waterproof as I might have liked so need to sort that out!). Mostly it was just warm and sunny without being overwhelmingly hot and we didn’t see anyone looking really burned.
On Sunday afternoon we were all a bit tired and finding the warmth a bit much so we headed off into the woods to the play area where the adults just sat in the shade and chatted whilst the kids played. There was plenty going on in the woods – willow weaving (this needed booking and paying for), tree climbing (apparently you had to book this at 8.30am – we didn’t bother), a woodland orchestra (our kids were too big to be interested) and Lizzie’s walk (we didn’t make it that far).
Watched Horrible Histories on the Main Stage
There was an awful lot of theatre and performance going on over the course of the weekend – circus themed performances and work shops in Bigtopmania, flying trapeze shows (which we did catch part of), comedy in the Big Top (Ben really enjoyed Dom Joly) but actually the only thing we purposely went to watch was Horrible Histories – Terrible Tudors on the Main Stage on Sunday lunch time. As a family, we’ve always loved Horrible Histories. I wasn’t sure how it would translate to stage but it was brilliant – just as cheeky and gross as it is on tv – the kids loved it and so did the grown ups too!
Admired people’s fancy dress efforts
Typically Camp Bestival has an annual fancy dress theme, though for the first Camp Bestival Shropshire, there was no theme and more of a “It’s fancy dress day on Saturday, go for it” and go for it people did! I’m not really one for fancy dress myself but I did really love seeing what other people had worn, we loved the whole family of inflatable pandas (so much so that Dave and Ben started researching inflatable panda costumes – it’s a no from me!), and we also loved the big group who had dressed all cops (grown ups) and robbers (the kids) complete with handcuffs!
Covered ourselves in glitter and sequins
So whilst I’m not one for fancy dress, we did decide to go with a bit of a “Sequin Saturday” theme – which in the end, due to some poor planning on our part, only really stretched as far as the girls. Chloe rocked her sequin dress (Topshop from Vinted) and Amy wore her sequin bomber jacket (H&M last year but similar to this one). Next year we need to level up!
By Sunday we were on full on glitter roots – as much to hide how grubby we were feeling as anything else! I had thought the glitter was going to be a pure nightmare to get out of the hair but actually it wasn’t too bad and pretty much just brushed out.
Spent a fortune on fairground rides
Something that always really bugs me at big events is spending even more money on top of the ticket price – so we tried to limit the number of rides that the kids went on. Each of the rides were around £3 – over the course of the weekend they tried a zip wire, the Ferris wheel, some crazy wobbly platform thing and the swings. There was also the biggest bouncy castle in the world which looked super exciting but every time we went near it there was a huge queue which nobody could be bothered to join!
Didn’t feel we had to do everything
There was so much going on at Camp Bestival Shropshire that it would be impossible to do or see everything – some things required booking ahead of time (tree climbing, ice baths etc) and I’m not really down with that level of pre-planning at a festival, other things weren’t really aimed at older kids (the H&M Kids Present Science workshops), some things needed paying for (which I tend to avoid at an already expensive event) and others I’d have loved to do but just didn’t get round to (I’m talking yoga, sound baths and breath workshops). Essentially we spent our time concentrating on the Main Stage, the Big Top, Bollywood Tent and Caravanserai (I can’t even begin to explain how bonkers it was in there) so our weekend was music heavy – the way we like it!
Struggled for mobile reception
I think this was quite a specific problem depending on what network you were on – those of use who were on EE / BT were constantly fighting for coverage. I found the best chance I had of uploading things to instagram was back at the tent at the end of the night or first thing in the morning – the rest of the time was nightmare. Our friends who were on O2 had no issues at all and were able to ping messages back and forth as normal. In fact at one point I piggy backed Lauren’s data to upload some content and was amazed at how quick it was! Mostly this wasn’t a really big deal except if we were trying to arrange to meet up with someone or when I was trying to work – sending messages or uploading content to instagram was a huge drain on my battery as my phone was constantly checking for signal. For the most part I just left my phone on aeroplane mode, turning data on occasionally when I thought something might upload or if I needed to try and send a message. Between keeping our phones on airplane mode when we weren’t using them and some pretty heavy duty power banks, Dave and I were able to keep our phones well charged for the full four days. (If you don’t want to invest in power banks then you could pay for a locker to charge your phone up – this was about £25 for the whole weekend and would charge two phones at a time).
Bought expensive merch
Amy fell in love with a Camp Bestival t shirt on the first day – and I have to agree it’s definitely one of the nicest tour / festival t shirts I’ve seen! At £25 it wasn’t a cheap buy but we agreed to go halves with her and she loves it! We don’t normally buy festival t shirts, or anything on site if we can help it, as the mark up always feels huge but in this instance we caved!
Did the standard Sunday morning pack up
Ever since our Leeds Festival days, Dave and I had done a standard Sunday morning pack up so that we can leave whenever we’re ready and head straight home – last time we did this at YNot festival it was raining so much that we decided we couldn’t be bothered with the last day of the festival and just left, but this time we packed up and were back in the main arenas by about 12pm. Knowing that we were all packed up and ready to go left us free to relax and enjoy Sunday – and in the end we stayed right till the firework finale and then drove straight home getting off site with no issues whatsoever and home to our own beds (and actual soap) but 12.30am. One of the reasons we started to do this was to avoid major traffic getting off site on a Monday morning (if you’ve ever done Leeds Festival or similar you’ll know), but Ade assures me there were no problems at all leaving Camp Bestival on Monday morning – everything was well organised and, to be honest, I think a lot of people had done the same thing as us as the camp sites were definitely much thinner by Sunday evening!
All in the very first Camp Bestival Shropshire was bloody awesome – the weather, the line up, the company, the site and the all round Camp Bestival magic came together to form an absolute dream of a weekend. Would we go back next year? Hell yes. You should too! Early Bird tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday 26th August – there is a payment plan option to help you spread the cost too.
Read these posts next:
Tips for camping at festivals with kids
Tips for attending a festival with kids
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