House Fest 2020

House Fest 2020

We’ll look back on this Blog post in years to come and wonder how we all got to the position where we had to hold a festival in our own gardens and drives but, for now, everyone is grateful to Julian Richards for coming up with the idea for House Fest 2020. The Covid-19 crisis has closed all campsites and most of us are on lockdown, so what better way to celebrate a fantastically warm Easter weekend than to get together in the virtual world, to celebrate our love of our vans, caravans, motorhomes, Glawnings and tents?

Julian, the man behind Pandora’s Box and Camp, Cook, Dine, ably assisted by his wife Jan, put together a weekend of events for campers across the UK, which kept everyone’s spirits up at a difficult time.

This Blog will be photo rich (with fewer of my words for once – I can hear you cheering at the back!) with pictures borrowed from those who took part over the weekend.

Lets crack off procedures with a look at the itinerary put together by Julian:

There was a Wordsearch and a Crossword, plus a fantastic cut out and make Campervan to keep us out of mischief.

There were awards to be won as well but most of all it was an opportunity to show off our camps and to chat in the virtual world.

Camp Absinthe even had some celebrity gatecrashers on Friday and Saturday:

I mentioned awards earlier and here are the entrants and winners.

Best Camping Set Up

And the winner is:

Cutest Animal Picture

And the winner is:

Cleverest Use of Campervan

And the winner is:

The Festival even had some sponsors.

A great weekend and one that, frankly, I hope we don’t have to repeat next year! To end, I’d like to quote some wise and kind words written by Stephanie Rice:

“Well we are all back home now and we wanted to say a massive thank you to you all.

I know that our little set up wasn’t as grand as some of yours, and was a bit cheat-y! But for us camping has never been about where we are, it is more who we are with and what we do.

My boys and I often, when my partner is working and we cant get away in the big tent, disappear to cleethorpes on the train with nothing but ourselves, the little tent and the essentials and just spend time with each other. And camping anywhere with my boys and my partner is my idea of heaven.