It’s the people that make Deer Shed Festival so great!
The success of this festival is its ability to cater for everyone and seeing how much fun the babies, children and teens have side by side, instils the festivals aim….. Family friendly.
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From wash time for babies all sitting in little wash pots overflowing with bubbles to an abundance of art tents for children to make just about anything, to the science tent where you can be lost for days in exploring the universe with The University of York to soldering circuit boards.
My favourite part was the science tent and I thought the Drastic Park performance was awesome. I like all the different tents for art and I still have my sock monster called Monty the Python on my pillow.
Luke age 8
I asked lots of parents what they liked most about the festival set up and they all said … the size. Being able to have a short walk from your car to the camp site and onto the festival site was a huge bonus. You can pop back to your tent for lunch or children’s afternoon naps and the music tents are all in easy striking distance.
I met families from across the country and a family from Cornwall who had combined the festival with a holiday to explore Yorkshire. Local families also love the festival as they finished the school term and whizzed down in the afternoon.
I really, really, really liked the film about the sun in the bubble tent in the science part
Samuel age 10
The acts all embrace the festival and love the vibe. As one act said ‘this is the youngest mosh pit I have ever seen’, as 1-3 year olds bounced around at the front while parents chilled listening to fantastic guitar playing.
The band ‘Cattle and Kane’ were our highlight and what made it particularly special was how they said “we love this festival because our nieces and nephews can come and see us play”, they get it. We met some great acts and having the different vibes on each music stage meant you knew the bands would meet your expectations.
I discovered one of the secrets to making the atmosphere so chilled for the festival is the experienced volunteers of all ages. Many families who have been coming for years want to support the festival so become volunteers. I spoke to many volunteers and found a range of Teachers, 6th formers, professionals who all wanted to put back into the festival and give about 8 hours over the three days. The festival makes sure parents volunteering slots don’t overlap and that everyone tries something new. As a thank you the parents get their ticket cost reimbursed.
One of the science exhibits was led by a Doctor who creates VR3D lenses as a hobby. Our children had a fantastic time making 3D lenses out of paper cups (we have just saved ourselves a fortune)
The festival ethos ‘Fun, Fun, Fun in a safe place for families’ is at the heart of this festival. The care and diligence to making sure your children are safe is what makes this festival. The children have different colour wrist bands and are not allowed out of the festival site without a parent. We lost our children (confusion over children following a green T shirt) but we were not panicked because they were given wrist bands on arrival to put our telephone numbers on and a few minutes later we received a call from the welfare tent. We pottered along to find our children playing board games with the volunteers…. We knew they were safe and so had no worries.
We were lucky enough to spend the weekend at Deer Shed Festival 2015 too and know we will reserve the weekend for Deer Shed 8 too! Will You?
NB: We received tickets to attend Deer Shed in exchange for this review but all views and opinions are our own.
