Geronimo Festival 2018- Arley Hall

We recently went to Geronimo Festival at Arley Hall and we had a fantastic time! This was our first ever visit and we already can’t wait for next year!

We had 1 day guest passes so we had lots to try and fit in, there are over 100 activities going on over the weekend and most of them are included in your ticket price.

We arrived nice and early and parked up at Geronimo for just before 10am. We displayed our car park pass that we had been asked to print and headed to the entrance. After quickly showing our tickets and having our bags checked, we headed to the information tent where you could collect maps of the site, programmes, picnic blankets and sun cream. We just had to get a photo at the Geronimo sign, can you spot my son peeping?

At first we were very overwhelmed. Me and my husband tried to look at the map, our twins were desperate to get out the pram and my eldest wanted to run off and explore in excitement! The first thing we saw was the Hasbro section. My husband and son headed in there and found some pretty cool Nerf guns and targets, an instant hit with my eldest. Me and the twins stayed back, looking at the ponies and the children enjoying pony rides. It was then I looked at the map and started to understand the scale of the site!

Joshua, my eldest could have stayed in the Hasbro section all day, there was PlayDoh, My Little Pony and much more Nerf activities. We managed to get him out and we decided we would have a look around for a bit, figure out the site and explore. We checked out on the map for the essentials like the toilets, the main stage (the kids were very excited about Justin Fletcher) and the water filling station (it was an extremely hot day when we went).

I spotted the Tumble Tots tent and quickly rushed everyone over to it. When me and my son we’re looking at what to do before the event, we had thought Tumble Tots would be great for us as it’s something all three children could do. They loved it, it was lots of fun! The tent was brightly coloured and full of tunnels, slides, climbing equipment and trampolines!

Close to Tumble Tots was The Rig, another activity we had read about on the Geronimo website. The Rig is an installation of curiosities….a musical playground for all the family. Built from up-cycled and recycled objects turned into instruments and sound experiments, kids can really get creative with music.   We loved it, it was great fun. The kids got to make lots of noise with spoons, bang drums and shout through strange and wonderful telephones!

We popped the twins back in the pram and decided to have a look around as we were still quite close to the entrance. We found the Castle Stage which was the main focal point of the festival, we decided that we were going to head back there at lunch time to enjoy our picnic whilst watching Justin Fletcher. We were drawn to Doc Spinoff and his tricky tricycles, all three kids wanted ago.  There was a mass array of bikes, from normal looking ones to unicycles! Some bikes you had to pedal backwards, some turned the opposite way, some had a wheel on top of a wheel! Lots of fun!

We were close the the Adrenline Zone which looked really cool so we decided to go and check it out. A lot of it was too old for my two year old twins, they were happy with a snack in the pram. This section was great from my eldest, it gave him the opportunity to try out some activities that he hasn’t tried before. Most of them weren’t your day to day activities. Joshua had a go at caving (which he loved) archery, wall climbing and even an army themed inflatable obstacle course. Other activities available were axe throwing and skateboarding.

On our way back to the main stage, I managed to grab a go in the gorgeous hammocks they had. Wow, they were comfortable, I could have easily relaxed in one all day. I really want one for my garden!

By the time we made it to the stage, Justin Fletcher was due on stage in 5 minutes. The area around the stage had really filled up and we were quite far back. To be fair, that was fine by us, with a big double pram! We found a spot and set down our picnic blanket. We started our picnic just in time to enjoy Justin Fletcher and his songs, the kids loved him! My twins had remembered the ‘Hello’ song from Something Special on CBEEBIES and it was lovely when they sang along with Justin Fletcher.

We stumbled upon the Boom Chikka Boom tent next and it definitely was one of our favourite activities of the day! As we entered the tent, we were handed brightly coloured pom poms and hoola flowers. The tent looked fab! There was bubbles everywhere, loud music, inflatable palm trees, giant balls and guitars, sand pits and even a bouncy castle! We had a fab time. After some free play, the Boom Chikka Boom leaders organised lots of fun activities and games including one with a giant parachute, limbo and even a snow machine! So much fun!

Another of our favourite activities was the Big Fish Little Fish rave. My eldest, Joshua, wasn’t actually that interested in the rave but he was happy to join in with the arts and crafts and he made a funky crown. I was worried it would be a little loud for my twins, the tent was pretty dark and the music very loud, but they loved it! There was flashing lights, millions of bubbles, confetti guns and much more!They loved to dance and pop the bubbles.

The Tigers Children’s Motorcycle Display Team was probably my husbands (and my kids) favourite part of the day! Joshua couldn’t believe that children as young as him (5 years old) were riding motorcycles! The finale saw one stuntman  jump over two cars! it was pretty amazing!

Even though we were only there one day, we managed to pack a lot in. We also visited the Curiosity Zone where my son played Minecraft, he took part in an interesting science lesson, the twins enjoyed Jo Jingles and we all had lots of fun in the Lego Building Academy tent and playing the real arcade games!

I haven’t mentioned the funfair, mainly as we didn’t actually go on any of the rides. We didn’t go on them for several reasons; we didn’t have time as we wanted to fit in as much of the activities as we could, also we felt that the funfair rides weren’t needed. We absolutely loved all the activities we did, one reason is as they weren’t everyday activities. That’s what made them special! Fun fair rides are available everywhere plus with having three children, the rides would have cost us a small fortune!

We also took a picnic so we didn’t visit any of the food stalls available. There was lots of them and plenty of choice. I also liked that there was water filling station, that was definielty needed on such a hot weekend!

We had a fantastic, fun filled day and we can’t wait for next year! We would love to camp next year too…………….

Tickets are on sale now for Geronimo Festival 2018 at Knebworth House weekend of 30th June and are now on sale for Arley Hall 2019! check out details here.

 

Did you go to Geronimo Arley over the bank holiday? We’d love to see your photos, don’t forget to share them on our Facebook or Twitter page!

*NEWS- Did you know, tickets for Winter Fun Land at Event City this Christmas are only sale now and for ONE WEEK ONLY you can get them cheaper with the early bird rate! Check out what’s on at Winter Fun Land brought to you by the organisers of Geronimo.