Remember last year when my family and I went to Nozstock Festival? Well, it’s that time again, and we can’t wait!

Nozstock is  a festival in Bromyard, Herefordshire that caters to all ages with activities that little ones can enjoy as well as entertainment for teens, students, seasoned festivalites and grandparents.  It has 8 stages of entertainment with surprising sights and intimate, secluded areas of theatre and discovery to be unearthed.

Here are a few of the comments from my review last year:

“Nozstock was so incredibly child friendly that it was easy to forget you were at an adult festival. But at the same time, there were so many options for everyone that I am doubtful anyone walked away feeling uncatered for.”

“There was a specific area dedicated to children – The Enchanted Glade – that offered Marble painting, face painting, hair braiding, puppet making, story telling, kids yoga, arts and crafts, a bubbleologist, a magician, hula hooping, craft hedgehogs, gaffer tape roses, a UV Disco and so on. And those were just the things listed in the program.

“Something that really ‘made’ the festival for me was all the attention to small, attention grabbing details: a large mermaid in the dried up creek, a huge carved cat at the entrance, crafted octopuses hanging from the trees, witches on brooms flying over the crowd at the Garden stage, wind chimes dotting the area, ‘street names’ in the camping grounds.”

“My (2yo) daughter loved the stilt walkers and was amused that her daddy wasn’t the tallest person in the room anymore! At one stage we walked through a dark area and she looked around concernedly before turning to me and saying “Mama, where’s all the fun stuff gone?””

As you can tell we loved it, and we’re very excited to be going again this year. Feel free to read the rest of the review of Nozstock Festival.

So, if you join us, what can you expect to find?

For a start, after feedback last year, they’ve changed the family sleeping arrangements, so families are better catered for in a quiet field. Just because you’re at a festival does not mean you don’t want to sleep!

This small family-run event is now in its 15th year and has a limit of 5000 people. The property is large though, so the festival feels like an intimate gathering. It’s lovely.

There is a warm, inclusive welcome, synonymous with the small festival experience, an ethos of fun and participation, and an incredible array of entertainments. With over six stages and many nooks, crannies and secret wooded glades to discover Nozstockers are invited on a journey of discovery through the dingles and the dells of this magical site.

The Hidden Valley is landscaped around a ramshackle Tudor farmhouse. It sits behind the main ORCHARD STAGE and
is set at the foot of a natural arena on the side of the gently sloping valley. Alongside the farmhouse is the GARDEN STAGE, which provides a more eclectic line up, turning electronic by sundown whilst converted cowshed the CUBICLES pushes out sub-thumping bass, this year hosted on Saturday by the legendary drum ‘n bass label RAM Records. With further music (including a new electro-swing stage), theatre, comedy stages and tents dotted around the site Nozstock offers a cornucopia of wonders to explore.

This year’s theme is ‘Wild Wild West,’ so dust off your cowboy hats, fringed moccasins, saloon skirts and ropey John Wayne impressions for what promises to be the best Nozstock yet.

While this is totally an adults festival, what we’re looking forward to again this year is the Enchanted Glade Kids’ Area. There’s a plethora of events for children, and for adults, comfy sofas offer a cosy retreat while the youngsters enjoy themselves and it’s near enough to the café to treat yourself to a quick caramel slice before storytime….

Some of the line up for kids are:

  • sock wrestling
  • story-telling
  • water pistol dueling
  • mini tipi-making
  • giant sandpits
  • treasure hunts
  • puppet workshops
  • pasta jewelry-making
  • hula-hooping fun and much much more…

At the end of the weekend, you’ll be able to leave all your usable but no longer wanted items – from tents to tinned food – in special boxes to be donated to charity. Nozstock is also big on recycling and there are stations all around the site.

If you’re feeling adventurous, The Nozstock Cycle challenge may be right up your street. Leave the car at home! A team of 8 people cycling to Nozstock from over 15 miles away can get 2 free tickets and a hamper of drinks and Nozstock goodies. Pack all the tents in one car with a designated driver, and the rest of you? Cycle! Awesome!

A percentage of the car park charges will also go to planting Celebritree Avenue – A percentage of money generated from the car parking charges will be spent on tree planting trees on the festival site. There will be a tree planting workshop on Sunday in the craft area, including a planting by one of the headlining bands. The Proclaimers planted the first tree in Nozstock’s star studded Celebritree Avenue at Noz 2012.

And if camping’s not your thing? You can even hire a yurt!

Competition

I am really excited to be able to offer 2 adult and 2 child tickets to Nozstock Festival. To enter to win you need to click over to Nozstock’ s website and check out the lineup for the ADULT events (no copying from above! 😉 ). Tell me in the comments below what you would love to see, and remember to click the +1 on the Rafflecopter to log your entry. You can earn additional entries by becoming a liker on Facebook and tweeting too!

The competition ends Sunday 23 @ 12AM.  Please read the T&C’s

a Rafflecopter giveaway

29 Comments

Competition: Win Family Tickets To Nozstock Festival

  1. About time Mr Scruff got off my car stereo and into the real world. Kids would love it if he plays the fishing samples track.

  2. Would love to see the Dub Pistols, Mr Scruff, and Electric Swing Circus. Really great line-up so hard to narrow it down!

  3. the SIKA stage in the bullpen has some of the best uk hip hop acts on it! so basically all the acts that are playing there 🙂 but also GYPSY UNIT on the garden stage, they’re the pioneers in gyp-hop! (Gypsy hip hop) and they’re my lovely friends so gotta go give them support as they’re AMAZING! 🙂

  4. Chas and Dave on the Orchard Stage or just about anyone on the Garden Stage but Heymoonshaker sound amazing x

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