‘Our tepee has paid for itself a million times over!’
Hazel Davis, 40, lives in West Yorkshire, is married to Bob, 40, and has two children – Clem, five, and Gillie, four.
‘I’ve loved music festivals ever since my first trips to Glastonbury and the Leeds Festival as a student. I’m a lifelong camping and music fan, so it’s basically all my favourite things at once, plus food. When my partner, Bob, and I had children, I assumed we would carry on. And we pretty much did. We went to the Cambridge Folk Festival when I was seven months pregnant, and we went a year later with our first baby, Clem. When Gilda came along, we took her along, too. As a family we’ve been to the Cambridge Folk Festival a few times, Underneath The Stars in Barnsley, Deershed in North Yorkshire, Latitude, and Shepley Folk Festival. About three years ago we bought a tepee, because Bob is over 6ft and we wanted a bit more space for our growing family to move around in. It wasn’t cheap, but it’s earned its cost a million times over. It’s fabulous. While everyone else is freezing-cold in sleeping bags on the ground, we have room for four camp beds – where we put our luggage during the day. There’s room to invite people round for a cup of tea, there’s room to dance and for the kids to play in. And, unlike most tents, there’s actually room to get changed properly. It’s easy to put up, too – one pole and a load of pegs; no faffing about with instructions or lost poles. In fact, the idea of going back to camping in an ordinary tent really doesn’t appeal any more.’