Echo Falls and Bestival

I spent last weekend at Bestival, courtesy of Echo Falls and their Take A Moment campaign.  I had never been to a festival before so I was a tad apprehensive about how I'd find it but people were v. helpful about suggesting festival essentials in advance.  I packed my enormous rucksack with tons of stuff including lots of baby wipes, bin bags and sun cream and set off to the Isle of Wight last Friday.  I needn't have spent so much time worrying about it beforehand: it was wonderful.

Big, isn't it?!

We camped in fine style.  Charlie, Phil and Simon had done all the hard work for us and set the tents up, complete with airbeds and sleeping bags, plus a fab gazebo area in the middle where we loafed around and ate cake for breakfast.  The weekend was ours to explore and enjoy and I think we all did a pretty good job of it!

We accessorised our tent slightly with some vintage bunting that Lucy made me and some solar powered ladybird lights, plus a lot of mess (mostly mine).

It turns out that the battery on an iphone lasts a surprisingly long time when you turn off the wifi, 3G and data roaming.  Who knew?  Not me: I don't think I've ever done it before.  I usually have to charge mine twice a day I use it that much.  Handily we had a spot at the back of the Echo Falls Social Boutique tent to charge our phones and use their free wifi for the odd Twitter and Instagram update. It was so much fun in there - amazing face painting/ eyelashes/feather hair extensions were on offer, plus a photobooth!

Ed and Ellie looking amazing in their bird costumes and makeup.

Why I do suit moustaches?  It's really odd!

I'm a bit sad that we didn't get a massive group shot but there's no way everyone would have fitted in.  We just about managed to squeeze half of us (me, Kelly and her partner, Sarah, Steph and her friend, Gem and Char) into this one.

The thing I liked so much about Bestival is that there was so much to see, do and explore.  We saw lots of live music - I particularly enjoyed Gabrielle Aplin and Friendly Fires, massively different as they are - but it was far from just being a music festival.  Take a path through the woods and this was your view:

Even the things in plain sight were unexpected. We walked past a normal looking marquee and then five minutes later were sitting down enjoying afternoon tea with proper old-fashioned waitress service whilst we were entertained by a burlesque show! 

I'm not showing you semi-naked lady photos so cast your gaze upon this cake instead.  Dairy free - hurrah! - and utterly divine.

I'll share my costume with you later in the week but here's a sneak peek of it and a few other Wildlife themed photos:

Sarah and Gem looking amazing in their animal inspired accessories.

This made me laugh so much: an actual zebra crossing.  Those boys were putting the effort in! 

The whole weekend was tremendously good fun from start to finish.  The weather was perfect, the music was brilliant, the food was marvellous and the company was even better.  There really is nothing like spending time with people you really like, even if in some cases you've only just met them.  Isn't blogging brilliant for that sort of thing?

A little bit of Portaloo philosophy

I'm so, so grateful to Echo Falls for inviting me along. It was a fabulous treat to be a part of it and to be allowed to share the moments with some of my favourite blogging pals.  I'm a lucky woman.

The only bad thing about Bestival? (well apart from nearly turning into an icicle during the night?  It was so cold!)  It's a long way from Liverpool.  This was how early we had to get up on Monday morning to catch the first ferry off the Isle of Wight and head home...

Totally worth it though! And given the tragic things that have happened to some Liverpool festival-goers on their journey home, I absolutely cannot complain about being a little short of sleep.