The best small(ish) music festivals in the Midlands 2015

The sun is shining and the main UK festival season is looming; The Mirror has even predicted a heatwave (surely such a quality paper couldn't get it wrong?!), so I thought I'd post a round of some of the festivals Mr O and I have been pondering over visiting this year, plus some other local (to us) festivals. In case you don't know, we're seasoned festival goers, and having done the big festivals pre-kids, we now prefer a lower-key event where we can actually get some sleep at night and have a hot shower when needed!

Our teenage daughters, Miss O and Miss K, are undecided on whether or not to join in with our festivities this year, as they now have rather more refined musical tastes than us! However, I have picked these festivals for their family-friendly facilities and prices, even if they don't appeal to my kids any more. Although my daughters wouldn't appreciate them now, they used to love festivals with craft activities, circus skills workshops and a place to hang out away from the main stage. 

I have excluded some great-sounding festivals from my line up, as some of the festivals I liked the sound of do not offer family tickets, and/or charge adult prices for teens under 16. If a child under 16 must be accompanied by an adult over 18/21 to enter the festival, then surely they should be charged a child/youth or reduced price?!

If you have younger children, do take a look at my family friendly festival guide, with plenty of tips on how to make a festival fun for all the family.You can also find lots of quick and simple camping meal ideas here.

May 21-24
Bearded Theory, Catton Hall, Walton upon Trent, Derbyshire
We've been to a couple of BTs and enjoyed this friendly, chilled-out festival, the great range of bands and good facilities for families. See my review of Bearded Theory 2012 here (different venue).There are 5 stages hosting an eclectic range of acts, a children's village and teen zone.
Adult weekend ticket inc. camping £94, child weekend tickets age 0-5 free, 6-11 £22, 12-16 £45, family camping area available.
Headliners this year include The Mission, New Model Army, James and Eat Static.

May 22-24
Glastonbudget, Turnpost Farm, Leicestershire
This festival appeals to me, as it would mean that I could see tribute acts of artists who have either disbanded, died or were out of my price range when popular!
Adult weekend ticket inc. camping £76, children aged under 5 £4, 6-15 £39, 16-17 £65, family camping costs an extra £3 per person.
Headliners include a good range of rock, retro, pop and indie tribute bands such as Kazabian, Totally Tina (Turner) and (Freddie) Mercury plus some new and acoustic acts.

June 5-7
Lunar Festival, The Umberslade Estate, Warwickshire (5 miles south of Birmingham)
This one is a serious contender for us, as it's fairly local and offers some great workshops as well as great music; I'd also love to see Julian Cope play live. There are 2 stages, workshops for kids and adults and late night clubs.
Adult weekend ticket inc. camping £94, Family weekend ticket £199.
Headliners this year include Tinariwen, The Fall, Wilko Johnson, The Bootleg Beatles and Julian Cope, as well as a wide variety of other acts.

June 19-21 
Acoustic Festival of GB, Uttoxeter Race Course Staffordshire
Adult weekend ticket £85 + £20 camping, Children under 10 £1, ages 10-15 £15 +£5 camping.
The big plus for this festival is that you can park next to your tent. Believe you me, this is a perk worth paying for, especially when you have younger children with lots of stuff to cart around! Headliners include Big Country, Beautiful South and Show of Hands. 

July 3-5
Godiva Festival, War Memorial Park, Coventry
FREE
We're definitely going to the Godiva Festival, as it's free! There's no camping on site, so if you're willing to take a risk, book your hotel accommodation before the line up is finalised. We've booked a room at the local Premier Inn and are looking forward to the main acts being announced in the next few weeks - UPDATE: The Wombats, Fun Lovin’ Criminals and Embrace are set to headline Coventry Godiva Festival 2015
Godiva is actually quite a big festival; in fact it claims to be the country’s biggest free family music festival, with with 3 stages and a family field for little ones. 

July 24-26
Nozstock The Farm, Rowden Paddocks, Bromyard, Herefordshire
Adult weekend £105, Teens £85, under 12s free.
I love the sound of Nizstock, but sadly won't be able to go as we'll be on holiday. There's a plethora of stages with music, comedy and theatre.Children will love the activities in the Enchanted Glade and there are also baby-friendly facilities. Headliners include The Wu Tang Clan, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Beardyman and DJ Hype. 

July 24-26
Barefoot Festival, Prestwold Hall, Loughborough, Leicestershire
Adult weekened ticket inc. camping £90, child weekend ticket £38, under 5s free
Barefoot Firewalk tickets for over 12s cost an additional £33
No line up has been announced yet, but last years headliners included some talented, but lesser-known artists such as Laurel Canyons and Josephine & The Artizans, plus a range of folk, blues, indie and cabaret acts. There is also a kids' zone and arts workshops running during the weekend.

Aug 14-16
Farmer Phil's, Ratlinghope, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Adult weekend ticket £76, family weekend ticket £239...inc. a full week's camping.
Farmer Phil's started off small and has grown each year. It offers great camping facilities, and children's workshops, craft activities and bouncy castles.
Headliners include Ferocious Dog, 3 Daft Monkeys and Talisman. 

Sept 4-6
Off the Tracks, Donington Park Farmhouse, Castle Donington Derbyshire
Adult weekend ticket inc. camping £80, children under 12s free, aged 12-15 £45. 
Off The Tracks has 4 stages, a proper campsite with well-maintained pitches, hook-ups, hard-standing, real showers and toilets. Children's activities, play areas and workshops. Headliners include Banco di Gaia and Dreadzone

Sept  11-13
Shrewsbury Fields Forever, Shropshire; Venue Not Yet Decided
(Tickets not yet on sale)
This is a bit of a wild card, as it might not go ahead. However, it's the one that my kids would probably be most interested in attending as it has hosted some very well known acts over the last few years.
SFF is Shropshire’s largest multi arena live indie, alternative, electronic, dance and popular music, comedy and arts festival, however due to a fall out over their previous venue (West Mids Showground), this year's festival may or may not be going ahead at an alternative venue. Last year's head liners included Tinie Tempah, The Cribs and Shed Seven. Keep a look out for more information!

If you know of any other similar festivals in the Midlands, do let me know and I'll add them to the list.

For details and reviews of more family-friendly festivals all over the UK, visit Festival Kidz.

Integrity Statement

I have NOT received any incentives to promote any of these festivals. All views expressed are genuine. However, if anyone want to offer me free tickets to a festival, I am always willing to review!!! Images featured are from various festivals we have been to and not necessarily of the festivals featured.

Pin It

The Big Session Festival 2012 - a review

OK, I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a folky. Now, I know that isn't cool or awesome or sick or whatever the correct term is these days, but I don't care; My name is Lisa and I like folk music! 

I like to think that folk is about to have a bit of a revival, due to the rising popularity of acts such as Ed Sheeran and Frank Turner (or maybe not!), but anyway, since I've come out as a folk music fan, I can now tell you about the Big Session Festival...

We've been going to the Big Session for several years now. It used to be held in Leicester city centre, but has now moved to a new rural site in South Derbyshire. We were a little worried about the change in venue, as we weren't sure how it would change the whole festival atmosphere, but despite the deluge of rain and copious quantities of mud, the Big Session remained true to its former identity.

We arrived at the flat, spacious and very scenic camp site on Friday evening. One major luxury with this festival was that we could drive around the camp site, find a pitch and unload everything before having to drive back to the car park (there was also a toilet block, shower block, stand pipe and elsan point).This was particularly advantageous as it was pouring with rain when we arrived. We pitched the tent in record time, before parking the car and then heading off into the arena. 

There were 3 stages (all under cover), which was just right for the amount of people attending. There was a smattering of the usual festival stalls and food outlets too, but not as many as in previous years (maybe due to the inclement weather which has been ongoing since the hose-pipe ban was announced!). There was one totally vegetarian/vegan food stall, plus plenty of other options such as veggie burgers and crepes at the other stalls; these weren't as varied or adventurous as the food at some larger festivals but more than adequate. 

The festival site had plenty of bins/recycling points, a real ale tent and even flushing toilets with running water in the sinks (as opposed to portaloos and anti-bac foam). There was a large, undercover kids area with art, craft and musical activities, circus skills and more besides. There should have been a climbing wall too, but I guess the rain made it too dangerous to use.

Old favourites Chumbawamba and the Oysterband played on Friday night and were as entertaining and tuneful as usual. We also discovered some new acts over the weekend, who we hadn't heard of before, including Abandoman (Irish hip hop comedy!), Jesca Hoop (the slightly loopy former nanny of Tom Waits' children), Dizraeli and the Small Gods (hip hop/folk fusion) and The Leisure Society folk/pop/rock). 

The only down side to the festival was the weather and the resulting muddiness of the site, but that certainly wouldn't put us off going again. 

I would definitely recommend the Big Session to anyone who wants to try out a small, friendly festival with their kids, before venturing on to a larger one...who knows, if you go, you might even get to like folk music too!

The Big Session Festival takes place at Catton Hall, South Derbyshire. For more information, visit Big Session.

More posts on family festivals, camping recipes, kids' camping food ideas here.  Pin It

Music I want my children to listen to...

OK, so I know this doesn't sound like it's much to do with food, or vegetarianism, but I was inspired to write a rather random post about music by several other blogging mums, who mis-spent their formative years listening to similar music to me! 

Mr O and myself already inflict our taste in music on the kids at home (which they don't always appreciate) and take them to festivals at least once a year (which they love). We both have an eclectic taste in music, but the majority of our collection consists of rock, grunge, punk, 60's and folk! Miss Ony and Miss Kahonie do actually like some of our 'old' tunes, including The Levellers (Beautiful Day), They Might Be Giants (Istanbul) and Pop Will Eat Itself (Def Con One).

I've always loved music. I remember making up dance routines on the playground with my primary school friends to the latest hits by Blondie and Adam Ant. After a slight wobble in musical taste (ahem Wham!), I returned to decent music in my mid-late teens, when I wore black ("I wear black on the outside 'cause black is how I feel on the inside"), wallowed in teenage angst and played records by The Smiths, The Cure and The Jesus & Mary Chain at full blast on my music centre - sorry Mum & Dad!

Reading about Morrissey being vegetarian (in Smash Hits of course!) and singing along to the Meat is Murder lyrics "And the flesh you so fancifully fry, Is not succulent, tasty or kind, It's death for no reason, And death for no reason is MURDER" actually played a significant part in my first steps towards going veggie. I'm still a big Morrissey/Smiths fan, but unfortunately my kids still aren't impressed.

On a similar theme, this isn't one I'll play to the kids just yet, but it was the hard hitting lyrics from the song Liar by Riot Girl band Bikini Kill that prompted me to take the final leap to full vegetarianism. I won't post the lyrics here, but they can easily be googled!

My girls both seem to be developing their own personal music preferences and can often be heard singing away to their favourite songs. I hope that when they're older, they'll read and sing along to The Smiths' lyrics and understand why they played such an important part in my life.

So, who do YOU want your children to listen to? Add your entry and don’t forget to visit the rest! Join in the discussion and linky your post here. Pin It