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Geronimo 2018: Camping with 2 children under 3 years old!

When I was asked if we’d like tickets to camp at Geronimo in exchange for an honest review of our experience I said excitedly said yes immediately!  As the weeks went by the realisation of what I’d agreed to started to set in though.  I’d agreed to camp.  That meant sleeping in a tent.  With a 3 year old (almost).  And an 8 month old baby.  WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

We decided to make our lives easier and hire a pre pitched tent from Tangerine Fields who were advertised through the Geronimo website.  I’d definitely recommend this service for anyone who has a crazy toddler to look after and isn’t an expert camper.  It made the whole experience stress free and simple.

We packed the bare essentials and headed for Arley Hall.  You can see what we took with us here.  When we arrived the staff were smiley and helpful, we got through the gate quickly, dropped our things at the tent and headed off to explore.

I found wearing Megan in the sling the easiest way to get around and she loved the view from being up on my chest.  There was so much to do and see, we didn’t manage to do everything in the 2 days we were there! There was literally something for everyone!

Highlights of the weekend

Harry’s favourite Geronimo moments

Sleeping in a tent would have to be the top of Harry’s memorable moments. He won’t stop talking about it!  It felt like a real adventure to him and is something that I’m sure will stay with him.  He also loved the helter skelter, pirate ship, water play and rocking horses.

His favourite activity had to be the inflatable fairground area.  It cost £5 for a wristband for unlimited rides and we spent a good few hours there.  He loved going on the inflatable slides and chatting to the lady checking the tickets at the funhouse!

My favourite Geronimo moments

Honestly, my favourite thing about the weekend was seeing Harry’s face.  He glowed with excitement the whole time and, excluding the odd tantrum, was an absolute joy.  My favourite time of day was the evening, when the park was quiet and it was only the campers left.  It was so chilled out and the kids were running from one ride to the next with no queues.  Everyone was so friendly and the lights in the camp site looked so pretty.  Breakfast was another highlight.  Dorset cereals had done a campsite takeover and set up a beautiful breakfast.  There was something really lovely about asking a stranger to pass the milk and then getting into a conversation about the struggles of cereal out and about with a baby who insists on feeding themselves!  There were activities out for the kids, live music and newspapers available.  It was the perfect way to start the day!

Alistair’s favourite Geronimo moments

I’d like to say that Alistair’s favourite moment was in the tent.  The kids went to bed at 8pm, we were trying to conserve our batteries on our phones and we sat and chatted, with no technology, for the first time in a long time.  It was nice to enjoy each others company, sat on the floor, drinking a g&t in a plastic cup, remembering how much we can make each other laugh.

If I asked him Alistair would probably say his favourite thing was the dodgems though!

 

Megan’s favourite Geronimo moments

I didn’t think Megan would get much from Geronimo.  I couldn’t have been more wrong though.  She loved watching the bright colours and listening to the music and laughter that filled the air.  The bubbles that floated around were mesmerising to her and the children running and jumping to pop them.  She loved spending so much time snuggled up close in the sling and all the fresh air from being outside.

 

 

Watch the highlights of our weekend below:

Things that could’ve been better

Honestly, the whole weekend was amazing.  Perfect family time and I can’t fault it.  One of the obvious things to mention is that the food and drinks are expensive.  This is something we expected from a festival and so we took 2 meals with us.  With breakfast included we only had to pay for one meal while we were there but it’s worth mentioning.  The rides and 99% of the other activities were included in the entry price though and there was a barbeque area available to campers  so it would’ve been very easy to go and not spend any money at all if you wanted to.

There was a mobile phone area available as part of the camp site.  This was really useful and meant you didn’t have to panic about your battery dying.  It was £5 for an hour though which I felt was quite overpriced.  A much easier and cheaper alternative would be to buy your own portable charger to take with you or, even better, just switch your phone off and live in the moment while you’re there!

Would we go again?

100% definitely yes! We would definitely go to Geronimo again and we will definitely be camping again too.  Next time we may even brave 3 or 4 days!  This was the perfect short break for our family and we’ve made so many magical memories.  Thank you so much Geronimo for inviting us.  We loved every second!

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