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You are here: Home / ADVENTURE / The Sunrise Festival: a family friendly choice

The Sunrise Festival: a family friendly choice

June 4, 2013 by Molly 12 Comments

The Sunrise Festival - slideNestled into the peaceful countryside, on the Wiltshire / Somerset border, we had our first taste of a family friendly festival last weekend.

As the flags fluttered in the breeze and the sound of drums carried through the air, I immediately felt at home at The Sunrise Festival.

We’d survived the Battle of the Tent (note to self: read instructions carefully before attempting to put up a borrowed tent). We’d got through a last-minute trip to the supermarket to hastily stock up on supplies. We’d even made the entire journey without an argument.

We had arrived. And my, it felt good.

Walking into The Sunrise Festival is like stepping into another world.

Sunrise Another World

It’s a land where music thumps, fairies dance and elves tell stories.

With a focus on green living and eco choices, the festival serves up the very best in delicious food (we ate like princes – homemade pizza, veggie platters, haloumi and chilli wraps, scented chai, creamy Somerset icecream – the list goes on) and clean vibes.

Despite trekking the entire length and breadth of the arena site, we couldn’t find one piece of stray litter. The rubbish is sorted into big, labelled containers, with every inch of it being recycled.

But the thing I loved the most about The Sunrise Festival? It’s a place of fun. A mixture of young and old, families and singletons, couples and huge gangs of friends all party together and chat – you can hear the laughter before you’ve even stepped onto the site.

Separated into various different “Micronations” the festival serves up an array of live music, workshops, play activities and places to just relax and drink it all in. Unsurprisingly, one of my toddler’s favourite spaces was the one geared towards children.

Sunrise StorylandWith a magical story area, complete with suitcases spilling forth colourful fancy dress outfits, set alongside a bright space-hopper arena, circus skills, bouncy castle, endless stream of bubbles, and a soft-play and sand area, my almost-three-year old was in heaven.

As soon as we arrived at the site we made a decision to let the festival dictate the pace. That meant Friday night saw us drinking in the atmosphere (and the delicious organic wine and local cider) until midnight, while our toddler danced and jumped and squealed with delight at watching the sun go down.

It was a festival of firsts: Frog’s first time having her face painted – I’ve never seen her sit so still…

The Sunrise Festival - face paintAs I sipped on a cold cup of wine, watching my tot party with the best of them, I realised it was also probably the first time I had ever felt that relaxed in a public place with my family, post-9.30pm.

We live in an age where parents can never win. From baby feeding decisions to sleeping choices, discipline and behaviour issues to whether you go to work or stay at home, as parents we’re often put under the microscope. But at The Sunrise Festival all of that rubbish was left at the door.

There were no judgements, no shifty shakes of the head, no hint of inter-family competition. This was a place for happiness, laughter, total relaxation and FUN!

Family at The Sunrise Festival

For these reasons, I would thoroughly recommend the festival to families and non-families alike. I’ve never seen such a harmony of different types of people, all equally enjoying themselves. Whether you have babies or toddlers, tweens or teens – or if you just want to escape somewhere with your other half – this is a place to consider.

We were lucky with the weather, as the bright sunshine made spending the weekend outdoors incredibly easy. The mud was manageable and the site well looked after.

My only suggestion for another year would be for organisers to consider creating an opt-in family camping area, slightly away from the 3am revellers. When you’re in a tent, if your neighbours decide to throw a party until dawn, you can hear everything. Luckily the dancing, wine and cider meant we slept through most of it, but I can imagine the noise would have seeped into our dreams had we stayed more than one night.

As with all festivals, the toilets weren’t the prettiest place. Due to the focus on environmentally-friendly options, The Sunrise Festival uses compost toilets. These are totally fine if people use them properly, but an early morning trip to the loos proved that the night isn’t particularly kind to compost toilets.

Those tiny points in mind, I would still give a massive thumbs up to The Sunrise Festival. It was our first family festival experience and definitely won’t be our last. Even if we only do one festival next year – we hope to return to Sunrise again.

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You can find out more about this festival on The Sunrise Festival website. Adult passes cost £40 each, while family visas cost £220.

(Disclosure: We were provided a family pass for the purpose of this review. All opinions remain my own.)

Filed Under: ADVENTURE Tagged With: family festivals, family time, festivals, The Sunrise Festival

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Comments

  1. Kyle says

    June 5, 2013 at 7:28 pm

    As one of the more party minded people at Sunrise this year, it’s lovely to hear all the families enjoyed it too 🙂

    It was a beautiful weekend of love and (sun) light, part of the reason I love it so much is it’s so nice to see families and the kids playing and dancing and having fun, and as you say there are so many different people there that all come together and make it a wonderful experience for each other.

    On the camping, there was a separate family camping area last year and previous years, the site was just a bit smaller this year, but hopefully next year will be back to a bigger area and they will sort that out.

    See you next year 🙂

    Reply
    • Molly says

      June 5, 2013 at 7:32 pm

      It was an absolutely brilliant festival – and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to any family. A completely perfect weekend full of amazing people!

      Reply
  2. Mammasaurus says

    June 4, 2013 at 8:59 pm

    So glad that you all enjoyed it! It looks lovely, not too big. Wicked photos – that face painting lady has serious skillz! x

    Reply
    • Molly says

      June 4, 2013 at 9:00 pm

      Serious skillz and serious hair! It was FANTASTIC! Perfect size and such an amazing atmosphere. We were pretty blown away by it all.

      Reply
  3. HonestMum says

    June 4, 2013 at 6:45 pm

    Stunning pictures and you all look gorge-the happiness radiates! See wasn’t scary at all! Love that Frog got her face painted-I remember Oliver having it done at 2 transforming into a pirate for nursery-he looked adorable with a tash! x

    Reply
    • Molly says

      June 4, 2013 at 9:00 pm

      Lost count of how many memories were made in the short time we were there!

      Reply
  4. Carolina Lamus says

    June 4, 2013 at 2:03 pm

    I thoroughly I agree with having a family camping area. I enjoyed the festival 100% and it’s the only one I feel safe taking my kids to on my own ( I’m a single mum) but there definitively needs to be an area where a bunch of families can pitch their tents together, then the only noise we’d hear is the children’s and that’s fine!

    Reply
    • Molly says

      June 4, 2013 at 9:01 pm

      That would have been the icing on the cake for me too Carolina. Luckily, it didn’t spoil the festival for us as we enjoyed our time in the actual arena so much, but it would have made it even MORE enjoyable – and definitely an idea for next year possibly.

      Reply
  5. ERIN SIMONS says

    June 4, 2013 at 12:42 pm

    Sounds and looks amazing! Definitely inspiration to give it a try – this was the line that did it:

    As I sipped on a cold cup of wine, watching my tot party with the best of them, I realised it was also probably the first time I had ever felt that relaxed in a public place with my family, post-9.30pm.

    That’s exactly what I want. To have a brilliant experience with my family and not have the constraints or worries of a routine, how E is going to behave or what people will think. I haven’t been a relaxed parent ever – I’m slowly getting there and I think this is just what we need. Wilderness is an hour from home – if all goes wrong then at least we can pop home! Just wondering where I get a tent for 10 people to make sure my nerves are not frayed in our 3 man…..

    Reply
    • Molly says

      June 4, 2013 at 9:02 pm

      You will LOVE it! Just go with the flow and let the festival dictate the pace. Chances are you’ll leave more relaxed than after a week’s long holiday!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 30 Family-Friendly Festivals | Tots 100 says:
    July 28, 2014 at 8:00 am

    […] Molly from Mother’s Always Right embraced her magical side when she went to last year’s Sunrise Festival. Her daughter loved the face painting, fancy dress and space hopper arena, while Molly liked the cold wine. Next happening in May 2015. […]

    Reply
  2. 15 Family Friendly Festivals | Tots 100 says:
    June 21, 2013 at 8:01 am

    […] The Sunrise Festival also offers a slice of family-friendly musical fun, with Molly from Mother’s Always Right enjoying the weekend with her husband and toddler. With a reasonable price of £220 this festival is friendly on the family pocket too. It sounds like the perfect starter festival for any family. […]

    Reply

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Hello and welcome! I'm Molly Forbes - podcaster, presenter and blogger with a passion for positivity, confidence and body image chat. Regularly writing and vlogging about empowering female issues from a motherhood angle, I also cover lifestyle and fashion topics for like-minded mums who want to rediscover themselves after having children. Thanks for stopping by! Read More…

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Back in January I was on the brilliant @school.for Back in January I was on the brilliant @school.for.mothers.podcast - we talked diet culture around kids and practical things we, as parents, carers and teachers, can do to dismantle some of the messages and create body happy environments for children to thrive in. Here’s a little snippet and you can listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts ❤️ 
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Reminder: my book, Body Happy Kids is out 1st April and available to order now!
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[Video description: a pink square with blue audio wave and closer captioned text of a clip from an episode on diet culture and kids with Molly on the School for Mothers podcast.]
I am not “bossing” it. Or “slaying”. Or “hustling”. Or “smashing” it. I’m not even juggling or spinning plates or doing any of the other words we use as a glossy, marketable, Instagram friendly way to package up burnout culture, under the guise of “empowering” women (💪🤢). 
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What I have been doing, though, is working too hard. Call a spade a spade. I’ve been working too hard, neglecting my health, my relationships, my life away from my laptop. I cannot be everything to everyone AND work at the level I’ve been working at BECAUSE I AM A HUMAN BEING. And you are too. We are not robots.
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I care deeply about all my work, and things aren’t always this intense, but I wanted to sprinkle some reality into the Gram because I am so over this lie that *any* type of success or achievement doesn’t come at a cost, or involve many failures in the background, or require many other people to help make things happen. 
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I guess what I’m saying is, let’s be real about all that, as well as showing the achievements. I’m bloody proud of my book. And I’m so excited to launch the social enterprise @bodyhappyorg properly next month. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy, and that there isn’t a price. 
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And with that, I’m taking the weekend off. See you on the other side 🥰🥰🥰
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[Image description: Molly sits in her office with her hands covering her mouth. On the back of one hand is written “Not bossing it”. She is wearing a pink boiler suit with a black and white top underneath. She has pink leopard print earrings on and her hair is tied back.]
This was taken at the start of half term, when the This was taken at the start of half term, when the kids were still enthusiastic about going for a walk. 1,705 walks around the same bit of countryside later... not so much 😬 
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If you’re struggling to get your kids motivated to move their body at the moment, go gentle. You’re not alone. Bad weather coupled with boredom coupled with the lure of screens is a heady recipe for lethargy - and that’s just me! 
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Seriously though, remember: all movement is valid. Even if it’s just a ten minute @cosmickids sesh or a little kitchen disco, it all counts. And if it comes from a place of enjoyment and fun, kids (and adults!) are going to be far more likely to want to get involved.
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What joyful movement activities are your kids enjoying right now (if any?!)?
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[Image description: Molly and her two daughters are standing in a field. They’re wearing colourful wellies, holding hands and smiling.]
I founded a social enterprise 😵 . Introducing: I founded a social enterprise 😵
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Introducing: @bodyhappyorg 🎉
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We are a Community Interest Company dedicated to promoting positive body image in children. We help adults help the kids in their care be friends with their bodies 🥰. 
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Through workshops and classes, digital and physical resources (both free and paid) we help parents, carers, teachers, youth leaders - and any adults who are ever around children - create body happy settings for kids to thrive in. 
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We launch officially next month with a beautiful new website and lots of resources which we’ll continually be adding to. In the meantime give us a follow at @bodyhappyorg - we start posting from today and our page has been designed as a free resource on its own! 
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I’m privileged to work alongside an incredible team of people on this. Shout-out to the original dream team @chelseacoxstrategist @amysnellingpt @effinitupfaye @lottie_storey @bodyconfidencecards_db @rachel_hobnobs & @aceandping 💕 LOVE YOU ALL! 💕
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[Image description: A blue square with yellow and white text which reads “the body happy org”. This is the logo for The Body Happy Organisation CIC]
Proof that I did wear clothes other than a tea-sta Proof that I did wear clothes other than a tea-stained hoodie and tracksuit bottoms at least once in the past month 😐
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[Image description: Molly is wearing pink dungarees with yellow buttons over a black rollneck long-sleeved top. She has a monochrome striped hairband on and her hair is pink. She is also wearing earrings with boobs on them. She looks very pleased, both with her earrings, the pink hair and the fact she’s not wearing sleepwear, for a change.]
A new report from the Education Policy Institute h A new report from the Education Policy Institute has concluded an obvious gender divide in the well-being of young adults. If you’d like to read more check out this article by Eleanor Peake in @newstatesman (I’ve linked to it in my Stories).
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Every week I get messages from parents and teachers concerned about the impact of social media on their kids’ body image. And of course, I couldn’t write a book about body image in kids and teens without covering social media - there’s a whole chapter in Body Happy Kids dedicated to the subject. 
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The thing is, social media isn’t going anywhere. And just like it can be a force for anxiety, shame and general angst it can be a force for good too. The trick is in knowing how to use it positively (and in holding the platforms to account for not moderating the spread of harmful viral trends and online abuse, and creating algorithms that deliberately create division and harm mental health... but that’s a story for another day). 
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But how can we expect our kids to have a handle on it when we, as adults, don’t ourselves? 
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I don’t believe the answer is to ban social media, but I don’t think kids should be given unfettered access to it either. 
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They need help navigating this stuff, learning about boundaries, developing media literacy skills so they can think critically about the content they’re consuming (just like many adults).
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And we also need to explore how we might be inadvertently contributing to the problem, perpetuating appearance ideals and creating a culture where kids learn it’s ok to body shame under the guise of health and to value each other based on the way they look.
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As ever, it’s complicated. I’d love to know what you think? What are some of the boundaries you have around social media in your house - both for yourself and your kids?
#BodyHappyKids 
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