taking the kids to Beautiful Days - part one

Having checked the online weather forecast for Ottery St Mary, the home of Beautiful Days, every day for about a week beforehand, it seems that anything other than a very wet festival is extremely unlikely.

Taking two small children (7 & 2) to a festival when we know we’re in for a soaking doesn't take the shine off our preparations. A friend is staying in Devon on the Thursday night and he kindly offers to pitch our tent for us so that is one less thing to worry about. After a trouble free journey (other than the usual unscheduled toilet and sickness stops), we manage to get onto site at about 2:30.

The car park is already showing signs of squelchiness after the week of rain but we are still able to get our wristbands and get parked easily enough. The camp site on our side of the valley seems pretty full, and from where we are, the 'grown up' camping looks quite full too.

Our eldest gets straight in to making friends with other kids at the climbing frame near our tent and we make a mental note to try and get to the story telling sessions that take place near where we're camped. From our position at the bottom of the family field, we can hear The Levellers Acoustic (Drunk in Public), going through 'Carry Me' and we're off.

As we push the buggy through the green and pleasant land that is Beautiful Days we all marvel at the amazing site art that lines the area between the campsite and the festival site. The children's area seems a little bigger and even without a programme, we make plans to visit a few kids workshops over the weekend.

The footprint of the children’s area really is a quite a sizeable percentage of the overall site and the variety seems to have a lot to offer for children of most ages. The organisers of the children’s field really put a vast amount of effort into ensuring that there is plenty to see, do, experiment with, and create and we’ve always thoroughly enjoyed what’s on offer. Its location in the festival site means that we're still close to the second stage so we know we’ll still be able to listen to the grown up stuff and get an occasional beer in too.
Further wanderings and the children are drawn towards a number of robotic sculptures made from recycled car parts, cars fused with aeroplanes, and an old VW beetle which would 'out mad' Mad Max cars.

We settle down for the evening in the main arena to watch the first evening's line-up and get the children all glowed up courtesy of the lights stall at the bottom of the main arena. Straight off they’re making friends with other little festie goers and having a great time with their new light sabres.

Making our way back to the tent and getting the kids to bed, we thank our blessings that we've had a completely dry day. Once safely settled, we sit outside and enjoy a couple of relaxing beers and get to catching up with what everyone else has been up to over the day.

Saturday and the patter of rain means we prepare ourselves and kids for a wet one after making breakfast. We know that taking our buggy to the arena will present more issues than it would solve, so for the first time ever with our youngest, we take the painful decision to leave it at the tent.

Our first stop is the kids theatre tent. It is pretty full of kids and parents seeking refuge from the elements as The gods over Devon do their best to scupper our weekend and remove the feel good vibe that the festival creates. By this time it really is hammering it down and the sides of the tent are breathing in and out with the wind.

First up are Tyburn Jig – Pirates with a special story to tell. Our youngest is pleased to be out of the rain but not really interested in their tales but our eldest is enthralled. The messages with their story are aimed at the children but there are magical moments where even the adults are rolling around with splitting sides. Next up is one of the most original acts that I have ever seen. One man with an ironing board, packets of crisps and sweets recreates a conflict of the confectionery world. There is no doubt about it, this is fun for all ages and with the added incentive of sweets spilling into the arms of the patient children, it is a joy to watch.

Our youngest falls asleep on her mothers lap so I take our boy out into the elements – still blowing and hurling rain – to explore. To begin with it seems like an adventure but it seems that there are no mad dogs or Englishmen out in this downpour so we wind our way up through the slushy mud and up the hill of other camp site to the top of the hill and settle down for hot chocolate and coffee in the Tiny Tea Tent. Feeling refreshed and with the weather abating for our journey back, we pick up some doughnuts and take them back to the rest of the family.

The children's field is always great at Beautiful Days and it was such a shame to see that so much preparation was being spoilt by the weather. That said, it never ceases to amaze us the power of children to make the best of a situation and loads were taking advantage of the climbing frames and circus workshops – the rain didn't seem to be causing too much distress.

Heading out to the main stage we catch Dengue Fever and their music makes a lovely backdrop to our day and sounds pretty cheerful. Walking around, it’s great to see people smiling through their gathered up hoods and under wide brimmed hats.

Lunch is required and provided in the form of pasta. It’s a fairly safe bet with the little ones and they need something hot. The variety of food available is pretty good - fish and chips, pasta with garlic bread, pies, Mexican, pizza, and noodles all seem to be doing a roaring trade.
We watch acts play in the drizzle to reduced crowds at the main stage. The rain halts for Balkan Beatbox but when it returns we think about getting some dinner. Fish and chips are our unhealthy selection. We've made some new friends and they have gone off to the other stage but have left us with their mini shelter tent. It provides a welcome shelter for the children to eat their dinner in but as Stiff Little Fingers come on stage, the rain returns with a vengeance. We bounce around to the first 3 songs in the set which are played at a frantic pace but during the 4th song, our youngest started to show signs that the weather was getting to her and we all make our way back to the tent – wondering if we will find it full of puddles. It had done us proud for another wet one and after changing and drying, we have a couple of games of cards and stories with the kids and they were only to happy to fall asleep.

We take a couple of drinks back out of the tent and sit under a gazebo. The rain has all but stopped by then and the evening was quite warm. Even listening from afar is great – the main house and site look fantastic from a distance and we can relax at last – it has been a long hard day. As friends gradually return, some looking like swamp monsters and others like drowned rats, we take advantage of campsite facilities and enjoy toast and hot chocolate while doing what the Brits do best, talk about the day's weather.

Latest Updates