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On Saturday 21st July we hopped in an Uber to Wollaton Park in Nottingham, where it was the 10th anniversary of Splendour Festival.
Splendour Festival is a one day festival in Nottingham, set in the beautiful grounds of Wollaton Hall and Deer Park. It’s a music festival but there’s also so much to do that’s great for families too and we had such a brilliant day. The atmosphere was amazing, which the beautiful sunny day helped with; everyone was having such a good time, dancing about in the sun and enjoying the live music.
There were over 20,000 people at the event, which seems crazy, but it never felt like too much and we always had loads of space to ourselves if we wanted it. Even the loos were decent and we never had to queue for more than a few minutes; most of the time we didn’t have to at all. That makes such a difference I think, so often at these types of events you’re spending half you day queueing for toilets or for food and drink and we just didn’t experience that at Splendour.
That brings me onto the drinks. At the festival, you queued for drinks tokens and bought them in bulk (or you could pre-order them before the event at a discount) and then you’d just go and get a drink from the bar and there was never a queue because you were literally just exchanging a token for a drink. It meant that instead of queueing over and over again every time you wanted a drink, you only queued maybe once or twice, depending on how many tokens you bought, and even then we only had to queue for a few minutes. It’s things like this that make a huge difference to a day out and it worked so well.
The food was good, with quite a few different options to choose from. There was a really good wood-fired pizza which Ava destroyed before I got a look in, and pulled pork cobs (we’re in Nottingham – it’s a COB), lovely Bratwurst, and a Chinese and Indian choice too. I was a bit disappointed with the chips that A had for lunch – they weren’t that great and they were bloody expensive for chips, but everything else was really good. Next time I would take a picnic with us, particularly for lunch as you end up spending a lot otherwise and you can be a bit healthier that way too.
The food and drinks were quite expensive but I think that is to be expected at a festival. You generally know you will be spending quite a bit but you can take a picnic and bottled water with you to save some money.
There were some great activities in the children’s area which Ava got involved in and that were a really nice addition. She made a raft at one table, and then a clay sea creature at another that she got to bring home and paint. There was also treasure map and sailor hat making, headband making, a drumming area and more. It was really good and nice for her to get involved in, in between listening to music.
There was also a fair with a good range of rides and inflatables which Ava loved and we all had fun on the dodgems. You have to pay for the rides but that’s usual for a festival and to be honest if you got them for free I think you would be constantly queueing for rides, and we didn’t have to at all.
The two music acts I was most determined to see were Toploader (Dancing in the moonlight takes me straight back to being a teenager) and Sophie Ellis-Bextor who I just think seems so lovely, and it seemed like everyone else felt the same as everyone hot-footed it from one stage to the next to catch them both one after the other.
Photo credit: Ami Ford
Photo credit: Jake Haseldine/Marcus Holdsworth
It was lovely dancing about together in the sunshine singing along, Sophie Ellis-Bextor was brilliant and did all the old classics. Ava and I haven’t stopped singing ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ since, and her sequin skirt was amazing too (although she must have been roasting!).
I wasn’t expecting it but a massive highlight was Bjorn Again. Everyone knows ABBA and so it was so much fun everyone getting up and singing and dancing together. They’re really good performers and one of the guys even did a rap in one of the songs which I thought was really good! It was such a good atmosphere and I wish they were on for longer; you could tell everyone was enjoying it so much.
Photo credit: Ami Ford
The music was very loud, which might sound daft but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so loud. If I was taking younger kids (Ava is 6) I would definitely take ear defenders and I would even consider it for Ava next time. She did complain about it for a while at the start and sat with her hands over her ears, but she did start off in a grumpy mood anyway so I don’t think that helped.
We had such a brilliant day at Splendour Festival; it was so well organised and the atmosphere was brilliant too. One thing I have to mention is the shuttle buses that were put on to get people back into town after the event finished – they were so well done. There were constant double-decker buses ferrying people safely out of the area for free; we only had to wait a few minutes and it certainly didn’t feel like thousands and thousands of people were spilling out of the grounds all at once. I thought it would be chaotic but it wasn’t at all.
The grounds of Wollaton Park make a great place for Splendour Festival. They are beautiful grounds, with some shaded areas and Wollaton Hall looked great with the setting sun behind it and the swing ride in the foreground. We all had so much fun, and I hope we can go back next year.
Get your tickets for Splendour Festival this year here.
We were provided with tickets to Splendour Festival but all words and opinions are my own. See my full disclosure policy here.
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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