‘Portaloos, processed food and sleeping in a puddle!’
Three readers share their experiences of festivals, from the first-timer to the old hand – all of them surviving to tell the tale!
Sarah Ryman, 41, lives in Brighton. She’s married to Rob, 42, and they have daughters Daisy, 11, and Hunny, seven
‘Seeing festivals through the eyes of my kids brings the excitement and magic of them to life. I’ve been enjoying festivals since my teens, and when the kids came along I refused to let it change things. Although it’s quite a different experience from the carefree ‘pre-kids’ days, I still love it. The kids make the whole experience even more fun, and enjoying a weekend away from reality as a family is really special. I’ll be sad when they decide they want to start going without us!
At 17 I took little more than a sleeping bag and a tiny two-man tent to my first Glastonbury, and fell head-over-heels in love with the crazy, immersive world of festivals. As soon as we had the money, we invested in a rusty old van that we could sleep in and joined the world of smug people who sleep on a proper mattress and have somewhere to make a cuppa.
When I discovered I was expecting, I knew I wasn’t prepared to give up camping, so we borrowed enough money to buy our house on wheels, allowing us to spend as much time as possible on the road.
Our kids have been going to festivals since they’ve been in my belly, and they don’t know any different. Summer for our family is all about getting away, relaxing in a field, and discovering new things – music, theatre, culture, art and magic. Festivals are a place of celebration and exploration, a place where creativity explodes from every corner and kids run free without a care in the world.’
‘I haven’t let having a family stop me going to festivals’