Festivals and children – It doesn’t have to be torture

A specialist Volkswagen camper van rental company is benefitting from a shift in the UK’s music festival culture. With over 150 music and performing arts festivals planned for the UK this summer, a record number of festivals are going out of their way to be family-friendly; and with the great British summer weather notoriously unreliable, a camper van is an increasingly popular way to survive a festival with children.

In the past three years Southampton-based Kamper Hire has seen a huge increase in the number of their Volkswagen camper vans being hired to take to a festival. Many organisers have been quick to react to this new trend by selling tickets for camper van-only sites.

“The generation who spent their teenage summers at Glastonbury and Reading have grown up and had kids, but that doesn’t mean they want to change their lifestyle completely,” said Kamper Hire’s Mark Daysh.

“Every year more and more people are taking our vans to festivals because they’re a really civilised way of coping where facilities are often pretty basic. Festival rentals have trebled since 2004 and Glastonbury weekend was fully booked six months ago, so it really has been a huge growth area for us.”

One of the first festivals to embrace the new multi-generational trend was The Big Chill (Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire, August 1-3). Described as “where dance music went when it grew up”, the event was one of the first festival to feature a children’s area with special facilities and services laid on.

Latitude (Henham Park, Suffolk, July 17-20) has followed suit with a children’s area as diverse as the rest of the festival, with books, art, music and theatre activities. Camp Bestival (East Lulworth, Dorset, July 18-20) even has a Kids’ Garden complete with dressing up tent, maypole and the Breastival Mother and Baby Temple. All three festivals have free entry for children 12 and under and dedicated camper van sites.

Kamper Hire’s fleet of brand new VW ‘California’ conversions are fitted out to the highest specification, with everything required for a week on the road - or in a field. The £38,000 vans are equipped with a gas cooker, fridge, sink with running water, and all crockery and cooking utensils.

The vans can accommodate four people with ease: the front seats swivel round so everyone can sit around the dining table; the main cabin seats convert to a comfortable double bed, and children love the electrically powered pop-top roof bedroom.

“Taking a camper to a festival means everyone has a comfortable bed, the vans are safe and secure, and having heating, hot water and a fridge can make a huge difference when the weather turns nasty,” said Mark Daysh. “Then, after the festival is over a lot of people carry on and go and chill out somewhere else for the rest of the week.”

Located only 30 minutes drive from the ferry port at Portsmouth, Kamper Hire is well-placed for travelling throughout southern England and Europe, and customers can leave their car at Kamper Hire’s depot while on holiday. Portsmouth has the largest choice of ferry destinations in the UK, with routes to France, Spain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Wight.

Weekly rental rates for the T5s start at £550 inclusive of VAT, unlimited mileage in the UK, insurance for one named driver, roadside recovery and a welcome pack. Optional extras include cycle and surfboard racks, awnings and sun canopies, and European satellite navigation systems.

More information can be found at the website, Kamperhire.co.uk.