I’m back with another UK Vegan Campout Review following my review from last year when we went to UK Vegan Campout as a family. This year, in 2019, we went kid-free, so just me and my husband Ben so it was a different experience. I’ll share my thoughts with you today and lots of great photos from UK Vegan Campout 2019!
UK Vegan Campout review
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Last year we felt a bit restricted going with two young children and so my mum looked after them for two nights so just me and Ben could go for an adult only weekend. This meant we really could make the most of this vegan festival by listening to many of the speakers, activist talks and even dancing late into the night!
Last year the kids were only three and six and they got bored sat in the halls with the talks or some of the images shown were distressing. I wanted to return by myself this year, but luckily my mum offered to look after the kids so Ben could come with me too.
UK Vegan Campout 2019 is an event I was looking forward to for almost a whole year! We purchased early bird tickets almost immediately after the 2018 event as I knew I wanted to come back! Although I didn’t get the full experience last year, I did see enough to know it was all right up my street and I needed to come back again.
I’m so glad I did as I had a great time at UK Vegan Campout with Ben.
One of my favourite parts is the vegan junk food! This year there seemed to be more street food vans and we probably spent half our time at the festival walking up and down the food vans reading menus and trying to decide what to try!
There’s nothing quite like being able to pick anything off a menu from any of the vans and knowing it will be vegan. It’s amazing. The festival is worth it just for the food.
The choice of food is overwhelming and much appreciated! I said to Ben I could probably just not eat for a week before and then spend the whole two days going from van to van just to try all the vegan yumminess!
The queues do get quite long, but the food is so worth it! I had a V-Dawg from The Green Grill, some amazing pizza from Pickywops, vegan chinese tofu and noodles, cajun chips and vegan mayo from Biff’s Jack Shack, a vegan brownie, a Mocky-D cheeseburger (tasted just like a McDonalds cheeseburger) and a Chickhuns vegan chicken burger made with seitan…
I think that’s everything I tried (in literally 1.5 days) and it was all amazing!
This year there were around 7500 people at the festival so it felt much bigger than last year. There seemed to be more food stalls and the talks had been upgraded to bigger halls.
It was amazing to see such a sea of colourful tents. If you take a tent then you camp inside the festival. I actually think it’s probably better to take a tent and that’s coming from me, someone who hates sleeping in tents! You’ll be closer to everything and it must make for a more intimate festival experience.
We stayed in our Mazda Bongo which was fine, but the campervan area is outside of the festival next to the car park with no toilets. That’s probably my biggest complaint this year is that there’s no toilets for the campervan area. I really hope next year they put some toilets in the campervan field as it’s quite a trek if you need the toilet in the middle of the night so I’d just hold it in! I was just glad we didn’t have the kids with us needing a wee in the middle of the night!
Going kid-free meant we were able to sit in the talks to our heart’s content! Last year with Reuben only being three he got very fidgety and bored quickly. This year me and Ben saw lots talks! We could stay as long as we wanted. Here’s who we saw:
- Earthling Ed
- Matt Pritchard (Dirty Sanchez)
- Brett Cobley (EpiVegan)
- Sonia Sae
- That Vegan Couple
- Mic the Vegan
- Avant-Garde Vegan
- Anonymous for the Voiceless
Many of them shared their stories of becoming vegan and how they got into activism or whatever they are known for – vegan recipes, YouTube videos, etc. It’s always inspiring to hear how others got into veganism and to learn a new fact or two.
We had reminded ourselves before to bring camping chairs as it can get quite uncomfortable sat on the hard floors for long periods of time, but we forgot them, doh! We remembered half way up the motorway! We must not forget the chairs next year. We must not forget the chairs next year.
With the chairs we’d have happily sat listening to the talks all day, but every now and then we’d get all stiff and have to go and stretch our legs! I definitely stiffen up quicker the older I am getting!
A sign I need to do more yoga perhaps?! There was lots of yoga, meditation and wellbeing at the mind and soul tent which we walked past but didn’t participate in this year. Next time I’d like to go to some of the early morning yoga sessions if I can get up early enough!
There was lots of music on and we’d selected some to watch, but we actually preferred the ETHCS DJ set outside so ended up out here until late on the Friday night dancing! I do prefer dancing outside at a festival, but it’s also great they have their entertainment indoors as it doesn’t matter if it’s chucking it down!
We did wander over to the family area as I’d seen someone post their Mocky-D burger on Instagram using the festival hashtag #vcampout and saying it’s the best burger they ever had! We went over to try one and the kids area did make me miss the kids and wish they were there!
They had bouncy castle slides, the Mocky-D burger van (that also sold tacos and kebabs at great prices), face painting, a large colouring in wall and more. The kids would have loved it and we plan on taking them next year.
The festival is for an extra day next year, so Friday to Monday! I’m hoping it will be even bigger and even more things for the kids to do. With it being a day extra I won’t feel so guilty about leaving everyone to go for the talks. The kids will also be eight and five so they’ll be happy with their electronics whilst Ben and I listen to the talks 🙂
It was another great year at UK Vegan Campout and I definitely plan on going again, hopefully next year!
Find out more at their website here: www.vegancampout.co.uk
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Hi great reading your post
That looks amazing! Especially the food, though I like the look of the acts and speakers too, and the overall atmosphere, which I think is what makes festivals so special.
This sounds really good!