Camping Life
of
Summer Festivals
A MAY
Hay Festival, Powys May 26-June 5
www.hayfestival.com
JUNE Aldeburgh Festival, Suffolk June 10-26
www.aldeburgh.co.uk
away three of them, and the hot tub, which was quite literally that, when I worked out how to light the fire underneath it. Acton Scott has its own story to tell, as this dreamy estate which has been in the same family for a whopping 900 years, has attracted more than its fair share of attention. It was the location for BBC2’s Victorian Farm and Victorian Farm Christmas. Ben Fogle filmed his Escape in Time here, too when two real-life families took up the challenge of being Victorian farmers for a week. We, meanwhile followed a barefoot trail through fields full of purple thistles and sheep to explore the farm; a kaleidoscope of red-hued cobbled courtyards, black and white Shire horses, orange Tamworths and yellow baby chickens. My children were enchanted by the very Victorian-looking woman patting butter in her long white pinny and were ecstatic when Rupert offered us a sample of what was un-equivocably the best and creamiest butter, I have ever tasted. That night, leaving my children safely tucked up in their bunks, I was lucky enough to be invited to one of the other four tents for a delicious chill con carne and to learn more about the eccentric and quirky family who were green way before the term was coined. Tom Scott, Rupert’s father, drives a prototype electric car, and was one of the first to introduce a woodchip-burning boiler for heating. It was his decision, when he inherited the estate, a generation ago, to preserve 19th-century farming skills and return the home farm buildings to their original use. It’s a tradition his son is continuing with understated style in their latest venture with Country House Hideout, which offers glamorous and very “green”, but stylish camping opportunities for those looking to get off the beaten track. Our tent has its own peddle bike to create electricity, a beautiful hewn wooden table and a hot tub carved from wood on the estate. Crisp white linen duvets kept me warm in the chilly early morning, even when I was woken by an enthusiastic dawn chorus and a mass of giggling sodden children, who had jumped on me wet from an early morning dip in the tub, approximately two hours before I was ready to get up! Cooking them a proper eggs-and-bacon-style breakfast,
a few hours later, on a very efficient wood stove, I vowed the next time we came, and there would definitely be a next time, that my husband was definitely coming with me.
For more information Mill On The Brue
www.millonthebrue.co.uk
Acton Scott
www.actonscott.com Country House Hideout
www.countryhousehideout.co.uk
Cheltenham Music Festival, Cheltenham Jun 29-Jul 10
www.cheltenhamfestivals.com
Eden Sessions, Cornwall June 23-July 12
www.edenproject.com
Glastonbury, June 22-26
www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk
Manchester International Festival June 30-July 17
www.mif.co.uk
JULY
BBC Proms, Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall, July 15-Sept 10
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2010
Cornbury Music Festival, Oxfordshire July 1-3
www.cornburyfestival.com
Hop Farm Music Festival, Kent July 1-2
www.hopfarmfestival.com
Latitude, Suffolk July 14-17
www.latitudefestival.co.uk
Secret Garden Party, Cambridgeshire July 21-24
www.secretgardenparty.com
AUGUST Belladrum Festival, Black Isle, Scotland Aug 5-6
www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk
Edinburgh Festival Fringe Aug 5-31
www.edfringe.com
Edinburgh International Festival Aug 12-Sept 4
www.eif.co.uk
Edinburgh Book Festival Aug 13-29
www.edbookfest.co.uk
Green Man Festival, Brecon Beacons Aug 19-21
www.greenman.net
For more ideas on things to do this summer see the Parents’ Notebook on page 72
www.firstelevenmagazine.co.uk Summer 2011 FirstEleven 65
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