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!

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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!

Project 365 2015 #32

What a lazy time we have had recovering from Camp Bestival in week 32 of Project 365 for 2015! The excitement of it all has wiped us out - me in particular.

Project 365 #32

 

Day 214

Sunday and it was our last day at the super amazing Camp Bestival - lots of photos here. We had to leave tonight due to work commitments but we had to stay until the very end and watch the fireworks - these are not to be missed.

Day 215

Monday and a big sleep in and a day of laundry. I wandered down the garden which is looking even more overgrown but the little sunflowers are starting to appear.

Day 216

Sick day! Well, just for me. I clearly picked up a bug at the weekend and spent the day not too far away from the bathroom. I managed to blog my first Camp Bestival post though.

Day 217

Feeling a bit better but not much energy. We did venture out of the house to buy some frames for our letter pressing that me and the girl did at Camp Bestival.

Day 218

We headed into town for a library visit to pick up a running book I had on reserve - I haven't ran since last Friday and feel so bad because of it. Town was looking pretty with lots of flower displays. This one was outside Waitrose and had used lots of recycled objects.

Day 219

My 11th wedding anniversary today! The husband got me this card - who said romance was dead?!

Day 220

Last week I sat and listened to the lovely Lucy talking about her 'no poo' journey and I have decided to give it a go so the commercial products are out and the coconut oil is in - wish me luck!

 

x x x

Camp Bestival 2015 ~ Review & Tips

I've bombarded you with images galore, here and here, from Camp Bestival 2015 and you may have guessed we have had an absolute ball but I've not put down many words. So here is my overall review of Camp Bestival 2015 with some helpful tips thrown in for good measure.

We arrived around 11:00 on the Thursday morning, following the clearly signed roads into the site where we parked up with ease - this year managing to pull up at the bottom of the car park thus avoiding the hill down. This is purely pot luck and has nothing to do with the time you get there. The car park is on a hill so be prepared with a trolley or buggy to get your things from car to camp, and back again. Trolley hire is available for a £50 deposit then a £5 half hour charge.
Tip: We always bring our trusted Phil & Teds which, with a few bungees, does a fantastic job.

We chose to camp in our usual spot in the valley of Purple Camping. Toilets were a few minutes walk away, showers a bit further - we had a trug! The campsite toilets were kept well stocked with toilet roll but we always bring our own just in case and they were cleaned well on a regular basis.
Tip: The portable loo doors are noisy so my tip is don't camp too close unless you want to hear a constant thudding of doors all night.

Onsite toilets are scattered around with a choice of chemical toilets or compost loos. As on the campsite these were well attended with toilet roll aplenty and clean. Some toilets are located near a water point but many aren't.
Tip: put a small bottle of hand sanitiser in your pocket.

The festival site itself is a short walk uphill out of the valley - you can camp a lot closer and avoid the hill on a daily basis - and is partly open on the Thursday night.
Tip: Head up on the Thursday evening and get your bearings onsite.

The site is a decent size which means a lot of walking. We planned a few activities we definitely wanted to do and some we might do should the mood take us, this way we weren't too stressed going from a to b on a timetabled mad scramble and actually found a lot of things that we had never even thought about. You can buy a Camp Bestival bag for £10 which includes a lanyard programme, book programme and colouring book and pencils. Be wary though that performance times do change and these are only sporadically displayed on the Castle Stage screen. My beady eyed girl spotted that Ella Henderson had been moved earlier but the husband missed most of Marcus Brigstocke as his comedy slot was moved forward.
Tip: Make a few plans but also just go with the flow.

Food is plentiful onsite but prices can add up. Some example costs were; a large pot of macaroni cheese and bacon £7 with a smaller child's size at £4, wood fired pizzas £10/£9, corn on the cob £3.50, pie and mash £7.50 with a child's serving at £4. The quality of food is good with a great range all around the site, particularly within the Feast Collective tent. We bought dinner each night but breakfasted in the tent and picnicked for lunch.
Tip: Take plenty of snacks, drinks and pre prepared wraps and keep a well stocked cool box in your tent.

Be prepared for the weather. This year we didn't see a drop of rain but the temperatures dropped massively at night. The sun was hot in the daytime and this sun spray from P20 was a great product to test out on the family.
Tip: bring sun spray, layers, sun hats, woolly hats, onesies, blankets & wellies and waterproofs - just in case.

Take some spending money. As well as food there are other stalls to entice you to part with your well earned cash. Bars are plentiful selling beer, cider and ale for £4 - £4.80 a pint - cocktails, wine and spirits were also available. You can take alcohol onto the campsite but this is not supposed to be taken onto the main site. Other ways to spend your money include; the carousel at £2.50 a ride, the FairyLove tent, Tell Tails, postcards, charity stalls, Fire Toys - the boy bought a diablo for £12, Bubbles Inc, face paint tents and clothing stalls.
Tip: go armed with bubbles, glowsticks, and face paints.

At night the main music acts hit the Castle Stage. In the past we have always camped up on the field from 6 onwards but this year we decided to explore elsewhere in the evenings. On the final night we chose to watch the fireworks from the side of the castle and this gave us a fantastic viewpoint without being huddled tight and fenced in on the main field - it also meant we could exit the site quickly at the end as we had to head home on the Sunday too.
Tip: the bandstand on the Kid's Field showcases a wide range of music - we had a ball on the Friday night dancing to the 'Fabulous Lounge Swingers'. Also head into the Dingly Dell in the dark - it is beautiful and the children going to the play park at 22:40 is one of their favourite moments!

x x x

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

Photos of Camp Bestival 2015

You really can't make it around Camp Bestival without taking a few - hundred or thousand - photos.
Here is a snippet of my captures of the amazing sights I caught on camera across the wonderful festival site.

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