This weekend we drove down to Hereford to visit Nozstock Festival. Nozstock was celebrating 20 years and we finally had the chance to go along to experience it for ourselves.
Last year I sent a friend of mine and her family to Nozstock Festival for us and they had a great time but the festivals they have attended in the past are very different to the ones we have visited so it was interesting to experience it for ourselves. The musical lineup was not to my taste as I am more into rock music but my husband was excited to see Grand Master Flash, Chase & Status and Krafty Kuts. This meant that I was able to head back to the tent with the kids at a reasonable time and allow him to stay up partying until the small hours.
This doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy myself though. For me, festivals are all about the family experiences and during the day Nozstock was the perfect place for the kids to have fun. We spent so much time in the Little Wonderland area taking part in all of the crafts. The majority of the activities were free of charge including Tie Dying Tshirts, bag painting and clay modelling. We also made willow sculptures which ranged from £1 to £5 for some amazing creations that both of my girls are very proud of making.
The timetable for this area was packed with activities such as dance classes and even face painting and glitter which was all free and was very popular. It is important to turn up at the right time for these activities as they change frequently so if your kids are wanting to do a certain thing set a reminder on your phone so you don’t miss out. The Little Wonderland wasn’t the only place to get creative and my girls had lots of fun in the Altered State area where they made mosaics, grass head monsters and even their own wooden mushrooms. Some of these had a small charge but most of them were free. This was also the area where they enjoyed playing with circus equipment and learning new skills.
We didn’t hear the words “I’m Bored” all weekend so they must be doing something right! The one thing I loved about Nozstock was the attention to detail in the decor. As they were celebrating their 20 year anniversary there were lots of nostalgic images around the site. There were paintings depicting various cartoons from my childhood and there was even a Where’s Wally search to enjoy with 20 Wally paintings hidden around the Festival and my girls really enjoyed trying to find them all.
One of our favourite places to hang out was The Coppice, this tree covered area had old sofas to chill out on and lots of butterflies in the trees. At night it really came alive with UV lights and dance music giving it a fantastic vibe.
I can’t say that Nozstock festival was 100% child-friendly. The music could be heard from the family camp site (although my kids slept through it), there were not enough toilets in Family camping (although they did add another one after we complained) and not all of the attendees acted in a manner fitting to those with kids around them. What I did find is that there was definitely a split between daytime Nozstock and nighttime Nozstock so after the first night we took the kids back to the campsite around 10 pm instead of later when it began to get a little bit messy. This small change made a big difference to our experience.
So would we head back to Nozstock Festival again next year? definitely. My girls had such a great time during the day rolling down hills, hula hooping and getting creative and my wallet was not completely empty when we came home which was definitely a bonus. I would like to see a lineup more like the one from 2017 which saw the stage graced by Hayseed Dixie and The Happy Mondays so that I could enjoy the bands but apart from that we had a great time.
Tickets for Nozstock Festival 2019 are on sale now with Super Early Bird Tickets costing £95 from Friday or £105 from Thursday. Kids under 12 years of age are free. http://nozstock.com/tickets/