This time last week, we had just finished a mammoth eight days spread across two weekends at Lulworth Castle, bringing the Pampervan to life in the Slow Motion area at Camp Bestival and Bestival - a whole arena dedicated to connecting the body and mind through yoga, disco dancing, holistic and restorative therapies, gong baths and more! It was a really magical place to be situated, high on a hill overlooking the rest of the festival and rolling landscape of the Jurassic Coast, with a much-needed gentle breeze and space to relax away from the main buzz of the festival.
We arrived to set up on one of the hottest days of this recent heatwave. The Pampervan made it through the dusty, sun-drenched site up to the Slow Motion field and I absolutely loved creating my vision - it was an explosion of red, pink and peach items in a retro, fifties diner setting! My van sat alongside my marquee, which had huge windows to allow for natural light and a bit of shade from the sun. My reupholstered deckchairs sat in front of my van and allowed a chilled waiting area for people to enjoy. We offered manicures, pedicures, facials and mini massages - express treatments for time-conscious parents, budget-ravers and glittery kids!
We arrived to set up on one of the hottest days of this recent heatwave. The Pampervan made it through the dusty, sun-drenched site up to the Slow Motion field and I absolutely loved creating my vision - it was an explosion of red, pink and peach items in a retro, fifties diner setting! My van sat alongside my marquee, which had huge windows to allow for natural light and a bit of shade from the sun. My reupholstered deckchairs sat in front of my van and allowed a chilled waiting area for people to enjoy. We offered manicures, pedicures, facials and mini massages - express treatments for time-conscious parents, budget-ravers and glittery kids!
Camp Bestival is the big family-fun-filled festival, themed all things 'nautical' this year. I was fortunate to have my husband and daughter there for the entire time, along with my lovely receptionist, Magdalena, and her lovely little family (we met at NCT classes and have been friends ever since!), as well as my therapist Natalia. As soon as the site opened on Thursday afternoon we were busy doing treatments and taking bookings and were soon sold out for the entire weekend!!
It wouldn't be England if we didn't talk about the weather. Despite the amazing heatwave we'd experienced across the country for weeks and weeks, the weather turned on us on the Friday night and a storm started brewing along the coastline. Saturday treated us to ALL the weather, but we enjoyed cosying up in the marquee and treating festival-goers despite the threatening hooley! Saturday night was a bit of a ridiculous night; our tent didn't live to tell the tale the next day and we had to drop our daughter off at her grandparents' . We found out in the morning that the site was deemed too unsafe to open to the public. Such a disappointment for everyone involved; the festival-goers, the traders, and, of course, the organisers. Despite having to cancel an entire day of treatments, we were grateful to have had two and a half brilliant, fully-booked and, mostly, sun-drenched days!
Bestival took place in the exact same site the following weekend, albeit with several changes to staging, activities, line up, etc and a fantastic circus theme and four days of sunshine! I returned with a brand new team raring to roll off the back of our success the weekend before. My lovely friend Eleanor came down from Suffolk, along with Liz and Ash, my amazing therapists. It was such a BRILLIANT festival; people of all ages visiting from all over the world - the only thing really connecting them was wanting to truly enjoy themselves, adorn themselves in colour and glitter and spread happiness and joy in a dusty, dry desert!! We worked hard (fully booked again Fri-Sun) and played even harder on the evenings. My favourite areas were Caravanserai, a caravan-graveyard full of circus and cabaret, the epic Temple stage and seeing London Grammar perform on the Castle stage on the Saturday night after some amazing fireworks over Lulworth Castle.
Four years ago I had this idea and said I ultimately wanted to provide beauty treatments at festivals. To now have worked at two of the biggest UK festivals, be fully-booked practically everyday, treat loads of lovely, cool, interesting people AND enjoy it with my family and close friends - it was a moment I'll never forget. Thank you to everyone who created the opportunity, helped make it a reality and came and visited us at the festivals.
Please can we do it all over again?
Big, sparkly love,
Laura x
Please can we do it all over again?
Big, sparkly love,
Laura x
