VDub Island, Isle of Wight
This festival was our adventure of the summer, a road trip for two families to the south coast for a week before heading over the Solent to the Isle of Wight. We were heading towards East Afton Farm, the site of the 1970’s Music festival that saw 600,000 visitors (something to rival Woodstock), in the West of the Island near Compton Bay.
Tigi and Trixie pootled over for pre festival camping (Carry on Camping) and enjoyed setting up camp in the 60mph plus tail winds of Hurricane Bertha. The bar was open, the music had started and there was starting to be a real festival atmosphere.
The festival was not officially open until the 14th so we watched the festival being built around us.By the official opening date there were hundreds of flags flying, 3 music stages, bars, yurts, food outlets, a few stalls and crafty tents for the kids and a giant sandpit complete with surfboard and hidden treasure.
The daytime activities were headlined by the show and shine and the drive out over the weekend. The drive out saw thousands of VW’s heading out in convoy for a coastal cruise, finishing at a lookout point over Compton Bay (the 6th best beach in Britain). A truly awesome site to see so many beautiful vehicles taking over the island. The show and shine saw Tigi awarded a TOP 10 award – Proud moment, Well done Sarah and Gareth!
Entertainment wasn’t always enough to keep us onsite, giving us the perfect opportunity to explore the island - Sandown, Shanklin, The Needles, Cowes, Lymington and we even squeezed in a medieval day at Carisbrooke Castle and a trip to the garlic festival.
In the evenings the festival came alive, the live bands were fantastic, the atmosphere was amazing and the people were simply brilliant. There were three music tents to choose from, electric, acoustic, burlesque, ghost stories….definitely a something to please everyone.
Next year we’d love to see more loo’s and more trade stands – something which the organizers have already noted and taken on board.
