We’ve just returned from a fun weekend in Scotland at Electric Fields Festival. Set in the grounds of Drumlandrig Castle, just one hour from the border. We took our little ones; almost 3 and 9 months, read on to see what we thought.
Camping at Electric Fields Festival
We arrived on Friday lunchtime, although the festival runs from Thursday to Saturday. Unusually the arena is closed on Sunday. It was a short walk (uphill) to get to family camping and we found a pitch relatively easily. We have a garden cart which is perfect for hauling all the camping gear (or for sleeping babies).
I like that the family camping area was on the other side of the arena to the standard camping.
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There were lots of drinking water points and seemed to be plenty of loo’s – although you really need to take a potty for everyone!
Arena
Once pitched we went straight in to the arena to get our bearings and find the bar! There is a small but perfectly adequate family area, a few carnival rides, bars, food stalls, shops and several stages.
They layout is good and it would be difficult to get lost.
Site guides are available from the merchandise stall for £5.
Food at Electric Fields Festival
A huge part of festivaling for me is enjoying the many different culinary delights. Macaroni cheese was my toddlers favourite, my husband particularly liked The Peruvian Stall and my favourite was crème brule from The Crema Caravan.
Sometimes feel like you see the same food stalls at festivals? This was different. Electric Fields team up with ‘The Pitt’ to bring Scotland’s best street food to the festival.
Most main meals are £8, so bring plenty of cash (although there were cash machines on site)
Bar
Selling pints of ale, lager and cider at £5.50 a pop. There were also cocktails, but we didn’t sample these. You aren’t allowed to bring your own alcohol into the arena however this didn’t seem to be very strict.
There seemed to be a few issues with the pumps at the bar as several times they weren’t working apart from the hand pulled ones.
Loos and Baby Change at Electric Fields Festival
A top topic for parents! I can honestly say that I only once saw a long queue for toilets, and every time I used the portaloos there was actually toilet paper and hand sanitiser.
There was also a welfare tent with baby change area at one end of the festival and another baby change in the kids’ field. This made changing baby really easy and the staff were super helpful too.
Breakfast at Electric Fields Festival
In the family camping area there were 3 food stalls, of which two were selling bacon rolls and 1 had hot drinks only. We had to queue for at least 40 minutes for bacon rolls and as the main arena wasn’t open there was no other option. I would really hope that this is addressed for next year. The Lost Bothy stall who we got our breakfast from explained that he didn’t intend to sell bacon rolls and it sounded like he was meant to be in the main arena. Either way, lots of hungry small people queuing in the drizzle for such a long time was probably the worst bit of the weekend. Oh no wait, the worst bit was that on Sunday morning, no one was selling breakfast! We made a quick exit from site and got breakfast on the drive home.
Adventure Playground
There is free access into the Castle Grounds including an amazing Adventure Playground suitable for all ages. This is a few minutes from the festival and pretty close to family camping. This is a huge feature for kids and makes me rank this festival really highly.
Kids at Electric Fields Festival
Raving at 10.30am? Playing basketball? Popping bubbles? Running around like a loony? Whizzing down the Helta-Skelta? Art and Crafts? Rocking out to Hollie Cook at the front of the Main Stage? Eating Ice Cream? – All in a few hours at Electric Fields.
My son absolutely loved it and seriously did not want to go home.
The Glasgow Science Centre on Saturday had an interactive set up which was good fun for adults and older kids.
Rubbish
Plenty of bins and litter pickers. There was still quite a lot of rubbish particularly on Saturday which did make it more difficult to let the baby roam around on the grass, so I would hope they address this for next year. Also, the bins weren’t separated for recycling however on the website they do say that they recycle as much as possible. The bars used plastic cups – there wasn’t any kind of cup scheme like we have seen at other festivals.
Line Up at Electric Fields Festival
I don’t attend festivals depending on the line up. I find there is always some artists you know, many you don’t, some you like and some you don’t. If you hear something you like that you haven’t heard before then all is good. There was a good mix here and we all enjoyed the music.
People
This is the friendliest festival that I have been too for a long time. We made new Instagram friends and got chatting to loads of people.
Police
There was a huge police presence, both marked and unmarked. There was the odd smell of grass, but I didn’t see any people in a bad way either from drugs or drink, and the festival felt very safe.
On a side note we were back at our tent by around 10pm and the dance part of the festival is hidden away to the side which we didn’t check out.
If there were people taking drugs it was definitely not obvious.
Ticket Prices for Electric Fields Festival 2018
£120 for an adult weekend pass
£45 for a 13-15 weekend pass
£20 for a 6-12 weekend pass
Under 6’s are free!
Day tickets range from £45 on Thursday to £65 for Friday and £65 for Saturday.
Overall
I would highly recommend this festival and we plan to return next year. It was small but had everything you would want. Kids were thoroughly entertained, parents had plenty to see. Food and drink were fab, and toilets were clean.
I would like better breakfast options in the family camping area and more litter pickers.
See you next year Electric Fields!
More Information
More details and terms & conditions will be available here in good time: http://electricfieldsfestival.com/
NB: Alicia received tickets to Electric Fields in order to review but all views and opinions are her own.
Alicia lives in County Durham and is Mum to two boys, one aged 2 and a newborn.