Nestled into the peaceful countryside, on the Wiltshire / Somerset border, we had our first taste of a family friendly festival last weekend.
As the flags fluttered in the breeze and the sound of drums carried through the air, I immediately felt at home at The Sunrise Festival.
We’d survived the Battle of the Tent (note to self: read instructions carefully before attempting to put up a borrowed tent). We’d got through a last-minute trip to the supermarket to hastily stock up on supplies. We’d even made the entire journey without an argument.
We had arrived. And my, it felt good.
Walking into The Sunrise Festival is like stepping into another world.
It’s a land where music thumps, fairies dance and elves tell stories.
With a focus on green living and eco choices, the festival serves up the very best in delicious food (we ate like princes – homemade pizza, veggie platters, haloumi and chilli wraps, scented chai, creamy Somerset icecream – the list goes on) and clean vibes.
Despite trekking the entire length and breadth of the arena site, we couldn’t find one piece of stray litter. The rubbish is sorted into big, labelled containers, with every inch of it being recycled.
But the thing I loved the most about The Sunrise Festival? It’s a place of fun. A mixture of young and old, families and singletons, couples and huge gangs of friends all party together and chat – you can hear the laughter before you’ve even stepped onto the site.
Separated into various different “Micronations” the festival serves up an array of live music, workshops, play activities and places to just relax and drink it all in. Unsurprisingly, one of my toddler’s favourite spaces was the one geared towards children.
With a magical story area, complete with suitcases spilling forth colourful fancy dress outfits, set alongside a bright space-hopper arena, circus skills, bouncy castle, endless stream of bubbles, and a soft-play and sand area, my almost-three-year old was in heaven.
As soon as we arrived at the site we made a decision to let the festival dictate the pace. That meant Friday night saw us drinking in the atmosphere (and the delicious organic wine and local cider) until midnight, while our toddler danced and jumped and squealed with delight at watching the sun go down.
It was a festival of firsts: Frog’s first time having her face painted – I’ve never seen her sit so still…
As I sipped on a cold cup of wine, watching my tot party with the best of them, I realised it was also probably the first time I had ever felt that relaxed in a public place with my family, post-9.30pm.
We live in an age where parents can never win. From baby feeding decisions to sleeping choices, discipline and behaviour issues to whether you go to work or stay at home, as parents we’re often put under the microscope. But at The Sunrise Festival all of that rubbish was left at the door.
There were no judgements, no shifty shakes of the head, no hint of inter-family competition. This was a place for happiness, laughter, total relaxation and FUN!
For these reasons, I would thoroughly recommend the festival to families and non-families alike. I’ve never seen such a harmony of different types of people, all equally enjoying themselves. Whether you have babies or toddlers, tweens or teens – or if you just want to escape somewhere with your other half – this is a place to consider.
We were lucky with the weather, as the bright sunshine made spending the weekend outdoors incredibly easy. The mud was manageable and the site well looked after.
My only suggestion for another year would be for organisers to consider creating an opt-in family camping area, slightly away from the 3am revellers. When you’re in a tent, if your neighbours decide to throw a party until dawn, you can hear everything. Luckily the dancing, wine and cider meant we slept through most of it, but I can imagine the noise would have seeped into our dreams had we stayed more than one night.
As with all festivals, the toilets weren’t the prettiest place. Due to the focus on environmentally-friendly options, The Sunrise Festival uses compost toilets. These are totally fine if people use them properly, but an early morning trip to the loos proved that the night isn’t particularly kind to compost toilets.
Those tiny points in mind, I would still give a massive thumbs up to The Sunrise Festival. It was our first family festival experience and definitely won’t be our last. Even if we only do one festival next year – we hope to return to Sunrise again.
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You can find out more about this festival on The Sunrise Festival website. Adult passes cost £40 each, while family visas cost £220.
(Disclosure: We were provided a family pass for the purpose of this review. All opinions remain my own.)
As one of the more party minded people at Sunrise this year, it’s lovely to hear all the families enjoyed it too 🙂
It was a beautiful weekend of love and (sun) light, part of the reason I love it so much is it’s so nice to see families and the kids playing and dancing and having fun, and as you say there are so many different people there that all come together and make it a wonderful experience for each other.
On the camping, there was a separate family camping area last year and previous years, the site was just a bit smaller this year, but hopefully next year will be back to a bigger area and they will sort that out.
See you next year 🙂
It was an absolutely brilliant festival – and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to any family. A completely perfect weekend full of amazing people!
So glad that you all enjoyed it! It looks lovely, not too big. Wicked photos – that face painting lady has serious skillz! x
Serious skillz and serious hair! It was FANTASTIC! Perfect size and such an amazing atmosphere. We were pretty blown away by it all.
Stunning pictures and you all look gorge-the happiness radiates! See wasn’t scary at all! Love that Frog got her face painted-I remember Oliver having it done at 2 transforming into a pirate for nursery-he looked adorable with a tash! x
Lost count of how many memories were made in the short time we were there!
I thoroughly I agree with having a family camping area. I enjoyed the festival 100% and it’s the only one I feel safe taking my kids to on my own ( I’m a single mum) but there definitively needs to be an area where a bunch of families can pitch their tents together, then the only noise we’d hear is the children’s and that’s fine!
That would have been the icing on the cake for me too Carolina. Luckily, it didn’t spoil the festival for us as we enjoyed our time in the actual arena so much, but it would have made it even MORE enjoyable – and definitely an idea for next year possibly.
Sounds and looks amazing! Definitely inspiration to give it a try – this was the line that did it:
As I sipped on a cold cup of wine, watching my tot party with the best of them, I realised it was also probably the first time I had ever felt that relaxed in a public place with my family, post-9.30pm.
That’s exactly what I want. To have a brilliant experience with my family and not have the constraints or worries of a routine, how E is going to behave or what people will think. I haven’t been a relaxed parent ever – I’m slowly getting there and I think this is just what we need. Wilderness is an hour from home – if all goes wrong then at least we can pop home! Just wondering where I get a tent for 10 people to make sure my nerves are not frayed in our 3 man…..
You will LOVE it! Just go with the flow and let the festival dictate the pace. Chances are you’ll leave more relaxed than after a week’s long holiday!