Just So Festival 2014

I madly packed up the car all morning amid podiatry appointments, swimming lessons and shopping. At 2.30pm we left in convoy with Nicki and Katie for Rhode Hall with 3 cars full of wildly excited children.

We have been going to this childrens festival since it began 5 years ago and camping at it the last 4 years. This year it described itself as a glorious jumble of spectaculars and intimate moments showcasing the best in outdoor family arts. Our gang of children tend to turn feral remarkably quickly, so confident in their fantastical surroundings.

We arrived at the campsite and parked the usual 20 minutes trek from the pitching area. This year Nicki, Katie and I worked together like a well oiled machine getting 3 tents up, trekking innumerable times to the tent, beds inflated (apart from the one I left the aircap at home for) and no children lost amidst a few showers. The Dads arrived just as it was all finished and we went to The Social for dinner and dancing.

The food is so good at this festival, I had Mexican tonight and India had one of her beloved Pieminster Moo Pies. Heidi couldn't wait to get the blanket set up on the Footlights field where the bands play so she could stand right at the front watching the bands and dancing with her friends. We left about 10.30pm with the end of an amazing set by Mr Wilsons Second Liners playing us home in the dark. They were so good! A traditional New Orleans Second Line but playing Hacienda and 90s club classics, so all tunes dear to our Mancunian hearts. (This clip is them at the jazz festival). We piled into our air beds, Mark, Heidi and I so snug squashed up together that I couldn't move a muscle all night.