Wild in us festival. Anyone going.

Woody girl

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Yes, I'll be there. I'm taking the hammock. Are you going?
Come and say hi, I'm walking with walking sticks so you'll not mistake me.
 
Looks great, but there's no info on their site about where it is specifically?
I can see it's in Shepton Mallet, but I'll have to use public transport (if i go) this weekend. That makes route planning a little tricky, even with a map and compass!
 

Woody girl

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Looks great, but there's no info on their site about where it is specifically?
I can see it's in Shepton Mallet, but I'll have to use public transport (if i go) this weekend. That makes route planning a little tricky, even with a map and compass!
It's at orchard Park Farm, Hornblotton. Near shepton mallet. Nearest rail station is Castle cary, and then taxi. Or bus to shepton, and taxi.
If you are comming from Bristol, bus to Wells, then to shepton, then taxi. Its a bit of a trek, but doable. I was going by public transport from exmoor, which was a loooong 3 bus journey, and taxi, or bus, train, taxi, but I've managed to persuade someone to give me a lift, and local friends are comming for the day on Sunday, as they have work commitments, and will give me a lift home. Its stupid not giving the location on the blurb. I shall be having words with the organisers. They don't provide a phone contact, and didn't answer any of my friends messages. He wanted to have a stand. A bit poor, but its their first go at organising this sort of thing, so I guess a bit of leeway is in order. Still not well thought through though.
I found out by phoning avalon bushcraft after I saw they were going to be there on the blurb.
Very helpful chap there.
Once you get your ticket ordered, print it out, or keep it on your phone, as you need to provide your order number to book in.
The address and postcode is on the ticket. I'll post up the postcode later today.
It's a cheap enough weekend. So I'm not expecting a totaly slick operation. As long as its fun, I'll be happy. Plenty to do, including paintball!
 
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It's at orchard Park Farm, Hornblotton. Near shepton mallet. Nearest rail station is Castle cary, and then taxi. Or bus to shepton, and taxi.
If you are comming from Bristol, bus to Wells, then to shepton, then taxi. Its a bit of a trek, but doable. I was going by public transport from exmoor, which was a loooong 3 bus journey, and taxi, or bus, train, taxi, but I've managed to persuade someone to give me a lift, and local friends are comming for the day on Sunday, as they have work commitments, and will give me a lift home. Its stupid not giving the location on the blurb. I shall be having words with the organisers. They don't provide a phone contact, and didn't answer any of my friends messages. He wanted to have a stand. A bit poor, but its their first go at organising this sort of thing, so I guess a bit of leeway is in order. Still not well thought through though.
I found out by phoning avalon bushcraft after I saw they were going to be there on the blurb.
Very helpful chap there.
Once you get your ticket ordered, print it out, or keep it on your phone, as you need to provide your order number to book in.
The address and postcode is on the ticket.
Brilliant, thanks a lot, that's really helpful.
I've emailed them, but not heard back.
I got the impression it wasn't that experienced as a festival, so that makes sense, hey ho.
I'll look at options. I was thinking of bringing my son, but it might be a bit of schlep for the both of us.
Thanks for your help.
 

Woody girl

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No problem, happy to help. Don't expect a reply to your email!
My friend has emailed 3 times and sent a message through facebook with no reply!
Swift taxis from shepton will get you there from the town, no taxi rank so phone and book .
 
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Woody girl

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Well, I'm all packed barring food which I'll sort tomorrow.
Only two more sleeps.
Weather looks wet. Pack your waterproofs!
 

Woody girl

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I'm done, bar the stuff from the fridge, like milk and veg. I'm planning to cook a nice steak with all the trimmings Friday eve! Then I'll live on bacon and eggs, and rations for the rest of the weekend!
Will I sleep tonight? Nope.
So looking forward to getting out of this valley for more than one afternoon.
 

FerlasDave

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Off the beaten track
Interestingly Josh who is Mr Avalon bushcraft used to frequent this forum a long time ago, his username was siberianfury. I’m sure many folks remember him and his shenanigans.
 

Toddy

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I hope it's a very good weekend :D I hope it's a success too for everyone involved.
Often it's a learning process getting something like this off the ground, sometimes with a heck of a steep learning curve though.
It would be kind if the weather Gods looked favourably on it, but they're capricious at times.
 
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Woody girl

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Looks like Friday will be fine, but wet for a good bit of the rest. Wondering if I should take a brolly...not very bushcrafty, but I shrink when I get wet! :)
 

Disabled Preppers

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Wow just found this thread shame i would have loved to get along but had a major op on tuesday so been on bed rest until today and back to docs today for check over lol , i will pray for sunshine not to hot with a light breeze for you all , ifthere are more meet ups and or shows is there a thread that could list dates and places just i would love to print it and save on thefridge so we can plan
 

Woody girl

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Well, I've just got back. It was a very small show, put on by youngsters who decided rave music untill 11pm each night was the way to go. They learned it wasn't very popular with many people! Very few stalls as some pulled out at last minute, including the tea and coffee provider, no effort was made to provide refreshments other than the bar, which wasn't what you want in the morning. wacky baccy was in evidence, to an extent that I've never known, even at the big Glastonbury festival.
The entrance not easy to find, in fact we drove past it twice before we spotted it, even tho we were looking hard.
So, for a first try, it was a reasonable effort, but left much to be desired.
You could easily get round the field in half an hour, and if it wasn't for the few talks and workshops, it could have been very boring. Luckily, I knew quite a few people, and met and enjoyed time with new ones, so I wasn't bored.
The site was easy to get around, nice and flat, and the woodland was good for hammocking. Free nicely chopped firewood with plenty of small stuff aswell as bigger pieces, making a fire to cook on very easy and simple.
I think these guys have a steep learning curve, as it was to my mind much more a music festival to please the younger crowd, with a bit of bushcraft added in to make it a bit different. I don't call two nights of 1000000 decibal rave catering for all tastes, and families. There was a lot of moaning about it! Take note organiseres! Lots of dogs running about loose, and tho most were responsible and kept them on leads, and cleaned up after them, a few were running about scavenging food , and pooping everywhere! Not nice.
So all in all, I had a goodish time, but it wasn't excellent. I for the first time ever, happy to come home a day early to be totaly honest. I could not have stood a third rave night with hours of banging and shouting afterwards untill the early hours!!!! Headaches and tinnitus are not good for trying to sleep!
I shall go next year, if they put it on again, but if they make as many silly mistakes as they did this year, that will be it for me.
The organisers had good ideas, and most worked quite well.
But no tea and coffee! C'mon guys! It's not that hard to arrange, and rope in a bit of mates to help out making teas for thirsty customers!
Lost a money making opportunity there, and I didn't want to have to keep running back to the hammock and lighting a fire to boil a kettle and get a drink. So I drank water all weekend. Not very 'appy bout that!
Still, I'd say it has potential, if they listen to the punters criticism, for failures, and praise for what went well.
I did enjoy myself most of the time, and it was good for the price.
Now im home, showered and icecream has been administeted to sooth my sore throat from having to shout so much. !
Like I said, I didn't expect perfect, but I didn't expect two nights of loud rave music, and no tea!
Turned on my right grumpy old lady mode. :) I'm fine now, and grumpy old lady is back in the box at the back of the cupboard.
I did enjoy the majority of it.
Potential for another good weekend if they up the bushcraft content, and drop the rave.
 

Disabled Preppers

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@Woody girl that isa great write up and as you say they will need to up it if they want people tea and coffee and a good bacon butty it a must have .

I am new to bushcraft in a sense but been playing in the woods and farmland since i was well lets say as soon as we could sneak off lol yup a 60's kid was crafty , i will say i have seen so many jump on the bushcraft/prepping in the last few years there are some great girls and guys out there passing knowledge on but there are so many in it for a fast few bucks , they fall by the roadside fast shall we say .

Thanks again for the heads up report
 

Woody girl

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@Woody girl that isa great write up and as you say they will need to up it if they want people tea and coffee and a good bacon butty it a must have .

I am new to bushcraft in a sense but been playing in the woods and farmland since i was well lets say as soon as we could sneak off lol yup a 60's kid was crafty , i will say i have seen so many jump on the bushcraft/prepping in the last few years there are some great girls and guys out there passing knowledge on but there are so many in it for a fast few bucks , they fall by the roadside fast shall we say .

Thanks again for the heads up report

Yes, I did talk to the organisers, and gave them brutally honest feedback. Some of the excuses just didn't quite add up. They managed to get all the ticket sales emails, but absolutely no others except from those traders who "cancelled at last minute " because they had decided to attend another festival instead. Who would do that after paying for their stand?
The project that I volenteer with, wanted a stand, but we never recieved a reply, even after 3 emails and a Facebook message. If you wanted a stand, you had to buy your ticket as anyone else would, but in your company name, so if you wanted another staffer on your stall, you had to buy a ticket for them too, or so it seemed, it wasn't clear, and with no replies to our questions, the project decided not to go as a business, but I went as a punter to suss it out. Otherwise it seemed it would have cost too much for the business to go and have a stand with three of us.( £65 each) it was apparent that most stands were a single trader, which meant they got no breaks, or had to leave the stand unattended. Not ideal!
Also, at the bar, it was card only, no cash. So they didn't get my cash..hard luck there they lost possible sales from me. I do not take a card to these events. I have my spendys, and that means I budget well, and not tempted to overspend or impulse buy... regretting it later when the house bills come in!
Anyway, having organised many events in my long life, I hope I passed on a few wisdoms.. such as one black three foot long flag denoting the entrance is easily missed when up against a dark hedge with the sun in your eyes! Make it colourful, and visable, !
Anyway, next year, will be the tell on it. We will have a stand, but its no good telling me when I arrive as a punter that they'd have loved to have had us, and the music was advertised, so we should have been aware of what we were getting, but nobody had a clue who the music providers were, let alone the genre of music... Well they called it music.. I'd beg to disagree!!!!!!!!!!
 

Disabled Preppers

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@Woody girl like you say next year will tell but again honest reviews people do not like i find lol , we hope next year to be able or better placed to attend more health premitting , this year well took a few major hits .
I would also say music wise this bang bang bang stuff is not what bushcraft/preppers like a steady relaxing beat does me but then again back inthe day punk and skinhead music was not so quiet as my dad use to tell me turn that **** rubbish off lol .

I wonder have you notice a huge incline in the number if people jumping to bushcrafting/prepping since the covid stuff i have ,so many at the shops who do what we use to buy a trolly of can goods or dried packet stuff and atthe check outs say oh yes we are preppers then go out in to a huge 4x4 and so on .

Well i guess we all start somewhere but again like with guns i find the man that comes to the range with brand new kit and it must be only the best and out shoot everyother gun turns up with what the shop could sell him the most expensive then an old gent turns up with a gun from the ark and out shots them lol , you get the oh just not on my game today fro mthem lol never see them again .

I do hope more bushcraft shows come alone and i did say on a post would be nice if a thread was started with a list of all the ones so we could all downlo0ad and print it .

Still nice review and thanks for the heads up what to expect next year
 

Woody girl

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You're right, people don't like honest constructive criticism, even if it's meant to be helpful.
The young lad I spoke to, took it well and agreed with much of what I said, even tho some questions were fobbed with excuses. The lady who was running the bar, and part of the organising team was... Well you were told what the music was on the leaflet you got at the gate, and it's not all about what one person likes. She totaly didn't get what I was saying. A leaflet on the gate with a list of unknown bands and dj's wasn't much help! I wasn't saying I only wanted what I wanted music wise, just that rave music so loud that you could hear it half a mile away, as if you were in the field, was just not a bushcrafty vibe..... I couldn't hear anything from the woodland about me, and I almost lost my voice shouting to make myself heard. I had to have two Mr whippy ice creams off the mobile van when I got home, to sooth my poor throat. ;)
I'm still rather hoarse today.
Mind you, it wasn't all bad. But I guess I'm used to more experienced organisers with more experience. They did OK for youngsters and a first try.
 

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