Back at the beginning of July, we were invited to Cornbury Music Festival with Microsoft for the launch of the Lumia 930 mobile phone handset. Set in The Great Tew Park in Oxfordshire on the 4th, 5th and 6th of July, I’d heard of Cornbury before as it’s not too far from where we used to live. Although Devon to Oxfordshire’s a long journey, we never turn down the opportunity to go to a festival, so off we went.
With a child with a broken leg, we decided not to camp but to stay in a hotel instead. I LOVE camping and, usually, would scoff at anyone who went to a festival and didn’t camp… but broken legs and tents and midnight toilet trips in plaster didn’t appeal. Luckily, choosing not to camp didn’t ruin the experience at all.
When we arrived at the festival site on Saturday morning we found a well organised car park and friendly attendants – despite the fact it was raining. We’ve never been to Cornbury before so really didn’t know what to expect, and the fact the weather was a bit miserable left us even more cautious.
But what we found was fun, plenty of people smiling and (of course) ice cream…
My favourite thing to do at a festival (when you’re with young kids, anyway) is to just wander around taking in the sights. It took us a couple of hours to do a full recce at Cornbury, because there was so much going on.
It’s not a big festival by any stretch, but it’s packed with things to look at. There are three stages with live music, a fairground area with plenty of rides, a family zone with circus skills, swingballs, art and craft activities and musical instruments, various bars, food stalls and chill out areas with hay bales. I didn’t see one bit of litter kicking around the whole time I was there – impressive.
As the day wore on the sun came out, bringing with it a new sense of energy. We played swing-ball, went on rides, watched some live music (Nina Nesbitt was great), ate ridiculously tasty nachos and chilled out blowing bubbles and drinking tea (or, in my husband’s case, beer).
We spent a full ten hours at the festival site, only calling it a day at 8pm when Frog started to complain of a sore leg and feeling tired. If we were camping we’d probably have gone back to the tent in the afternoon for a bit of a recharge before heading back to the site and staying there until the sun went down.
It was a brilliant weekend and we’ll definitely be back another year, with no broken bones next time.
To get more of a feel for the festival check out this clever video created by the team showcasing Nokia’s Lumia 930 – it’ll give you a real sense of the family-friendly aspect of Cornbury, not to mention what the Lumia 930 is capable of!
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Thank you to Microsoft for inviting us to Cornbury and letting us take part in this fun event!
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