Vanfest 2011
Well as we own a dub, we had to book a VDub weekend to see what its all about and for us that weekend was Vanfest 2011 in the Malvern Hill’s. (We have already been to this location with the MMM Magazine and loved the location!). We were surprised at the cost of the weekend - £90 for two of us and the Dub but without any of the paid evening entertainment (which would have cost extra but for us it was all about the dubs!).
I was very excited on the trip, going up on the Friday morning with our tickets and site information in hand, we set off. It was great seeing lots of Dubs on the way up and all the friendly waving backward fourth.
As we approached the 5mile mark, we check the site information and entrances details, which states to use the yellow and brown gates. So I used the brown gate, which should be fine! As I approach a steward on this gate, I was told that I had entered via the wrong gate but was puzzled, as it should be one of the two allowed routes in.
We then tried to navigate to the general camping area - nightmare! When we finally found the area, the next challenge was the find a place to pitch up. This is where I started to lose it, as there was no control on pitch space. On most of the general camping area, campers would camp all around the outside making the only space in the center! Then if you found a way in, you have to pray that another camper would not block the small gap!!!!
Anyway, the awning goes up and we are all set up - time to hit Vanfest! Walking around, with lots to see, this is why I wanted to go… At last something to smile about. The sun starts to go down and the evening starts, time to head back to dub to have the evening meal. As soon as we got within 30 meters of the dub, all I can smell is people smoking weed! I did not sign up for this, there’s a lot I will put up with but drugs is not one of them!
Anyway with my head pounding from the smell of weed, we head for bed and hope we would have a better day tomorrow. As soon as we get out of the dub, someone close to the dub starts another joint! That’s it! I have had enough, we packed up the awning and left the site. What a waste of £90! (Vanfest need to learn some big lessons from this: poor control of campers setting up on site -visit a Warner Motorhome Show weekend and see how camper space is controlled and far too much drugs on site - get the police with a drug dog to do spot checks)