Review: Why CarFest is a great family-friendly festival

…just a few miles from Basingstoke is the site of CarFest South; where over 75,000 people descended over the August Bank Holiday weekend. This is the UK’s largest fundraising festival and is the brain child of radio DJ Chris Evans.

2022 is the year it became seven festivals in one which meant there really was something for everyone. New additions included SpaFest where attendees could join in with relaxing yoga sessions and eat from a variety of vegan food vendors. And StarFest became bigger than ever with huge crowds for Russell Brand, Rob Brydon and Jimmy Carr.

So what makes CarFest such a brilliant family-friendly festival?

Firstly, you can take in picnics and soft drinks. Those of you with children will know how expensive it is to feed them at festivals and so this is fantastic! It’s not unusual to see families with large cool-boxes on wheels as they bring in enough food for the day.

You can also bring in chairs and trolleys. People will go and set up their chairs near the music stage, and then leave them there for the day. Though I wouldn’t suggest leaving valuables there, I have left my chairs/blankets many times with no issue. A top tip is to set up near a walkway as well so that you can easily access your seats in-between food and toilet trips.

What is there to do during the day at CarFest?

There was a huge kids section with plenty of free activities such as bubble play, sandpit, crafts, colouring, football games and lots more. A marquee area played host to several live shows including dances with CBeebies friends and opportunities to meet Pudsey. Plenty of freebies are given away too; we received a Pudsey cuddly toy, and a couple of books from the McDonald’s Young Readers bus.

In the FoodFest area you can sign up to free foodie activities like cookie and cake decorating which is a great way to spend some time entertaining the whole family. There was also additional paid for entertainment such as the world’s biggest bouncy castle.

Older children appeared to spend most of their time in the funfair which was full of classic rides – the Waltzer, Ghost Train and Fun House among them. A ferris wheel dominates the skyline and offers panoramic views over the festival site. There’s also a Young Drivers school where children can have a go at driving in a safe environment.

Plenty of families enjoy watching the action on the race-track. It’s an opportunity to see a variety of vehicles drive past, from supercars spinning donuts to vintage vehicles pootling past. You can bid on various cars to join in as a passenger, or see if you can spot celebrities too. I’ve seen Paul Hollywood and James Martin in their cars in the past.

But is the music any good?

In my experience CarFest caters to a wide range of pop music fans. Regular attendees are acts like James Blunt, Texas and a special CarFest supergroup which in 2022 was made up from The Feeling, Rob Brydon, Max Harwood and Freya Ridings. Headline acts were Rag n Bone Man, Kaiser Chiefs and Paloma Faith. My stand-out act were Steps – they stole the show with an excellent set list and we were all dancing and singing along.