at The Good Life Experience

It's hard to believe that it was over three weeks ago that we went to 'The Good Life Experience', a festival of the outdoors created by Cerys Matthews and Charlie and Caroline Gladstone. Gem was lucky enough to win tickets from the talented Hatchett and Bear, and asked me to go along with her. I jumped at the chance!

The festival took place in the grounds of the beautiful Hawarden Estate, and on the Saturday morning we took out road trip from Gem's folks' house in Bristol all the way to North Wales. We may have listened a little bit too much to this lady (we like to pretend we can sing like Laura Marling. We cannot. Ahem), and this song was definitely overplayed-in a good way.

Anyway, we arrived at midday, greeted by some very Wes Anderson-esque boy scouts who directed us to the car park, the backdrop of which boasted a beautiful ruined castle. To say we were excited was an understatement as we walked down a little path to the Hawarden Estate Farm Shop and its grounds. 

Firstly, we came across the lovely folk at the Pedlars tent which sold lots of goodness, including vintage camping ware and knick knacks. 

Then we made our way to the Best Made tent to have a look at their beautiful axes. Not that Gem and I are really into axes...but we did appreciate the pretty colours painted on the handles! I was gutted that I missed out on getting a T-Shirt. Maybe next year!

We carried on mooching around, taking advantage of this delightful offer...

Had a little chat with these guys (pet alpaca is now on the wishlist)

Gem did a spot of archery...

...and then we wandered through some fields of corn (or wheat?!), feeling very outdoorsy.

We stopped to have a look at what the foraging folk had gathered. What a pretty camping space!

We found the Hatchett and Bear tent, but again missed out on carving our own wooden spoon! Gutted! They looked lovely.

We stayed and listened to some of the music, but missed out on most of the evening's entertainment as we had to get back down to Dorset for work on Monday. I guess we must be getting old! Haha!

We did, however, make one last stop at the Peckham Print Studio. We may have found our new hobby! Post to follow.

Maria