Camp Bestival 2011

One of the best festivals in the country for families with young children, Bestival's sister festival - Camp Bestival - returns in 2011 from Friday 29th to Sunday 31st July, the first week of the school summer holidays, at the picturesque setting of Lulworth Castle, set against the backdrop of England's dramatic Jurassic coastline in Dorset.

Line-up

Headlining the Castle Stage on Friday night will be Blondie, on Saturday it's the turn of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. and warming up for them will be House of Pain. Sunday's headliner is Primal Scream presents 'Screamadelica' and Norman Jay will provide the support.The special guest is Laura Marling. Also confirmed are The Cuban Brothers, Newton Faulkner, The Correspondents, Mistajam, Katy B, Clare Maguire, Eliza Doolittle, Wretch 32, Breakage feat. Jess Mills, Fenech Soler, Ms Dynamite, Beardyman, The Selecter, The Wonder Stuff, The Bad Shepherds, Marcus Foster, and ABC. Headline DJs Groove Armada present Red Light, plus David Rodigan, Channel One Soundsystem, Dub Pistols Soundsystem, DJ Derek, Reggae Roast, Mistajam, DJ Yoda, London Elektricity, Krafty Kuts, and A Skillz. Plus many more, for the line-up details as available please click here.

Family friendly

This festival is hugely suited to families, far more so than for those without kids. Camp Bestival is all about bringing back the British Holiday Camp... Bestival style! A place where Hi de Hi camping capers meet the spirit of early festivals and as well as entertainment, comedy, and literature.

The comedy line-up includes Michael Winslow (Police Academy), Olivia Lee Chats Them Up, Jack Whitehall, Milton Jones, Marcus Brigstocke, Andrew Maxwell, Craig Campbell, Barry Castagnola, Seann Walsh, Robin Ince, Andre Vincent and the trio Comedy Club 4 Kids.

There will be a full programme music over at least three stages, plus other entertainment including comedy, arts & crafts, spoken word, dance, and more.

Quiet time

There will be a silence on site from 6.15 - 7.15pm on the Saturday ... sound systems all go quiet for an hour. The reason for this is there is a church service that has taken place at Lulworth Castle for hundreds of years. Loads of stuff still happens during this period though, like spoken word, theatre stuff and kids garden happenings, and no-one needs to keep quiet themselves.

Tickets

Early bird tickets are no longer available. An adult weekend ticket with camping is priced at £170, student/concessions £160, a weekend with camping child ticket for those 11 to 17 (on 29/07/2011) is priced at £85. These ticket holders must be accompanied by a Ticket holding parent or guardian over the age of 21. All children under-11 can attend for free (but MUST HAVE a ticket), and campervan tickets have sold out.

A limited number of weekend camping and day tickets are on sale to combat the touts at Lulworth Heritage Centre on Wednesday, and then from Thursday they will be available from the Camp Bestival event box offices (cash only).

Family payment plan

Early bird tickets were also available on the family payment plan with one initial payment to be made on purchase followed by 5 monthly instalments, An adult weekend ticket requires an initial payment of £27 with 5 further payments of £27. A student weekend ticket requires an initial payment of £25 with 5 further payments of £25. Age 11-17 weekend ticket - initial payment of £14 with 5 further payments of £14. Campervan Ticket - Initial payment of £10 with 5 further payments of £10. Car Park Ticket - Initial payment of £1.70 with 5 further payments of £1.70.

Cars will not be allowed into the Campervan area at any time so consequentially Caravans, Trailer Tents etc are not permitted.

Family fun

Spread across the Castle Field, Kids Garden, Big Top, Bollywood, Black Dahlia, East Lulworth Literary Institute, Freestyle Sports Park and more, this year will offer even more family entertainment, sideshow attractions and more. There's a huge Kids Area filled with things to keep little ones of all ages entertained all day long including over 100 Free Things For Kids To Do, and Gavin Turk's House of Fairy Tales who will be making an exclusive appearance at this year's Camp Bestival. Plus Lulworth Castle has its very own Animal Farm where the kids can get up close to their super-friendly animals.

Kids can look forward to Shrek & Fiona from Shrek the Musical, Peppa Pig, Jellicle Cats, Zingzillas, and The Sooty Show with Soo & Sweep as well as the return of The Gruffalo and Justin Fletcher aka Mr Tumble.

This year Camp Bestival is holding the Camp Bestival Family Talent Show and are looking for families with raw Hi de Hi Talent. Entrants can sign up onsite at the Little Big Top before Saturday Lunch time and will get a 3 minute slot in the Family Talent Show.

Also returning are The English National Ballet with a host of expert ballet workshops in the ballet tent. There will be something for children of all ages; family sessions for tots, introductions for complete beginners and workshops for improvers! In between the workshops, there will be screenings of The English National Ballet's shows and a chance to try on ballet costumes in dressing-up corner. Camp Bestival have also revealed that the English National Ballet will on Sunday afternoon in the Castle field lead the first Camp Bestival Ballet Flashmob of 'Swan Lake' with Rob da Bank on decks and English National Ballet showing the mob the moves.

Camp Bestival has also added some new additions to their food on offers including Kerstin Rodgers' The Underground Restaurant which will offer a set menu of unusual cookery for three sittings a day - lunch, dinner and a midnight feast.

Other attractions confirmed include Amoeba To Zebra, a natural history musical, written and performed by Being 747. The Heavenly Healing Camp, Come Dancing Classes in the Black Dahlia Tent, Flying Seagulls Charity Tent, the Knights of Lulworth Castle with be jousting, a Freestyle Sports Park, the Insect Circus, Boutique Babysitting offering parents a chance for a break, and the weekend will, as is traditional, be rounded off by an firework spectacular accompanied by a special Rob da Bank set.

Food

Lily Vanilli will be there too offering Camp Bestival kids the chance to design their very own Medieval cake and she will transform the winning idea into a giant, spectacular cake. Everyone who enters a drawing of their design into the competition will be invited to a special tea party on Sunday afternoon where the cake masterpiece will be revealed and everyone will get to try a slice.

Cake designs, along with your full contact details so we can invite you to the party, should be sent to the Bestival Office - Address: Lily Vanilli Cake Competition, Camp Bestival, 25 Denmark Street, London, WC2H 8NJ - before the end of June, so Lily can choose the best one. The winning cake will be revealed at the festival!

Foodies will be pleased to hear that writer, broadcaster and campaigner, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is back with the only River Cottage Cafe appearance this year, Kerstin Rodgers bring his Underground Restaurant, and food writer and telly cook Gizzi Erskine with a Tiki Tea Love Lounge will also be at Camp Bestival this year.

East Lulworth Literary Institute

Once again the East Lulworth Literary Institute will return to provide a wealth of erudite entertainment including the 'How To interview sessions', 'How to Make A Meal of It with Gizzi Erskine', 'How to be a Gardener with Diarmund Gavin', 'How To Design A Record Sleeve with Vaughan Oliver', and a series of author readings from Marcus Brigstocke, Jon Ronson, Sam Leith, Simon Day, Joe Dunthorne, David Whitehouse, and Laura Dockrill.

The Dingly Dell

The Dingly Dell this year will include Bane and Bane 2 one-man genre parodies. OperaUpClose also returns with 'Wretched Bliss' a dark comedy about a corrosive relationship.

Classic Album Sundayse

This year Camp Bestival will offer six 'Classic Album Sundays' performances. Under the moniker "A Communal and Audiophile Listening Experience Classic Album Sundays" it will offer music fans a chance to fully listen to a classic album in its entirety on a Class A audiophile system. Albums being played in their entirety will include Massive Attack's 'Blue Lines', Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon', Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On', Primal Scream's 'Screamadelica', Kate Bush's 'Hounds of Love' and an as yet to be decided album voted for by festival goers.

Early entry Thursday

This year organisers will be opening up campsites on Thursday and a Thursday Camping Ticket is priced at £10 for adults, and £5 for those aged 11 to 17 years. Children aged 10 years and under are free, but require a ticket.

Camping Plus

A new initiative for those that want to guarantee themselves a large amount of reserved camping space - enough for one of those epically large family-sized tents. Camping Plus offers a guaranteed plot less than 50 metres away from the car park entrance and all the plots can be individually booked so the festival goers can ensure ensure the whole of their party are camping side by side in adjacent plots. Plus access to the area's dedicated showers, flushing loos and a cafe. There are only 500 plots up for grabs though.

Luxury camping

There's also luxury tents, tipis, yurts, bivouacs, airstreams, and gypsy caravans available to hire, or bring your own outdoor living.

Entertainment

In 2011 organisers are promising even more marvels and merriment with incomparable family facilities and a large campsite, but it does get a bit crowded with large family tents.

The Dingly Dell Trail will offer an interactive performance area for kids and adults by day, with a darker edge late night with new site specific performances that have been commissioned exclusively for Camp Bestival. The Time For Tease which fuses the tradition of British afternoon tea with the decadent world of burlesque cabaret will also return with Burlesque performances, cabaret singers and of course the Time For Tease Gateaux Vivants. Plus daytime dance classes, and much more besides.

There's plenty more music, comedy and spoken word to be announced soon as well as plentiful activities for the young and old including Arts & Crafts workshops, Dance lessons, 100 free things for kids to do, the Freestyle Sports Park including Mountain Bike, Skate And Parkour displays, madcap merriment from the Bestival Bluecoats.

Fancy dress

Camp Bestival's fancy dress theme for this year is Medieval.

Bestival's Dressing Up Area will be on hand to help the adults get dressed up and there will also be a separate Kid's Dressing Up Area (& Catwalk) so the little'uns can get involved too.

Disabled Info

Camp Bestival's organisers are committed to making the festival as accessible as possible and great efforts are being been made to achieve this. The Lulworth Castle Grounds are predominantly flat and are partially serviced by a network of paths. However, Camp Bestival is an outdoor event utilising fields and farm land that could pose problems, particularly in wet weather. With a little help here and there though it should definitely be manageable even in adverse weather. Carers can apply for a free carers ticket and a disabled pass. The Disabled Camping Area is positioned near to the main Lulworth Castle entrance and to the Main Stage. Vehicles with a blue badge (or similar) can park in the disabled camping area. Friends will have to park in the main car park, however. There are charging points for electric wheelchairs available upon request and disabled toilets onsite. Contact the organisers if you have further questions.

To access the online disabled pass application form, click here

More info

Click HERE for information about all aspects of Camp Bestival.

More information will be here when available.

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