Greenacres Camping

Camping is always high on our agenda in the summer holidays and this year we decided to head back to the glorious Greenacres Camping, just an hour's drive away, in the Somerset countryside near Pilton. This site to me is just perfect; flat, huge pitches, camp fires, hot showers, tents and campervans only and simple! The prices are reasonable too at £9 a night for adults and £4.50 for children - with no extra charges for gazebos, awnings or big tents. We arrived early Sunday afternoon and was greeted at Reception by the lovely owner Mary, who remembers all her past guests, and with a quick reminder of where our pitch was we were good to go.

As my car is teeny the husband brought the camping gear in his van, helped us pitch up and then left us to it - the joys of running your own business hey?! The pitch gave us plenty of space for our Outwell Montana 6 tent and car with ample room left to spread out away from neighbouring pitches for those quiet moments when you just want to chill outside your tent. Being at the end of the site we were away from the play park and amenities block but this meant no passing foot traffic and a quieter camping experience - and now the children are 9 and 7 they have increased independence and confidence to head to these areas without me holding their hand and watching their every move.

Every camping trip we take I see a big change in the children and Greenacres has been part of their camping experiences since they were 3 and 1. The space and safety of the site has allowed them to explore and step away from the grown ups, it has made them more confident and just being outdoors in the fresh air 24/7 allows them to completely switch off with no mention of television, iPads and tablets. This to me is pure bliss.

The site has a play area with swings, slide, see saw and play houses and The Lazy Dayzee Crew come on site a couple of days a week to do craft activities in their lovely belle tent.

The site is well maintained with Mary and Duncan ever present around Reception and the amenities block constantly mopping out showers, replenishing toilet rolls and keeping an eye on things. 

The weather was varied with us waking up on Monday morning to heavy rain but we were prepared. I had my lovely new Helly Hansen Seven J jacket and Veierland wellies which kept me super dry on the walks to the toilets, shower block and washing up area.

The rest of our trip was dry and sunny which enabled us to have a campfire every night. I was a little bit anxious about this having never started a fire before but Zippo sent me a rather useful kit that helped us to safely start the fires. The cedar wood fire starter was fantastic and so much nicer than the foil wrapped supermarket ones.

Greenacres hires out fire pits with wood, firelighters and kindling with prices starting at £20. We had our old BBQ pan so just bought some wood from the helpful Duncan at Reception - £10 for a big bag of logs and kindling. You will see Duncan driving his mower and trailer around the site regularly dropping off fire pits and wood but I handily had a strong seven year old boy to do the carrying for me!

Sitting round the campfire each night with the children is going to be a memory that will last forever; toasting marshmallows, sipping wine and hot chocolate, watching the flames dance, burning sticks. All simple things.

The site is well placed to visit the nearby towns of Wells and Glastonbury as well as the tourist spots at Cheddar and Wookey Hole. We also headed further afield down to Montacute House on the rainy Monday and across to Brean Down for a lovely sunny day of play on the beach on Tuesday. Wednesday we climbed Glastonbury Tor, wandered around the beautiful shops buying incense sticks and essential oils then drove up to Wells for an ice cream in front of the Cathedral.

We were very sad to leave on Thursday, although chuffed that the weather forecast of torrential downpours from 4a.m. were completely wrong. The husband arrived to take our camping gear and Duncan was doing his rounds on his mower freshening up the pitches for new arrivals and it was a cheerful goodbye and hope to see you again.

We definitely hope to see you again Greenacres and we will be back for a bit of slow living camping.

Picture kindly taken by our friendly Dutch neighbours!

x x x

Disclaimer; Helly Hansen and Zippo sent me products to review and as always words and opinions are my own. We paid ourselves to camp at Greenacres and just wanted to share their lovely site with you!

Take & make {Camp Bestival 2015}

With less than four weeks to go before Camp Bestival 2015 kicks off I have started to get prepared so am thinking about what to take and what to make!

Year on year we have improved a lot of things; our packing technique, the 'what to take' list and those, oh so important, extras.
What follows are some ideas for adding a little bit of glamp to your camp, keeping the kiddos amused and saving some pennies.

Bubbles
Good planning always involves bubbles; these are an absolute go to when the children need a bit of down time either whilst setting up camp or chilling in a festival field. We always take loads - more than we think we will actually need. If you want to buy bubbles, bubble guns, bubble swords, even a smoke filled bubble machine then there is a tent onsite that will sell you it!
Hula hoop
Last year me and my girl made a hoop in a local charity tent - it cost about £5 - where pipe was cut to fit and we could choose our own colour taping. We will definitely look to do this again as you can never have too many hula hoops!
Gym ribbon
I saw this today in the local supermarket for £2 and thought my girl would love it - something to play with while she cartwheels down the campsite hills!
Balls
These balls are those ones that light up so great for a night time game of catch!
Glow sticks and fairy lights
Glow sticks are an amazing thing - they managed to keep my children occupied for hours on the castle field last year whilst we watched the music. Get a big set with lots of adaptors to make ears and glasses and they'll be happy! The battery operated fairy lights are fantastic for glamping your camping spot as well as attaching to any buggies or trolley you may take onsite.

 

Tail and ears

This year's theme is Wild so I have made a fox tail - loosely following this tutorial - and ears should anyone want to partake. The boy already has a fox onesie - bought last year from the camping shop onsite - and the girl has a Pink Panther, but obviously I need something to get in the dressing up mood too! Not sure what I'm wearing on my actual body yet though?!

Bunting

An absolute must in my camping book! Every year the tent is adorned with the stuff both inside and out where we make a little 'fence' from tent to tent. It's really simple to make - I have a guide here - or you can just cut out shapes, as in the top picture, and sew to bias tape.

 

For extra lists and guides click the pictures below!



       

To see what else is going on at this year's festival check out the website.

For more information on tickets click here.

x x x

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I am receiving family Camp Bestival 2015 tickets in return for previews and reviews of this year's festival. As always, views and opinions are my own.

Camp Bestival Diary 2014 {Thursday}

You may have heard that I've been in a castle field down in Lulworth, Dorset for the last five days having an absolute ball at Camp Bestival. Such an event cannot pass without sharing it so prepare yourself for images and information galore as I present to you... Thursday at Camp Bestival!

Back in the day when we ventured down to our first Camp Bestival in 2010 there was no Thursday to go to, tent pitching and all the fun that entails had to be done on the first full day of the festival itself. Then the lovely folks at Camp Bestival HQ realised it would be a great idea to open up on the Thursday and year on year this first day has got a little bit bigger each time. So let's go back to Thursday 31st July 2014...

The car was fully laden and by 9:30 my plus one and her three lovely children had arrived and we were ready to set off in convoy down the A350 to Dorset. It is a lovely, if sometimes windy - as in twists and turns in the road not the weather - route and we only got held up by a camper van and a tank. Getting onto the site was straightforward again with well managed traffic control on the A352 and two hours and a bit after leaving home we were ready to unload the car for the fun walk to find a pitch. Now, for those of you that are unaware, the site is rather hilly but I try and see the positive in this and look at it as a damn good work out. I planned and packed well and we did the whole thing in two loads - it's amazing what a Phil & Teds pushchair and bungee cords can manage. We collected our array of wristbands and we were good to go!



We pitched in the valley on a relatively flat area with plenty of space around us - although the children still managed to roll either off their airbed or onto me but that's all part of the fun. A fellow camper across the way lent me her battery operated pump which saved my legs on the foot-pump and the children soon made friends with a boy from a neighbouring tent - happy campers all round! Once the tents, flag pole and bunting were up and hand decorations applied we went for a wander up the hill to the festival site.

On entry to the site we walked through the Soul Park, an area of relaxation, massage, yoga and campfires and on to the woodturning in the Spinney Hollow. A great place just to chill and unwind before exploring the bigger site.

This year they opened up more of the site on the Thursday than in previous years so we headed across the top of the Magic Meadow and along the front of the castle to the charity area next to the church. Here we found a small area of plate spinning and hula hooping. A local hospice, Julia's House, had hula hooping making and this was added to my list of things to do, particularly as I managed to actually hula hoop properly for the first time ever!

After all that physical exertion we decided to refuel back at the tent. The return journey was made a little easier by the first of many goes at hill rolling!

You can read about the Friday here, Saturday here and Sunday here!

x x x

 

 

Disclaimer: I received family Camp Bestival 2014 tickets in return for previews and reviews of this year's festival. As always, views and opinions are my own.

Garden Camping

In preparation for the fast approaching Camp Bestival we decided to give the tent an airing and have a garden campout.
The children had also put this on our Summer 2014 Bucket List so nothing like killing two birds with one stone. I'm a multi-tasker me.
I did myself proud and erected the tent in solo style - all good preparation as we are leaving the man of the house behind.
The children sat helplessly, partially due to the narrowness of my pitch space, whilst I swore under my breath that one year I will go full glamping style in a pre-erected yurt.
For now though this will have to do.



The tent is a perfect size for the three of us and once we add on the front tunnel porch there is plenty of space to unwind.
We picnicked in the sunshine and I discovered what a perfect footstool a six year old makes. Bunting was added in true festival camping style and after some bat watching and ukulele playing we settled down for the night. A freshly delivered cup of tea from the house the next morning definitely beats having to roll off the air bed and make it yourself.
Despite the luxury of garden camping we cannot wait for our trip down to Lulworth in just 5 days time. Just need this sun to keep on shining.

x x x

 

For all our Camp Bestival experiences from past years click here.

 

 

Disclaimer: I am receiving family tickets for Camp Bestival 2014 in return for previews and reviews of this year's festival. As always, views and opinions are my own.



Top ten extras to bring {Camp Bestival 2014}

It's less than four weeks to go until Camp Bestival 2014 begins.
Time to start making those lists.
I have blogged a lot in the past about camping with children and have prepared a tried and trusted packing list here.
But what about those Camp Bestival specific 'extras'?
Well look no further.
Here are my top ten extras to bring list!

Camping at Greenacres {aka space to clear your head}

At the beginning of the summer the children created a Summer Bucket List upon which was the wish to go camping at the amazing Greenacres Campsite near Pilton in Somerset. I say amazing because Greenacres takes it back to basics and above all gives the children that all important space; space to run, space to play, space to be free. I'm going to add to that - it gives the adults that all important space; space to run, space to play, space to be free and space to clear the head....

 

This trip gave me the added confidence that we did it alone, just me and the kiddies. We demonstrated excellent teamwork at putting up the tent...