Elderflower Fields Festival Review. When I say that I’ve been missing festivals over the last 18 months, it would be an understatement! Usually we have a summer full of festivals and they are some of the highlights on my calendar. I’m not sure what it is about them, the music is a big part of it of course, but it’s also the freedom, the food, the atmosphere, the energy and the family time. So when I had an invite to Elderflower Fields South at Pippingford Park, near Brighton I jumped at the chance. (Tickets were provided for this review and I paid for the camper pass)
We first went to review Elderflower Fields in 2019 and it was one of our favourite festivals with loads to do for the children, some of the best food of any festival we’ve been to, great music, a lovely chilled vibe and a really gorgeous setting with acres of rolling hills and woods to explore. I was really interested to see how it would compare in the new and strange times post lockdown. Although they didn’t know if it would be able to go ahead right up until the announcement just a week or so before, with some of the other big names choosing to cancel for the same weekend, there was great communication throughout. I went with the kids and one of my best friends who I had only seen on screen for far too long so it was a real treat!
On arrival, it was a relief to realise that it all felt very similar to the last time we went. Lockdown rules had been relaxed in England before but people were still keeping respectful distances in the food queues and when sitting to watch the music, there was plentiful hand sanitiser in the toilets, (although we took our own too of course!) and the activities were well run giving people clear directions about where to wait for their children. We were staying in our van Wilma and I’ve really missed this element of it, for me, having the van makes such a difference when it comes to festivals as we can take more of our own food, make cups of tea and coffee, cook food easily and have somewhere to sit around in bad weather.
We started our weekend of adventure by sending the kids up some very tall trees. This was an outside activity organised by relatively new venture Canopy Climbing (this cost extra but the majority of the activities for the children were included in your ticket price) set up by experienced tree surgeons Andy and Luke. The kids were quickly harnessed up and taught how to climb up, (and more importantly!) come back downs and spent a happy hour seeing if they could reach the top. I think my son is part squirrel as he flew up and spent a long time there!
The other activities the children took part in over the weekend were mountain biking, whittling, making dream catchers, free running, the art camp (where you can leave your kids for an hour!) and they went to several of the events on in the various tents around the site. There really is too much to do in a weekend, everywhere you look there was something happening and the program is packed and geared towards children but not in a way that makes you feel bored as an adult. It’s lovely to sit down with them and spend half an hour creating, or sit and chat and watch them running around and playing with other children in the woods and stream area.
We were lucky with the weather for the first two days and had a blissful couple of days and nights spending time together, drinking pints of pimms in the sun (not the kids for that one!) and eating great food. The music was amazing, everyone was so happy and positive to be out and even a slight issue with the water supply to site didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits! Unfortunately the torrential rain on Sunday did! I’ve never known rain like it at a festival before. We were totally soaked to the skin minutes after setting out to get some breakfast and more importantly coffee!!
We had booked a Monkey Do session and it’s one of my son’s highlights from 2019 so we went along for that and because so many people weren’t venturing out because of the wet weather, he got to spend a very happy hour and a half climbing and bouncing in the nets and leaping from the top level. He probably would have stayed there all day but we were getting very cold waiting for him down on the ground and eventually coaxed him down to go and try to dry off a little in the van. We had found out that many of the events we had planned to go to were most likely cancelled as the paths had turned to rivers, and so made the decision to head home for a good scrub in the bath and an early night. We sadly missed the Sports Camp and a drama workshop they were looking forward to but actually, we had such an incredible time and we were just so happy to be there that we still left on a happy high.
Can’t wait for next year! They will hopefully be able to run the planned Elderflower Fields Midlands as it was cancelled for 2021, and they also have Into The Trees in September which is also at Pippingford Park. A great location! Watch my festival highlights on instagram.
Top Tips for Elderflower Fields
- When you book you tickets, make sure you also book for the art and sports camps and any extra activities as they sell quickly. The other activities need to be booked when you’re onsite and can fill up fast so I’d advise heading down to book on when you arrive or first thing Saturday morning.
- There is a spa on site so you can book treatments there too!
- Don’t forget to explore the woods, there are lots of lovely free craft activities happening there and it can be a quieter and more peaceful if you need a calm break.
- There are also nannies onsite to give parents a break, and a babysitting service if you want to enjoy some evening time without the kids.
- Take toilet paper and hand sanitiser. That’s just one of my standard festival tips! It wasn’t too much of an issue at Elderflower Fields.
- The unisex toilets were much less busy for some reason, despite being individual cubicles!
- Get a program at the start and look through it with the kids so you can all choose something you’d really like to do.
Check out my family festival camping checklist here for an idea of the things to take and the related article 13 tips to make a family festival cheaper to bring costs down.
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