Help wanted on kids camping choice

[loc]

Hi all,

I went to Glastonbury once before, in 2013, all alone. I got there by coach and set up my tent at the bicyclist camping. Didn't have a bike, but it was right near the coach entrance, on top of a hill, and very quiet, which I liked.

Fast forward to 2022. I know have 3 kids, aged 4, 6 and 7. And together with my husband, we're coming to Glastonbury with the five of us! I saw there are two family camping sites, one very near the bicycle camping, and one near Kidz Field (Cockmill Meadow, I read on the map).

I have some questions I hope you can help me out with:

1) Are both those campings on a hill (if it rains, I don't want our tent to be in a ditch... which I saw happening to many people in 2013)?

2) Which of the campings is more quiet/has more space? And perhaps shadow for example, or near facilities like places to charge a phone or tablet?

3) Which one would you recommend, and why? My GUESS is that the one near Kidz Field is more crowded, because it is near KIdz Field, but I have no idea if that's actually true. I have no memory of specific places like that.

Hope you can help out. 🙂

[incident]

1. Both Cockmill and Wicket are on relatively gentle inclines. Don't think either are affected by / susceptible to flooding.

2. Wicket has more space - Cockmill traditionally fills up very quickly because as you guessed of the proximity to the Kidz Field. Whereas Wicket you should be fine to find room even if turning up on the Thursday.

3. Wicket, because of the more space / less hassle.

[Lycra]

2 hours ago, loc said:

Hi all,

I went to Glastonbury once before, in 2013, all alone. I got there by coach and set up my tent at the bicyclist camping. Didn't have a bike, but it was right near the coach entrance, on top of a hill, and very quiet, which I liked.

Fast forward to 2022. I know have 3 kids, aged 4, 6 and 7. And together with my husband, we're coming to Glastonbury with the five of us! I saw there are two family camping sites, one very near the bicycle camping, and one near Kidz Field (Cockmill Meadow, I read on the map).

I have some questions I hope you can help me out with:

1) Are both those campings on a hill (if it rains, I don't want our tent to be in a ditch... which I saw happening to many people in 2013)?

2) Which of the campings is more quiet/has more space? And perhaps shadow for example, or near facilities like places to charge a phone or tablet?

3) Which one would you recommend, and why? My GUESS is that the one near Kidz Field is more crowded, because it is near KIdz Field, but I have no idea if that's actually true. I have no memory of specific places like that.

Hope you can help out. 🙂

Both family camping fields are on slopes, just don't camp in a hollow esp if you use Wicket. 

Cockmill being next to the Kidz area and Pyramid gets very busy. Space there is at a premium by lunchtime Wednesday so if you're not planning to arrive Wednesday morning you can almost rule out camping here.  Cockmill is also quite noisy.

Wicket is on the other side of the site and it is best to use the west car parking and gate A. [East parking is best for Cockmill as its just inside gate B]. Wicket fills up much slower and is much quieter. Space is normally still available on Thursday. 

[danssol]

If you arrive after noon on Wednesday then cockmills will be mostly, if not entirely full.

[StoneCircle]

3 hours ago, loc said:

near facilities like places to charge a phone or tablet?

There is only the EE Recharge tent - https://ee.co.uk/why-ee/glastonbury You are better off getting  some 20,000 mah Anker portable chargers than wasting time in there IMHO! 👍

[locloc]

15 hours ago, Lycra said:

Both family camping fields are on slopes, just don't camp in a hollow esp if you use Wicket. 

Cockmill being next to the Kidz area and Pyramid gets very busy. Space there is at a premium by lunchtime Wednesday so if you're not planning to arrive Wednesday morning you can almost rule out camping here.  Cockmill is also quite noisy.

Wicket is on the other side of the site and it is best to use the west car parking and gate A. [East parking is best for Cockmill as its just inside gate B]. Wicket fills up much slower and is much quieter. Space is normally still available on Thursday. 

Thanks! So just to be clear: we will arrive by coach, we should then walk to the west car parking and gate A to get to Wicket? And Wicket is the name of the family camping on the northwest site/near the bicyclist camping?

[bexj]

Coach drop off is at gate A, wicket is to the left of gate A, past the cyclist area. 

[Cleoclaptrap]

Here a map for you. 

https://glastonburytips.com/glastonbury-festival-map/

Wicket is a doddle from Gate A where you get dropped off.

 

[Lycra]

7 hours ago, locloc said:

Thanks! So just to be clear: we will arrive by coach, we should then walk to the west car parking and gate A to get to Wicket? And Wicket is the name of the family camping on the northwest site/near the bicyclist camping?

As others have confirmed, Wicket is the family camping on the west side. It is not too far from gate A. You do not need touch the west parking area as your coach will arrive at the festival bus station and coach goers will join their own separate queue system at gate A. This is distinct from those arriving by car and using gate A.

Entry for coach arrivals is generally quicker than for those arriving by car as coach arrival times are staggered as best they can be to manage queues and prevent overcrowding in what is comparatively small area.

Finally, for those wishing to arrive by coach and camp at Cockmill, it's quite a hike across the site both down and uphill on rough tracks. 

[loc]

Thanks everybody! I look forward to it all!

[NorwayDave]

Being next to the kidz field means you've got access to your tent and the supplies there, although this can be adressed if you are far away, by taking a large supplies bag (jumpers for the evening etc) and leaving it at the gate C lockup.   

These kids are not going to be having naps, how often will you be able to drag them to the tent anyway, however close or far away it is.

For me the pinch point is the end of the day, it's dark and it's a struggle to get them to cover any distance.  4, 6, and 7 is a lot to carry, they won't even fit into a large wheelbarrow.

We'll be dragging 7, 9, and 12 back to Sticklinch (coming from overseas we didn't want to bring tents), the kids know the distance involved is about the same as their journey to school, and they're like "no problem Daddy don't worry", but I know I'll end up carrying the 7 yr old at least when her body shuts down from exhaustion.  My wife reassures me "we'll just take our time", I'm not too worried, just Cockmill would really have fixed this and I've had my regrets.  Mind you, they are going to love seeing Arcadia in full bloom on the way home.

Cockmill only seems to be an option if you get onsite quite early on the Wednesday.   I've seen satellite evidence on another thread though that Wicket has quite a lot of space even on the friday.

The main positive for us sleeping in a quieter area is that the wife is more likely to get sleep and a shower - happy wife happy life, probably worth carrying the 7 year old for.

 

 

[loc]

Yeah, we just won't arrive earlier enough to go to Cockmill anyway: our coach leaves from London at 11:00 on Wednesday. And I think it's fine to stay in a quiet area anyway. We'll see, can't do anything about it anyway... 🙂

[Kristina_225]

On 6/9/2022 at 8:59 AM, loc said:

Thanks everybody! I look forward to it all!

Hi!

I was just wondering if you would mind sharing your experience of family camping this year? We have been to Glasto several times and normally camp in Oxylers, but next year we will be taking our 2 year old with us (wondering if i've lost the plot a bit to be honest). I've been looking into where is best to camp and hoped you could advise what it was like for you this year?

With her only being 2 I'm leaning towards Wicket as many have said that Cockmill gets very busy and can be noisy but any advice would be great! 

Thanks in advance, sorry to bring up an old post if that's not allowed 

Kristina x

[danssol]

Not from this year. But, cockmills is usually pretty full from midday on Wednesday. So it depends on when you can get there and which side you arrive at the site. I think gate a is best for wicket.