A couple of weeks back we spent the day at The Big Retreat Wales in the village of Lawrenny in Pembrokeshire. We were kindly invited along to see what the festival has to offer for families and in particular young children. The big retreat Wales is a feel-good festival in its third year. The festival was on from Friday to Monday over the late May Bank holiday. There was onsite camping and over 200 workshops and activities on offer over the weekend, most of which were included in the price of the ticket. There are all sorts of exercise classes, cookery demonstrations and well-being talks. This post will focus on children’s entertainment at the festival though.
Disclosure – We were given tickets in exchange for this Big Retreat Wales review. All thoughts, opinions and photos are my own.
Our trip to the big retreat wales didn’t get off to the best start. We arrive just after 9 am on Sunday in the rain. We wanted to watch the cooking with kids demonstration but after finding the cookery tent empty we asked at the information desk and discovered it was cancelled. We headed to the kid’s area instead only to find nothing started here until 10 am either. We decided to take this opportunity to explore the small site before it got busy. The first thing we noticed was the stunning view. Even in the rain, the views over the estuary are stunning. We enjoyed this view many times over the course of our day at the festival. The perfect spot for relaxing between activities.
As soon as you enter the festival site you are immediately in the children’s area (little retreaters). The area is run by Majical Youth Project who are fantastic with the kids. My girls had a fantastic time and despite the area looking small at first, there was plenty on offer to keep them entertained all day. They loved the sandpit, swing boats, trampolines and climbing frame which they played on throughout the day. As well as these attractions, Majical Youth Project put on a number of events like a treasure hunt, talent show and a circus skills workshop all of which were well received by all the children who attended.
Majical Youth Project staff and performers are so enthusiastic and great with children. My 6 year old still talks about the treasure hunt and spent the next few days making up her own clues. The procession before the talent show was another event that my girls both enjoyed. I think it was the invitation to make lots of noise whilst walking around the site that they enjoyed so much.
We also joined in with a family exercise class and finished the day with the kid’s disco. Both my two loved the disco and we practically had to drag them out at the end. They loved dancing to the music and joining in with the games. The disco was the perfect end to the day for them. The exercise class was another excuse for them to dance around. We also had a go at the drop in circus skills workshop where my two had fun with hula hoops, juggling props and a low tightrope.
At lunch, we stumbled upon a comedy session with Dr Ahmed a cabaret comedian (and also a GP). Who knew the life of a doctor was so funny? I haven’t laughed as much in ages. The perfect entertainment whilst we ate lunch, definitely one more for adults than kids, thankfully all the jokes went over the heads of our kids!
Talking of lunch now seems a good time to tell you about the food at the Big Retreat festival. There was a handful of street food outlets serving a variety of food. Some were specifically selling vegan and vegetarian food and some selling meat and fish. There were the usual foods you’d expect to find at a festival like pizza and burger. My kids enjoyed the pizza and delicious cheese toasties, both perfect for even the fussiest kids. There were also ice cream vans including vegan treats.
We loved our day at The Big Retreat Wales. It was the perfect introduction to festivals for my girls. There is so much on offer for all ages. As well as the kid’s area, older children can join in with the fitness sessions too. I think if we’d camped for the full weekend I might have left my husband with the kids and gone to a few exercise classes, talks or cookery demonstrations. As it was I enjoyed one session in the cookery tent learning about making chocolates. We all enjoyed tasting the samples! We left the festival after nearly 11 hours there with two tired little girls. I honestly thought they’d fall asleep before we got off the car park but they were so excited they talked the whole 20-minute drive back to our holiday accommodation. I can’t wait to take them to our next festival, Just So later in the summer. If you’re planning to camp you may find my tips for camping with a toddler post useful or perhaps you need a new family tent (find my review of Coleman Pinto Mountain 5 plus XL here).
The Big Retreat Wales is back in 2020 from 22nd May – 25th May and super Early bird tickets are on sale now available here.
Make sure you visit Folly farm while you are in the area.
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Wow that looks a fun festival. Shame about the rain when you arrived. How much would say there is for older kids tweens and pre-teens there? #MondayEscapes
Lots. There were Bushcraft sessions aimed at kids 8-15, a teen tent with a theatre group activity and they may also enjoy some of the fitness classes, walks with rangers and cookery classes.
Oh wow, there is plenty there for children. Mine would want to spend the whole day on the trampolines.
I think my eldest would have liked to do this too.
This sounds like a fabulous day out for you all. Especially the children.
I love the idea of a family friendly festival so might have to check this out x
Family festivals are so much fun
What a great kids festival, mine love festivals but only for the day as they don’t like camping! I think you did brilliantly doing 11 hours there too!
Mine love camping. It was a long day but they loved it
I’ve never been to a family festival, sounds like fun
It was a lot of fun
That looks really good! Shame it rains so much in Wales!
This looks so much fun! I went to something similar when I was 18 called BareFoot festival, It was in leister I believe! Loved it! Caitylis x x
I’ve not heard of that one. There are so many festivals
I’ve never been to a proper Festival before, with or without kids. This one sounds though like it would be manageable.
Oh wow, What a wonderful experience. I can see ho your kids enjoyed it. My girls would love to go here for sure
I’d never heard of the Big Retreat, but it looks amazing! A shame about the early cancellations but it looks like you had so much fun for the rest of your day, and those views look stunning!
Thanks for linking up to #MondayEscapes
Lovely you know how much we love a festival. I would be straight there at the yoga, sometimes the best weekends are the ones you just roll with it, bet your little ones loved it!?