I’d rather spend £11k on Glastonbury than go on holiday with my kids
While my children were arriving home from school on Wednesday evening this week, I was enjoying a glass of rosé on the terrace of my treehouse at Glastonbury. I was picked up from the station by a driver in a Land Rover Defender and driven to my glamping site, which is on a hill, a 10-minute walk from the Pyramid Stage. The sun was shining, the music was playing and the drinks and wood-fired pizzas were free-flowing. This is what my husband and I get for spending £11,000 to go to the festival.
My parents must never know how much it costs us. They wouldn’t understand the value of a comfortable bed, hot showers, and clean loos at Glastonbury or what a difference it makes to have interstage passes into the festival that are included in the price of our package at Pennard Hill Farm.
They allow us access to the private area between the Pyramid Stage and the Other Stage, where there are more clean loos, a low-key pub which serves as the rendezvous for all our mates, a left luggage area and VIP stage. Last year Jamie Dornan, Chris Martin, Kate Moss and Ruth Wilson were all hanging out in there and when Fat Boy Slim came off to the Pyramid Stage, he did a private set right in front of us.
We heard about Pennard Hill Farm through friends and last year I decided to stump up for the full package as a treat for my husband’s 40th birthday. The hosts at Pennard Hill, Pippa and Tom, make incredible locally sourced food and ensure you have every possible thing you’ll need for the festival weekend from morning Bloody Marys, hot water delivered to your tent for morning tea, eye masks, ear plugs and pamper rooms.
It was more expensive than any holiday I’d ever booked and meant we pared back our summer plans with our children. But I reasoned that they don’t care if we take them abroad or not. We both work insanely hard in London (he’s in finance and I have my own events company); why not do Glastonbury as luxuriously as possible?
The other option was Ibiza and when I totted up the figures, Glastonbury didn’t work out any more expensive.
What I didn’t expect was that the experience would be so enriching and life-affirming that we’d decide that we must do it every year, even if it means having low key family holidays and working harder than ever. It was a marriage MOT, journey of self-reconnection, total unwind and rave all wrapped up in one. We hadn’t let our hair down like that since having children and we both remembered who we used to be and who we could be again if we only lifted the weight of responsibility off our shoulders a bit more often.
It was way more rewarding and fulfilling than any of the long weekends to the Med we’ve done in the past; all you do there is sit in beach restaurants drinking overpriced rosé and spending a fortune on boats. A friend who came with us last year and who had just got divorced agreed that there is no place like it for switching off and rekindling your sense of self. It’s a total break from reality, dancing to incredible music. Honestly, I can’t think of a better way to blow £11,000.
Glasto veterans will argue that the real experience is pitching your own tent and camping with the masses and I’m sure there’s some truth in that. By staying at Pennard Hill Farm, however, we’re combining our festival experience with a proper holiday, which seems to make a lot of sense given that we’re taking four days off work. We’re also weatherproofing ourselves; even if the weather is dire we can come back to our treehouse and have our own party or just a hot shower and some good food.
During our stay, we’re not just partying. I’m running in the Greenpeace 5K, I’ve booked a reviving ice bath and will be using the onsite sauna and can even have a massage if I want one. There are clean, hot showers, endless fluffy white towels and delicious food. One night we might hang out in the bar together and have a burger and an early night. The other nights we’ll party at the festival until 4am and lie in until 2pm. Pennard Hill is a sanctuary away from the madness. Many of the other glampers are the types you’d expect to see at Glyndebourne. They’ve been coming for decades; their children are camping in the festival and they hang out with them during the day and return to Pennard Hill for dinner. It’s so calm and quiet that my husband and I slept in for the first time in years and spent our first Saturday morning in bed with the crossword. The whole experience felt wholesome (ish).
When we do want to delve into the festival, though, there’s everything on hand at Pennard Hill to get us in the mood. I’ve booked an appointment with the onsite hairdresser to get my hair braided and my face painted and if I decide that I need something different to wear, there’s a boutique selling festival outfits although you don’t need to dress up at Glasto – shorts and t-shirts are fine. If you want fancy dress, go to Wilderness.
This year I’m looking forward to the smaller acts such as the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Good Disclosure. Annie Mac’s big set on Friday. Some of the best moments, though, are stumbling up to one of the smaller stages and finding something really good that you haven’t heard of before. Even in the VIP area, the atmosphere is understated and low key, which fits with the vibe of the festival. You never feel like you’re in with a bunch of knobs. Last year I got us VIP tickets to Take That in Hyde Park and I accidently stepped on some woman’s blanket and she had a massive go at me. That just wouldn’t happen at Glastonbury. The glitziest glamping site is Camp Kerala, which is where all the celebrities stay but it costs about £10,000 more and is noisier, which puts me off.
Some people take their children along to the festival with them. I personally can’t think of anything worse. They have a children’s field here and a line-up of kid-friendly events. You see people pulling children around in carts and they just look so miserable. The children are only there to make their parents feel better about being there themselves. If I was going to spend big taking my children on a summer holiday it would be to somewhere with a pool and beach and activities we can do all together.
Mine (I have a daughter, nine and a son, seven) are going to be staying with various friends locally and I’m sure they’ll have way more fun than those poor festival kids. I’m always helping out with childcare when my mates go away for a save-our-marriage weekend (we call them SOMs) and they’re doing the same for me this weekend. They get it in the way that the grandparents wouldn’t.
When I consider the cost of our Glastonbury extravaganza, I do think: “Oh God, what am I doing?” But it’s like school fees, you pay in instalments throughout the year, which makes it feel less painful. I also feel better that my friends and my cousin, who is Captain Sensible, are doing the same.
I know it sounds insane but I truly believe that even if it were double the price it would still be good value for what we get – there’s nothing like it in the whole world. You need to take at least eight days off work to do Burning Man and you have to take everything with you.
That said, even with my comfy bed and the lie-ins, I’ll feel jaded when it’s all over next week. I’ll have the memories to keep me going, though, and the knowledge that if I keep working hard, I can do it all again next year. Maybe in an even more luxurious way.
As told to Anna Tyzack
