A magical, muddy weekend at the Just So Festival

Ah! Just So! This was our fourth year in a row going, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s a weekend that we look forward to all year long, the kiddos count down from Christmas until it’s time to go! We went with friends again, camping in a big group which makes the whole experience even more fun.

The weather wasn’t quite on our side this year, with the forecast for Friday absolutely horrid, I made the decision to hang on until Saturday morning to go. Normally I would have just gone, but with Oren I decided it wasn’t worth it. And to be fair I’m glad I didn’t. Putting up a tent in the rain with a baby wouldn’t have been fun. Thankfully the weather picked up for Saturday, though the whole site was incredibly muddy.

We got stuck in the car park getting in and had to be towed out by a tractor! It was a shame to miss the first night, but we made the most of the time we had there. We caught a few bands {Zing Zong and Whiskey Rebellion were amazing}. Got very muddy. Played giant Guess Who. Danced lots. Ate some delicious food. Waded through more mud. Heard stories around the campfire. Lounged in hammocks. Played on the giant marble run. Had a tonne of laughs with friends. Soaked up the sunshine.

It was definitely a little harder due to the mud. Some arts of the festival were a lot trickier to access, especially when I had the pushchair {and even carrying Oren I was cautious as I didn’t want to slip in the mud. We missed being able to lay around in the fields listening to music while the kiddos played. But we didn’t let the mud dampen our spirits. The kiddos really didn’t care – well, Beastie did for the first couple of hours we were there and then he got over it!

Underpinning the whole festival is the Tribal Tournament. There are seven tribes – Owls, Foxes, Fish, Stags, Frogs, Lions and Bees. All of our gang were fish again – we were last years winners, and truthfully, none of us were organised enough to think about costumes for a different tribe in time! Sunday evening sees each tribe meet up, and parade to Footlights where the winning tribe is announced. We were very disappointed not to win again this year – we only came in fifth. Must try harder next year!

This year the main stage {footlights} had moved up to the high seas, the flamingo lounge had moved into the barn that previously had been an eating area and there was a fire garden where the main stage was. Maybe it was just because of the awful weather, and the ridiculous mud, but we all agreed that we preferred the layout as it was before. With footlights by the barn, and The Social it made for a wonderful ‘hub’ of the festival and we felt it didn’t work as well this way around.

We had such a fabulous weekend, the kids love the time with their friends, and I love the time with my friends. Roll on 2020 – and lets hope for more sun and less mud!!

Early Bird Tickets are now on sale for 2020! Weekend Camping tickets are just £130 for adults and £45 for children – get your tickets HERE

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