Camp Bestival – It does exactly what it says on the tin! Its a weekend of fabulous camping with fistfuls of Bestival thrown in for good measure. Patrons of Camp Bestival bring Glamping (glamorous camping) to a new level. The camp site is awash with villa like tents, sheepskin rugs, cushions, fairy lights and gazebos. Once the music dies down you can hear the hum of the battery powered fridges cooling the wine and keeping the cheese fresh for tomorrow. But if you don’t fancy lugging all the gear to the castle yourself (although there are trolleys to borrow) there is an array of camping options to choose from which will literally put the ‘camp’ in your camping.
You can utilise a yurt, squat in a squrt (small yurt), commandeer a caravan or crash in a campervan. You can go all out luxury with furnished belle tent complete with made up bed and pop to the hot showers in the morning. Get pampered with a new hairdo, a massage and a facial. Get wholesome with some reiki, some reflexology and some aromatherapy. Fill up on fantastic food from organic salads to fish and chips, smoothies, milk shakes in fact everything your heart desires.
So once you have emerged from wherever you slept- refreshed and ready to play – what are you going to do with your day? Well you might, make a movie, go to the ballet, swing with a big band, knit a scarf, watch some jousting, sing round a piano – in a meadow, make a clay model, play hide and seek in the woods, get some fancy dress, make some modern art, watch a parade, take a walk to the beach and thats just for adults and before you get anywhere near a stage. If you are lucky enough to be a kid at Camp Bestival you are going to be very busy indeed! Backing onto Lulworth Castle is the Kids Garden which you will find if you can get away from the Magic Meadow long enough to look around. I only found the kids garden on the last day as we had not got past the tents in the Magic Meadow where flags and pictures and musical instruments were being made all day long. Kids will be painting, swinging, dancing, singing, gluing, making, playing, watching, smiling and laughing all weekend. They really are looked after and included in every way which makes Camp Bestival a real family experience.
Make sure you have a proper look in every tent as you go past so you don’t miss anything, there is so much going on and it will be something you could so easily walk by that you will remember the most. Save some energy for the evening though you wont want to miss whoever is playing on the main stage. Actually there is always someone good on the main stage its just you might be too busy to notice.
It really is a tongue in cheek holiday camp round the castle amid rolling hills, think Hi di hi, think retro, think lovely legs competition round the pool without the pool. So quiff you hair, put on some enormous sun glasses, paint your face, paint a picture, paint the castle red but whatever you do, do it in full fancy dress it is the only thing that counts at Camp Bestival.
Published on 01 February 2010 by Cathi Moore
