Review: Timber Festival 2022

Disclaimer: We were gifted family weekend camping tickets in exchange for this review. We paid for our own food and drink and all opinions are our own.

We last visited Timber Festival in 2019, which quite honestly feels like a lifetime ago, so it was great to have the opportunity to head back and try it out again.

I was also glad of the chance to write another review, as looking back on my last post about Timber 2019, I feel that maybe I didn’t quite capture the spirit and uniqueness of this lovely little festival.

The kids had a ball at Timber Festival

The festival is all about celebrating and challenging our relationship with the natural world. Set in the beautiful National Forest, Timber 2022 brought together live music, circus, dance, comedy, talks, debates and more in a celebration of the great outdoors.

Sustainability is at the heart of Timber Festival

There are not many places where you can enjoy music, art installations, performances, maypole dancing and yoga and then sit down with a pint and just enjoy the atmosphere. But Timber delivers all this and more!

There is so much to see and do, so I thought I would just list a few of our highlights.

Unfurled

I asked the boys what they enjoyed the most and the verdict was unanimous: Unfurled was definitely a standout event. This installation looked amazing as the sun went down, and watching our boys interacting with it was beautiful. I thought that they might not get it, but they interacted so instinctively with the giants, that it was a truly beautiful experience.

Unfurled was a real highlight for us

Unfurl is a garden like no other. It is a huge and beautiful installation which celebrates the wonder and intelligence of nature’s designs.

The Eyrie Stage

The National Forest provides such a stunning backdrop to Timber, and this is used to great effect by the Eyrie Stage. Listening to a DJ surrounded by trees and dancing the night away was a brilliant way to end our first night at the festival.

Sorry for the blurry photo-we were having too much to concentrate on photos, but it hopefully does convey how picturesque the Eyrie Stage is

Halcyon Days

Halcyon Days is a brilliant area of the festival, with something for everyone. The boys loved the circus skills tent and watching the bubble man. It was also home to the main bar on site, The Foresters Arms, where Luke and I enjoyed a pint or two from the Tollgate Brewery and watched the world go by.

WE gravitated to the pub on more than one occasion, mainly due to the fact that there was hardly ever a queue, and prices were actually very reasonable.

This was also the place to watch maypole dancing and enjoy the camp and colourful charms of Compact Disco and their mobile giant disco ball and awesome tunes.

We also watched a performance of Timeless, a unique performance using dance, circus and theatre on a 7m high rotating hourglass, which confronts the passing of time and the fear that humanity is running out of it.

I really enjoyed the fact that the boys had the opportunity to be involved with so many different performances and art installations over the weekend. It certainly was a feast for all our senses.

The Campsite

There are some boutique camping options at Timber, but even if you’re slumming it in the main campsite, you may be pleasantly surprised. There is plenty of room for everyone and it’s surprisingly quiet for a festival camping experience . The toilets and showers are also great, with very short queues, there is also drinking water freely available (in the main site as well as the camping area) and a washing up area.

The festival site in general is very hilly, and that extends to the campsite. We were pitched on a bit of a slope, but it didn’t affect our sleep.

There are so many things that I love about Timber Festival, mostly the laid back vibe and the village fete-esque feeling to the whole proceedings. I love the fact that the kids can run off and play and we don’t have to worry about losing them in the crowd, I really like not having to queue for the toilet or bar and I love that I feel safe and don’t have to worry about watching my belongings like a hawk at all times.

The Nightingale Stage is home to an eclectic range of musicians at Timber

The only thing that I would personally like to see is more music performances and maybe more mainstream music choices. Having said that, Timber is not a conventional festival and is about so much more than music.

Having this as our first family festival experience has really spoiled us. I would love to find other small festivals that are just as chilled and family friendly, but maybe with more emphasis on musical acts. If you have any recommendations-please let me know!