We have just returned from a fun filled weekend at Timber Festival. Back for a second year, the Timber Festival is a three day family friendly festival held at Feanedock, in the heart of the National Forest. We wrote a Timber Festival 2018 review and absolutely loved it, so we were really excited to be invited along this year. Read on for our full Timber festival review.
Timber is a joint venture between the National Forest Company and Wild Rumpus (the people behind the wonderful Just So Festival) who have come together with an aim to create an international festival exploring the transformative impact of forests.

*AD press trip/review stay
Family festival – Timber Festival 2019
We arrived at the festival site around teatime after a fairly straightforward drive from Staffordshire. The festival was well signposted and there were a number of parking attendants to help and to ensure everyone was heading in the right direction to pitch. We were staying in the live in vehicles field for the weekend, which was located just a short walk to the festival entrance.
After couple of hours setting up Otis the camper, we were able to sit back and embrace the chilled out vibe in the beautiful sunshine. We also had the opportunity to try out our new Vango Driveway Cruz awning. The awning was pretty straight forward to put up, and it practically doubled our living space and allowed us to store our more bulky items such a car seats. An absolute game changer for spending more than a couple of nights in the van!

We set up camp next to our lovely friends (Typical Mummy and her lovely tribe!). I find camping with friends just so much more easier and fun…the kids are occupied, and there are extra pairs of eyes for all of the children. I also love sitting back with a gin in the fresh air with friends and putting the world to rights. I mean what’s not to love!?
Having experienced Timber Festival last year, I remembered how much we loved the Friday evening. The sun was shining again, and we didn’t do much other than sort out our wristbands, wander around the festival site, and watch the kids run wild, rolling down the huge hill on the festival site! They LOVED that hill. I knew we would have a lovely weekend…Timber festival seemed to have a really fantastic laid back feel to it.

Is Timber Festival Family friendly?
Timber Festival is a festival of music….forest….arts and nature. There is so much for the kids including laughing yoga, the woodland library, enchanted woodland, campfire stories, workshops and more. The thing I noticed about Timber Festival both last year and this year, is the laid back, relaxed vibe, not hectic at all. It felt really ‘safe’.
For those with younger children, babies and toddlers, there is a nappy changing tent. We also noticed lost child facilities and first aid on site. Always a good tip to make sure parents phone numbers are written down on wristbands or ribbons!

Festival facilities
We stayed in the live in vehicles field and here you will find free hot showers, sinks to brush teeth, and toilets.. There are also toilets all around on the festival site and the toilets remained relatively clean throughout the weekend with hand sanitiser and toilet rolls well stocked.
There were plenty of water taps dotted around to refill your water bottles.
You could take food on to the campsite with you, but glass had to be left at home, so decant your liquids before you leave.
There was also a choice of food and drink providers on site, catering for all, along with a licensed bar.
Highlights of Timber Festival 2019
Ian Douglas – Campfire stories
I say this every year, but no festival is complete without Ian Douglas and his campfire stories!! The children absolutely love his stories, and he always manages to captivate children of all ages and to transport them to a land of make-believe, magic and dreams. He has such a talent and is well loved at many a festival.

The marble run with TwistingSpace
Suspended between the trees was a wonderful marble run made out of culled rhododendron. The kids absolutely loved it here, joining TwistingSpace and their intricate marble runs. I literally had to pull my youngest away from here!
Ukelele chorus
So I dont know if I have mentioned this before, but my other half is very musical, so of course we had to take part in the ukulele chorus. It was a fabulous experience to take part in an outside lesson, and I loved watching the girls start to master the art of playing the ukulele. A wonderful experience!

Enchanted woodland
In a quiet corner of Timber festival we stumbled across a beautiful owl, a shy deer and a playful squirrel. Here we found beautiful lights, shadows and puppets – all three children were mesmerised!

Woodland library
We remembered the woodland library from last year, and it was the first area that my eldest wanted to find this year, so I am glad the woodland library returned for Timber Festival 2019. It is a lovely area for the kids to experience a little downtime. Some much needed peace and quiet. We easily spent a couple of hours here, reading stories, having some snuggles and chilling out as a family.

Field games
Another favourite of ours, with a giant ludo, giant tiddly winks and giant scrabble. What a wonderful concept, encouraging children to play together in the fresh air. The giant guess who was a particular favourite!

Top Tips for Timber festival – a family friendly festival
You can find more ideas here for what to pack for a festival with kids, but just a few extras to think about;
Pack good footwear or wellington boots as there is a lot of walking and woodland activities for the kids.
Ditch the plastic. Take reusable water bottles and coffee cups. There are loads of places on site to fill up the water bottles.
Throw out the routine and enjoy what the festival has to offer. The evening campfire stories and enchanted woodland went down a treat with the kids as the sun went down!
Pack a picnic to keep costs down. There was so much food and drink on offer at the festival, with a good range of options including vegetarian, vegan and gluten free, but we always try to pack a picnic where possible to save a few pennies.
Keep the programme close by and plan out the day to make sure you don’t miss out on your favourite activities. Okay, so we are always hopeless at this tip, floating about the festival site, taking in the vibe and often missing out on activities or acts in the process!


Timber Festival 2019 – Final thoughts
What an incredible weekend of laughter, dancing, music, arts, and crafts. I absolutely love both Timber Festival and Just So Festival. So much thought goes into the festivals to make it a wonderful experience for everyone. Timber is just so family friendly, with a chilled out vibe. It is definitely a family friendly festival to add to your list for next year!

For more information on Timber Festival and to book tickets, you can sign up to Timber Festival news for more updates.
** Disclosure – we were invited to Timber festival for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own**