Hooting Miss Owl: The woodland creatures come out to play...

I was very lucky to experience a very enchanting and magical festival in Tunbridge Wells over the weekend, due to a competition held by Don't Panic. I only found out I had won a couple of days before Playgroup Festival was to occur and there was lots to organise. Plus I am not very good at last minute preparation. Especially when it involved putting together a fancy dress outfit that had to consist either of a stag, owl, fox, toad, mouse, wasp, hare or badger. I got very excited when I saw I could dress up as our favourite feathered friend, the owl! With only 2 nights to organise I had to put my thinking cap on and decided to make a top which had layers of feathered shaped fabric. I was also very lucky to already own an owl masquerade mask. Outfit sorted. Just need to pack!

Unfortunately I had to work on the Friday and my only mode of transport was to catch the Big Lemon Bus from Hector's House after work. Unfortunately my dear husband was unable to join me but it didn't take long for me to find a friend to come along. The lovely HoBoJoBo was keen and willing and before we knew it we were on the 7:30pm bus to Elridge Park. We both had never travelled to a festival by public transport and I have to say it was a very pleasant experience. Not only was it only £13 return (bargaino!),we were soon getting into the festival spirit and chatting to other excited festival goers. It only took 1 hour to get there and didn't take long to put our tent up and get ready to go for a wonder and find food. I have to say I'm pretty proud of our efforts in erecting our tent up, seeing that we had to do it in the dark and both of us had forgotten to bring torches... ooops!

For that first night HoBoJoBo and I was just wondering in a daze and sapping up the magical energy. There were lots of nooks and crannys to explore and people had really made an effort with the dress code. It only made me wish I had more time on my outfit but was pleased when people automatically recognised me as an owl. Hoot Hoot!


'Suck My Rock' free photo booth

The food was certainly scrumptious and not a burger van in sight. You could choose from stone baked pizzas, local sausages, Caribbean Jerk Chicken and comforting Japanese noodles. All at reasonable prices! The Granny Cafe was also an experience not to forget, where you could get hot beverages and cake served by the wonderful Granny Team.

Granny Cafe

There was some truly fantastic things to see and do. Lots of different types of music from local bands giving a good choice to choose from. To be honest I didn't really think it was a festival that you went to for the music, but to be creative, interactive and to be part of something magical. I did however discover new bands and DJs and was very smitten that we got to see Quantic on the Saturday night. I felt very spoilt having been treated to a 2 hour set!