23–26 July 2026 | Henham Park, Suffolk Latitude’s 20th edition

Over the years, Latitude Festival has become a firm favourite for our family. This was our third year at Latitude, and if you’ve read our Latitude 2024 and Latitude 2025 reviews, you’ll know we’re firmly hooked.

For our girls, Amelia, 16, Florence, 14, and Nancy, 10, Latitude no longer feels like a huge unknown to them. They understand the rhythm of festival life: exploring late into the evenings, discovering new music and food; with days spent stumbling across things that turn out to be better than anything you carefully planned.

This year we were joined by great family friends with their son Harry, nine, experiencing his first-ever festival; seeing Latitude through fresh eyes reminded us how special the experience is and how much there is at Latitude beyond the headline acts.

Latitude – a festival that grows up with you

There was something special about Harry’s first festival being Latitude’s 20th anniversary. Twenty years of the festival growing and changing, and over the past few years our own family have grown into it too.

When we first came to Latitude in 2024, one of the things that struck us most was just how much there was for children, and we wanted to experience it all. We loved the Kids Area, and that the arts, music and landscape all felt genuinely woven together.

In 2025, something shifted. The children were older and increasingly confident to look at the app, decide what they wanted to do and enjoy a bit more freedom. Latitude started to become their festival as much as ours. And that has continued. At 16, 14 and 10, our three girls can now have completely different versions of the same weekend. This is one of the most important things about Latitude: the comfort and feeling of security, with ‘Latitude Angels’ always on hand in the woods near the Trailer Park where the teens love to dance and enjoy their freedom, and the number of people always on hand to offer help and advice in the Kids Area.

Add Harry’s sister, 13-year-old Belle and her friends into the mix, and you have teenagers and tweens increasingly interested in friends, music and independence. Then you have Harry at nine, discovering the novelty and excitement of it all for the first time.

It made us realise that perhaps one of Latitude’s biggest strengths as a family festival is that children don’t grow out of it; they grow into it.

Seeing Latitude through nine-year-old eyes

One of the lovely things about being nine at Latitude is that the Main Stage doesn’t necessarily have to be the main event. Interesting things are happening everywhere. Alongside the music and the excitement, Latitude is very good at offering little pockets of calm and curiosity. 

Harry and friends tried wood colouring and peg-loom weaving, helping to make this year’s Latitude blanket. It’s exactly the kind of gentle activity we love finding at Latitude; a time to pause, try out something new, and feel a part of the festival’s annual traditions.

Then there was the Reflection Cube. The idea was wonderfully simple: go inside, be completely silent and try to get rid of a bad thought for ten seconds. Ten seconds doesn’t sound very long, but in the middle of a festival filled with tens of thousands of people, music, colour, chatter and constant movement, ten seconds of total stillness helps ground and encourages our kids to slow down – if only for a moment!

Harry and friends were also delighted with the henna art stall and came home with a souvenir of their time at Latitude that would last over the school summer holidays.

Crossing the Camp Greenpeace Bridge to Camp Greenpeace, by the lake, offers environmental education with proper physical adventure: climbing, nets, bushcraft and a zipline were all part of the 2026 programme.

One festival, very different ages

Watching Harry also made me think about just how much our own experience has changed. Nancy was 8 when we first came to Latitude. At eight, a festival can be about making things, exploring and the thrill of discovering what’s around the next corner. At ten, there are already things Nancy recognises and traditions she wants to return to. At 13 and 14, friends and freedom increasingly become part of the attraction. At 16, Amelia genuinely makes her own festival. We can all be at the same festival without needing to have the same festival experience. And that feels like a pretty good description of Latitude with older children.

And then there was the music…

While Harry was experiencing his first festival, the adults and teenagers were having a rather good one too. Some of my favourite moments of Latitude 2026 came from the Obelisk Stage. For me, Teddy Swims was extraordinary. His voice filling the field sent shivers down my spine. And one of the most memorable moments came when Vanessa Carlton joined Teddy. An unexpected and genuinely moving festival collaboration that felt particularly special, a definite Latitude 2026 moment for me.

Self Esteem brought something completely different. Uplifting, powerful and joyful, but the word I kept coming back to afterwards was connection. There was something about that performance that made the audience feel involved rather than simply watching. And it’s one of the things live music does better than almost anything else.

And then there was Lewis Capaldi. If Teddy gave me goosebumps and Self Esteem gave me connection, Lewis gave the weekend something else. Love. There really isn’t a better way I can describe the feeling in the crowd. There was such warmth towards him. People singing together, arms around each other, willing him on and sharing the songs with thousands of people around them. It felt incredibly human and emotional.

For all the attention festival line-ups receive before an event, standing in those crowds reminded me that you don’t actually experience a festival as names arranged on a poster. You experience it as moments.

The Wine Bar: an unexpected favourite

And not all of those moments happen in front of a headline act. The Wine Bar became one of our favourites. Obviously the wine helped. But mostly it was the tunes, dancing and the infectious atmosphere. Friends dancing together. Strangers dancing together. People singing, laughing and generally looking incredibly happy to be there. It wasn’t something I had planned; it was simply one of those places we wandered into and didn’t really want to leave.

Harry’s First Festival Survival Guide

So, if you happen to be nine and are about to go to your first festival, here is what we learned from Harry’s introduction to Latitude.

Make something.
The activities you actually take part in can be just as memorable as the things you watch.

Try something slightly unusual.
Even if that means sitting completely silent inside a cube and trying to let go of a bad thought for ten seconds.

Get the Henna Tattoo.
Festival decoration is part of the fun.

Don’t try to see everything.
You can’t. The things you discover accidentally may well become your favourites.

Bring snacks.
This advice applies whether you are nine or 16.

Save some energy for later.
Festival days are long.

Accept that the grown-ups may dance.
Possibly very enthusiastically and embarrassingly.

And for the grown-ups…

Don’t over-plan

Use the app, but don’t become a slave to it. Choose the acts everyone would be genuinely disappointed to miss. Then leave gaps and space to get distracted. There is so much going on that a rigid hour-by-hour itinerary can almost work against you. Some of the best bits happen when you wander.

Reserve The Hothouse

This is one of our favourite practical Latitude tips. Look out for The Hothouse reservations opening around April and book one. The best description we heard for The Hothouse was “posh Deliveroo”, which sums it up rather well. You can enjoy food from independent festival traders, brought to your table and served on proper plates, with proper cutlery and, importantly, chilled wine in an actual wine glass, surprisingly luxurious for a festival.

Give older children freedom, but agree the basics

Latitude has become more enjoyable for us, not less, as our girls have become more independent. But have a plan and agree times. Pick obvious physical meeting places. Make sure everyone knows where they’re camping. And don’t rely exclusively on mobile phones.

Pack for mud AND dust

Our 2025 Latitude experience involved torrential rain and mud. Lots of mud. This year was almost the opposite. Latitude 2026 was hot, dry and dusty. Out came the sun cream, hats and refillable water bottles, rather than the waterproofs and wellies of the previous year. By later in the weekend, scarves and bandanas started appearing over people’s noses and mouths as they danced. A reminder that the correct answer to “What weather should I pack for at Latitude?” is probably: All of it.

It can be a long walk back to the tent. If you know you’ll want a picnic rug in the day, and a jumper later, take it with you rather than assuming you’ll happily stroll back to the campsite at 7pm. Past-us has already tested this theory.

The bit that stays with you

When we first came to Latitude, we wondered whether it really deserved its reputation as such a brilliant family festival. Three years later, I think we’re asking a different question. The more interesting thing is what happens as those children get older? The craft-loving nine-year-old becomes the ten-year-old returning to favourite traditions. The younger teenager begins choosing what she wants to see with friends. The 16-year-old increasingly has a festival of her own. Same festival. Completely different Latitude. And perhaps that is exactly why it works.

And every so often another nine-year-old comes along and reminds everyone what it looked like at the beginning. Thank you, Harry.

Twenty years into Latitude’s story, this year was Harry’s turn to discover it.

Book your Latitude Festival 2027 tickets – on sale in August.