That's another festival season officially over now - ended with the wonderfully chilled Into the Trees festival in the glorious setting of Pippingford Park in East Sussex. This is a place we have enjoyed visiting for the last four years. It is always a nice way to end off the camping and festival year for us. This year again, the weather was perfect with beautiful sunshine both days.
I am part of the team of volunteer photographers and I thoroughly enjoy walking about and capturing the magic of the forest.
This year friends of ours came for their first visit - they had originally hoped to camp but were unsure how it would be camping with a baby. After visiting for the day on Saturday - they are fully convinced to book to camp next year.
Dana came for the day with her 11 year old daughter, 1 year old son and her daughter's dad - this is what they thought:
We had a really nice time at Into the Trees it was just the right size and packed full of educational, family-friendly activities.
Unlike larger, more commercial festivals we felt comfortable letting our daughter go off alone to explore with her friend. The craft activities and bare foot walk were particular favourites and the food on offer was good quality and excellent value. The girls used ink from gall oak to create a picture using feathers, made a clay rose and had fun creating foam shapes in the Freckles and Fire tent.
There was a pretty big queue for the popular wood fired pizzas, but it was worth it - plus the beautiful weather really made a big difference. We also all loved the waffles on a stick with lots of different toppings to choose from.
One thing we wish we had realised beforehand is that some of the activities required online booking - we would have loved to have done the kayaking and although we spoke to them and looked online to try and book a slot we couldn't get internet connection. However, this was a minor point and we had a excellent day and are looking forward to returning next year to camp for the full weekend.
We really enjoyed the Into The Trees festival and are looking forward to the next adventure!
Thanks Dana and co.
For us, what we really enjoyed this year was the Campfire Sessions in the evenings. The hugely talented 13-year-old Jolie Skye entertained us with an acoustic version of Radioactive and on Saturday night a good old fashioned dance to the Ceilidh band Jigging in the Rigging.
Tips for camping in September, despite the warm days the temperature dropped hugely at night time. We ended up in two sleeping bags each with socks, trousers, and onesies on. So if you are planning on camping next year remember to layer up.
Our tent is now packed away until next year and we are looking forward to more adventures.
A big well done to the So Sussex team for putting on another wonderful event.