For those with kids coming to the Garden Party you can expect a music festival and adventure holiday rolled into one. Instead of a simple kid-safe zone that is the norm of many-a-festival across the UK, we are utterly proudly bursting with a whole spectacle of family-friendly fun throughout the weekend. Kelburn estate is an award-winning family attraction, and festival goers get access to most of those features on top of all the extra magic we lay on for the weekend. Drive a bus, discover the Green Man’s Maze, see a comedy show, join a drum circle, learn fantastic circus tricks, tackle the rope bridge… Read on for a cheeky taster of the activities and acts you and your family can catch at Kelburn. Kids under 5 go free to the festival, and there is a flat rate £25 ticket for ages 5 to 13. We also have a new quiet and family camping field and some upmarket toilet and shower facilities for those who like a bit more comfort.
The Secret Forest Project
One of the gems in Kelburn’s crown and open from 10am to 5pm daily, the Secret Forest is a surreal labyrinthine trail through the woods above the main festival site, that includes many bizarre attractions, from the Chinese gardens and Pagoda, the gingerbread house and the Greenman’s maze, to the crocodile swamp and grotto and the “inner wood”. And exclusively for Kelburn Garden Party, you can catch the The Secret Forest Project. This living installation at the Kelburn Garden Party will host all manner of strange fairytale characters inhabiting the forest, each with their own story to tell as you make your way through the pathways.
The Famous BlundaBus
The famous Fringe venue is back at Kelburn this year with a top quality kids programme in the daytime alongside the evening adult shows, featuring the legendary Phil Kay! Here’s what to expect:
Bob Slayer’s How 2 Drive A Bus
The childrens show on an actual bus with a crazy bus driver and his courageous conductor… DingDing! No standing on the top deck… All wonderful nonsense. All ages! You can even bring your parents along (so long as they are well behaved). No busses will be actually driven unless everything goes drastically wrong… (again!) “Hilarious for all ages…” The Skinny. “The ultimate off fringe performer…” The Scotsman. “Spirit of the Fringe…” The Guardian
The Lullabies Collective
Families will find a warm welcome at the Lullabies Collective. A focal point of the family camping field, their programme puts some familiarity and rhythm into the day for younger festival goers while giving parents some down time too. Start the day with a Sing Along, enjoy a bubbly Baby bath after dinner, and finish off the day with the festival bedtime of your life – songs and stories from the Lullabies Collective! The Lullabies Collective are artists and musicians with children of their own who love festivals and produce collaborative performing arts for children. Together they create the Lullabies Tent, an amazing sheltered environment for parents, babies and young children. Bath the kids and enjoy original songs and stories, traditional and modern lullabies, entrancing visuals, and soothing live music.
Big Fish Little Fish – Family Disco!
The award-winning “2-4 Hour Party People” host sold out family-friendly raves all over the UK, and are hugely popular with parents who just can’t leave their clubbing days behind them.
They make their Kelburn debut with a disco on both Saturday and Sunday of the Garden Party – expect banging (but not too loud) tunes, confetti cannons, ballons and all kinds of party magic. Ideal for those parents who need to be in bed with the wee ones by dark.
Let’s Circus
After a heap of sell-out shows across the Shetlands and Outer Hebrides last year, Let’s Circus are returning to Scotland with their international cast of comedians, acrobats, clowns, jugglers, and aerialists. Their stellar performance promises something for all the family, with award-winning performers from five continents filling an expansive hilltop with unmissable spectacles and laugh-out-loud entertainment.
More to be announced soon…
