Latitude Music Festival

We have been regular visitors to Latitude Festival for a few years now and it is always the highlight of our year. But what is it that keeps us going back year after year?

Latitude is pure magic! It is a music and arts festival in the woods, so what's not to love? Latitude is spread over four days at the beautiful Henham Park in Suffolk, Uk. There are so many things on offer and it can be difficult to fit it all in, but we do give it a go. Music, comedy, dance, wellness, yoga, circus to name only some of what is on offer.

The lights, the lake, the hidden areas, the music,the food. It really is difficult to say what is the best bit.

The main thing that keeps us coming back every year is how much the kids love it. There is something for everyone. Whether it be arts and crafts for our creative ones or the latest tick tockers on stage singing for the teens. The kids arena is always the main event for them. A field dedicated to the kids. With a beautiful lit up carousel and Helter-skelter at its centre and completely surrounded with activities we can easily find ourselves here all day. There are stalls set up with things to keep the kids entertained, most of the time for free. This year flo loved the Woodland trust area that had a fantastic mud kitchen. There are also kids music performances, book readings and the fantastic green peace tent where you can always get a cheese sandwich and some fruit for the little ones when the street food gets too much. There are so many things for the kids to try, this year we made tie dye bags, gods eyes, a puzzle that we whittled from a tree twig, a flag, a wand and endless colouring pages.

Without doubt my favorite place to be is the Zen area. Such a calm and chilled place to be during the chaos. On offer in this little tranquil paradise you can find the most beautifully decorated area, mindfulness, yoga, sound healing and other holistic therapies. The performers here are very chilled and the overall atmosphere is just perfect. I find we wander here for some of the day every day as it is just a wonderful place to be.

But what about the music?? Well every year there are the best highlights but as a family who love live music we honestly do enjoy it all. For me without a doubt this year Paulo Nutini was incredible, I think my husbands highlight was Pulp. George Ezra and James were also amazing.

The food at Latitude is out of this world. Literally every single street food you can think of you will find here. The kids are always blown away by the pizza, (standard) but even though we always say we wont, we also spend a'lot

on the food. There is too much on offer not to take advantage.

Similarly, the stalls on offer are always amazing. A collection of the most unusual clothes and accessories, the like of which you just dont get anywhere else. Florence's absolute favourite is the bubble emporium, and i have to admit, as a mum who has been buying bubbles for almost 20 years, it's without doubt the best there is. My personal favourite is Simon says. A fantastic jewellery artist who makes his peices from cutlery and coins. I have a beautiful ring from here made out of a fork but this year Jamie surprised me with a replacement engagement ring after my original one broke. It is made from a vintage shilling.

I guess we can't talk about taking kids to a festival without touching on the negatives. Things I get asked all the time are 'what about the toilets?' 'how do you cope with bedtimes and late nights?' 'How do you wash?' The simple answer is trial and error! But I think the number one bit of advice is to let go! let go of how you do things at home, routines and bedtimes ( Literally non existent!) and just go with the Flo. The every day challenges are of course magnified when in an environment like this, id be lying if I said they were not, but we have found that they are easy to manage. The family camping is in no way a luxurious campsite and the toilets? well they are as you would expect, but there really is so much going on that it is all worth it. One thing we could not do without at a festival is our wagon. Our Tuff Terraine wagon becomes the place where we keep our stuff by day and a bed for the smallest by night. We have had them for Edie and Flo and we just wouldn't even attempt a festival without one. I will save the other list of must haves for another time but with a little bit of planning it really is not as difficult as you might think.

If you are yet to take the kids to a festival then I cannot recommend latitude enough. For us it has become the start of our summer. A chance for us all to relax and unwind together after the long school year and a chance for us to really let our hair down before the summer.

Some of our family's most incredible memories have been made here, and I cannot wait for next year to make more.