When: September
Where: East Sussex
We recently visited Into the trees festival in Ashdown Forest, Nutley. If you're looking for a a kid friendly weekend away, this is for you. We arrived on the Friday evening and camped until Sunday afternoon.
They offered a huge range of activities for all ages, ranging from arts and crafts, circus skills, rope swings, tree climbing, kayaking, storytelling, den building and more. Some are free flow and a selection of them are book in advance.
Wondering around under the Shade of the trees was a dream, especially in the absolutely beautiful art trail. A lot of love clearly went into the asthetics here, and there were new experiences to discover down every winding woodland path.
The woodland Tribe area, where the children got to build a giant tree house den was particularly fantastic. So, if you're planning on attending, make sure you book this one in!
In the main areana you will find a bar tent, stalls and selection of food trucks. I did feel that the food choices were a little disappointing. There were a couple of nice options, but I felt overall, there could have been some healthy and wholesome offerings. If you're vegan the options were pretty much non existent and limited meat free options.
I also felt it was a really shame there was no music preformences or bands on offer until the evening (when for most children, it was bedtime, so parents would not be able to go out and enjoy the music).
I was able to hear it from my tent, and although it was actually really lovely, the folky fairy vibe would have been much more suitable for a daytime environment.
One huge bonus at this festival though we're the campsite facilities. The toilets were clean and high end, and there were free showers which is very rare. There wasn't too much wait for them either, this was a really nice touch.
As I final note, I have a friend who's youngest child has a disability, how was interested to know if it would be suitable. As far as I understand, there was accessable parking and camping, however I can't comment on what that was like as I didn't check it out when I was there.
There are definitely some activities that could be easily accessed and would be appropriate, such as crafts, storytelling, puppet shows and face painting. However, you would struggle to access some of woodland activities as the paths were uneven and steep, and from my experience, difficult to take the festival trolley to with my 2 year old. If this is the case for you, it maybe worth getting in touch with the first and ask for advice, so you can plan your visit ahead of time.
All in all, really enjoyable weekend, myself, son and our accompanying friends had a wonderful time, and we will definitely consider going again.
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