Western Morning News (Saturday)
Festival ‘too popular’ for its own good, say guests
FAMILY visitors to a Devon outdoors festival flooded social media with complaints yesterday claiming experiences were overbooked and hygiene facilities were inadequate.
Some guests at the Gone Wild event at Powderham Castle, backed by television adventurer Bear Grylls, said a host of its billed activities were sold out by the time they arrived.
The event at the stately home alongside the Exe Estuary, near Exeter, was marketed as the “ultimate family adventure” with kayaking, lessons in survival skills and live music.
But some festival-goers complained about over-booking, a lack of Covid tests and the state of the loos.
Sara Hamilton from the New Forest told BBC Radio Devon there were “no real hygiene facilities”. She said there was a lack of hand washing supplies in the toilets and “no checks at all” for Covid tests.
Sara told the BBC: “We need to leave because there’s nothing for us to do. All the activities that you associate with Bear Grylls have been sold out.”
Some said events that needed to be booked were sold out by lunchtime on Thursday – the first day of the four-day event.
Organisers apologised and said there were many activities that did not need to be booked. A spokesperson for Gone Wild Festival said: “Gone Wild is made up of over 80 activities, 17 of which are being run by a booking system on site for safety reasons.
“Due to extremely high demand for some activities we are sorry that some people may not be able to do all of their first choice activities but there are many many more to enjoy.
“All guests can explore the site and take part in any of the 60+ activities that don’t require booking and are drop in only, including trapeze sessions, commando school, a South Pole Expedition relay and talks and workshops from over 15 famous adventurers and explorers, as well as watching our headline acts on the main stage.
“None of this requires a booking and there is more than enough to fill a weekend!
“The safety of visitors to Gone Wild festival is of utmost importance. Gone Wild Festival is being run in accordance with all Covid guidelines currently in place relevant to an event of this format and size.”