Timber Festival 2019, The National Forest.
AD – My tickets to Timber Festival were gifted in return for blog and social media coverage.
Back again this summer for the second time was Timber Festival; an extraordinary 3-day camping festival that explores the transformative impact of forests on our everyday lives with the help of music, art and performance. I attended the music last summer (read here) and thought it was fantastic - so of course I had to attend this year, especially as it won an award at the UK Festival Awards 2018 for Best New Festival. This time round we were able to pitch up for the night and enjoy everything Timber had to offer after the sun had set too!
We arrived at the location for Timber Festival, a place called Feanedock which is a 70 acre woodland site on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border. It's part of the forest in the making at the heart of the National Forest,near Ashby de la Zouch. If you're local to the Midlands then this festival is in perfect location for you to get to. Getting parked up and finding our pitch for the evening on the campsite was really easy to access and the area itself came with fantastic wash facilities and lots of space.
Timber Festival has been created by the National Forest and award-winning producers of Just So Festival, Wild Rumpus. What makes this festival stand apart from others within the festival circuit is that it offers more than just live music, but a purpose all of us can get involved with.
From the get go the site was laid back and friendly but incredibly professional. We loved being able to mooch around the site at our own pace and enjoy the width of variety it has in entertainment for you to enjoy. This year we certainly got time to enjoy so much more because we invested in the programme and ensured we had more of a "itinerary" for our time at the festival. Although it was great to stumble upon on some other great stuff too!
Timber offers the tranquility and peace from your surroundings as well as 9 different areas for you to explore at your own pace. The array of activities available offer something for everyone to enjoy and to try something new with your family too. The atmosphere surrounding the festival was fantastic, the rain didn't dampen any spirits and it was great to see so many children get involved in all of the activities too. After all, Timber isn't just for adults.
This isn't a festival of big names in the music industry but quite frankly we know this festival is about more than that! The festival also takes in consideration accessibility and have enabled their programme to provide specific access needs; these include a place to be calm, sensory based, participation and family focused. Timber has really thought about every detail in the people that will attend their festival and their team are a fantastic part of your experience too - always on hand to ensure you have the best time possible!
If you do enjoy coming to festivals for the music - the Eyrie Stage is a brilliant wood structure in the heart of the forest space.
We explored the Field Notes where we could enjoy music, stories, lessons and lectures from the heart of the forest. We particularly enjoyed Simon Watts Frogs and Friends, a comedic lecture that explored why frogs are better than most people Simon knows and how studying them has changed the world! It was a really laugh out loud lecture that I really enjoyed listening too! The picture references were excellently timed as well!
We saw that loads of families flocked to the Beginner's Luck area where you could try your hand at some of your favorites games, human sized. Brought to life by the Wild Rumpus artistic team, there were games like Ludo, Guess Who and Scrabble to enjoy! I thought that these were a great addition to the more open area of the festival, Halcyon Days.
Within Halcyon Days there was every reason to dance, play and compete. You could enjoy performances from Handmade Theatre with Are We Nearly There Yet? and learn all the skills you need to be in the circus thanks to Circus Hub Nottingham. There was also an opportunity to get involved in a Dance Workshop and Maypole Dancing too! I also enjoyed having my hair dressed with flowers thanks to the girls at the Hair in a Handcart. I definitely felt more involved with the festival\s vibe after that.
We took advantage of the delicious selection of street food Timber had to offer too. They had a lot of variety on offer including vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options as well as something for those who enjoy meat. I loved trying Tibetan food and enjoying it! I obviously treated myself to an ice cream afterwards too!
The Timber Festival continues to flourish in the evening and this year was no different. We began our evening in The Canopy for the performance of The Baron in the Trees. Performed by Lost in Translation Circus, they tell a playful, romantic fable through high flying aerial stunts and amazing acrobatics. There's also some knockabout slapstick and juggling too. The area was heaving with people who wanted to see this company soar through the trees and it was undoubtedly one of my favourite acts of the musical overall.
After the sunset at the festival we decided to go off and enjoy some evening entertainment in the As The Crow Flies area of the festival, which wasn't too far from where we were camping for the night.
In the evening the forest area of As The Crow Flies really comes to life. We decided to join people around a campfire for Campfire bands and storytelling, it was honestly the best way to complete our day at Timber. We enjoyed listening to hilarious stories that included audience participation and then danced around the campfire to the marimba sounds from Otto & The Mutapa Calling. It was so much fun listening to the energetic sounds and pulsating rhythms so pretty impossible not to tap along and want to join them for a dance! There were so many of us who joined them around the campfire for a dance before curling up in our tent and getting a good night's sleep!
I absolutely loved our time at the festival and enjoying everything that Timber had to offer. There was more than enough on offer for everyone to enjoy and I will be definitely making the visit again for the third year in a row next summer!
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If you enjoyed reading this then you may enjoy reading about my experience at Latitude Festival.