Geronimo Family Festival

What a fantastic Family Festival.

This weekend we were lucky to have been invited to Geronimo at Arley Hall and Gardens to review the family friendly festival. We decided against camping and instead had a Saturday Day Ticket.

For those (like us before this weekend) who have never been to Geronimo before it is a family friendly festival aimed at families with children under the age of 13. The festival is focused on ensuring families have good quality time together with lots of opportunities for imaginative play, learning, creating, exploring and laughing lots with plenty of opportunities to make magical memories together. And the festival definitely did this for us. We left wishing we had chosen the opportunity to camp as it was so good and we didnt get to do everything, not even a quarter of the amazing things that the festival had to offer.

We arrived at the festival and went to the entrance to get our wristbands, this was efficiently done and we were inside the event within an easy five minutes.

First stop, was for the girls to pose by the Geronimo sign.

We then walked by the Hasbro section (Hasbro City) which included a Play-doh tent and a My Little Pony section (they also had a Nerf and Transformers bit within the city section but we didn’t look at these).

First stop was the Play-Doh section. We waited in a queue for about ten minutes and were then let in. Jemima and Matilda ran to separate tables at first to play with the variety of playdoh toys, making various things including food and sea creatures. After about ten minutes the girls were given a tub of playdoh each and a stamp to take home and the session had finished.

Next we lined up for the My Little Pony magical bus tour. This queue was much longer (about twenty minutes) but was because the photo system inside the truck kept crashing. The girls were able to dress up and have their photos taken with props on whilst waiting to be invited inside the bus. They both chose colourful wigs.

We were then handed two My Little Pony Activity magazines and were then invited inside the magical bus where they collected a little My Little Pony toy for free and had their photo taken. They stood in front of a green screen and had to smile at Pinky Pie on a screen. We were expecting to see that the green screen came up on the picture as a scene from My Little Pony but it came out with just the green screen, so that was a little disappointing. But the girls didn’t mind as they had a free toy. Next stop in this section was some free face painting. Jemima chose to have some apples on her cheek with glitter and Matilda had a Rainbow Dash painted onto her arm.

Two happy girls then left the Hasbro section ready to explore what else the festival had to offer.

We went by the Bubble Tent which the girls were firm favourites of, as they were able to pick up the Bubble making toys and play with them as much as they wanted. They enjoyed it so much that we came back to this tent more than once and purchased a bubble wand to take home with us.

Matilda then spotted a mini carousel and wanted to have a go. We lined up and then found out that we had to purchase tokens to go on this ride (there was no sign stating this). Thankfully a kind lady I had stood chatting to in the queue gave us two tokens so the girls could go on the ride without having to queue back up again. If you’re reading this – thank you again.

This ride worked out at a reasonable £1 a go. Worth it for these two very happy faces.

Next stop was some lunch. There was an array of food stands offering various choices, from unhealthy fish and chips and pizzas, to healthy fruit salads and vegetable dishes. They had a large vegan truck too. All spread around the main stage area, so we could all choose something different to eat and sit down on the grass together, watching the main stage.

I chose a duck wrap with cucumber and hoisin from the Duck Stand which was £7. Jemima chose a bolognaise pasta from the pizza and pasta stand which cost £7. Hubby and Matilda shared a portion of chips, piece of fish, battered sausage and a drink from the Fish and Chip stand which came to £13.

There were no large queues for the food stands which made a nice change, perfect when you have children as they don’t want to hang around in queues.

We enjoyed sitting and eating our lunch whilst watching Max and Harvey on the stage, singing their popular songs like ‘Stuck on the Ceiling’ and ‘One More Day in Love’. Young girls were dancing around at the front and screaming in excitement at this 15 year old twin duo and Matilda and Jemima enjoyed dancing around the grass area too. Clapping when songs finished.

Hubby took the girls to the toilets (portaloo’s) and left me to enjoy the sun for a bit. He returned with two Waffles on a Stick (£3.50 each) which the girls and us shared and enjoyed. Jemima enjoyed licking all the white chocolate off her one.

There were various street performers walking around the grounds. Matilda posed with a Stormtrooper.

On the walk to the Green Peace field we stopped at the Slush stand to get the girls a slush drink each. £4 for the palm shaped bottle to be filled up and then if you wanted it refilled, another £2 for each refill.

You could add whatever flavours you wanted. The girls chose mixes of different colours/flavours. And we refilled once.

The first thing the girls wanted to go on in the Green Peace field was the inflatable assault course (free to play on).

Jemima enjoyed crawling under the net too, to get back to where she had left her shoes.

The girls played in the inflatable section which you have to pay extra for. £5 for an unlimited wristband or £2 per go. The girls just had a go on one of the inflatables with a slide and bouncy castle in one.

We liked the look of the very tall inflatable slides but knew the girls wouldn’t be able to climb up by themselves. You can see them in the far distance of this picture by the yellow tent.

We popped our head into Cirque De Hilarious and saw a hula hoop show, but we had arrived late and all of the seats had already been taken. So we watched the one lady and then left to continue exploring.

We found a craft tent where the girls were given some clay to create something. Matilda made a lizard and Jemima painted her clay lump with water which she was happy doing.

This was also free to do and Matilda was able to bring her clay creation home with her which was nice.

We walked past more fair rides, crazy golf, axe throwing and archery and headed over to the giant wheel that we could see in the distance.

We found some Geronimo beds which the girls jumped on top of.

They enjoyed making stories up about how the colourful umbrellas got into the trees…

And they sat and listened to an animal show (a snake holding session)

And explored the rescued parrots tent where they both got to stroke a parrot.

After exploring that section, my husband arrived back with some tokens for the big wheel (make sure you get some before heading to the big wheel as you need to pay to go on the wheel and the cart to buy tickets isn’t close by).

We queued for about five minutes and were then able to get onto the wheel.

The girls really enjoyed being on the wheel and looking around the site. Matilda spotted the camping section and we could see all across the festival. Choosing which section we were going to go to next.

We decided once off the wheel, to head towards the section where the spa hot tubs were.

Bathing under the sky looked great and next time I’m definitely bringing my swimming costume and booking a session.

In this section you had lots of things for the children to do. Matilda and Jemima loved the rocking horse tent. Yep, a whole tent full of rocking horses.

The girls spent a good twenty minutes in this section trying all of the different horses.

Before deciding they wanted to dress like horses and play in the horse riding section.

My two little horses. Running around the field. Even the girls Daddy joined in and put a mask on…

Matilda then decided she wanted to wear it too. It scared a little boy so much, he tried to run away and fell over.

I enjoyed watching the girls play with their Daddy whilst I sat and watched the wheel in the distance and admired the lighting. We were leaving before it was dark but I imagine it would look nice at night.

There was loads more games and things to do in this section including a Monkey Do section in the woods where kids could climb trees like monkeys and do rope swinging using industrial safety nets and webbing. We were sadly running out of time so couldn’t play and instead headed towards to exit to go on the helter skelter and swingboats before they closed.

We all had such a fantastic time at the festival and there was so much to do that I think it would be impossible to complete the festival in one day.

We plan to come back next year and try camping. So that we get to do the whole festival and not miss out on things.

Geronimo has finished at Arley for this year but is being held at Knebworth House from 30th June to 1st July. You can’t camp here at this site but you can still enjoy the fun of Geronimo on the day trips like we did at Arley.

Prices for Knebworth House are;

Booked in advance;

£25 One Day Tickets

£45 Two Day Tickets

On the gate;

£35 One Day Ticket

£60 Two Day Ticket

Parking £10

Important Information/Questions;

Does the site have cashpoints? Yes, there are plenty of cashpoints for you to withdraw cash.

I heard there are portaloo’s what about baby changing? Yes, the site has a large number of portaloo’s so you do not have to queue to use them. Baby changing is available in a number of large baby changing tents. Nappies and wipes are also provided in these tents.

Do you have a first aid section? Yes, the first aid section is in the centre of the festival giving easy access in the event of an emergency.

Is there much for free? Yes, lots. A large proportion of the things to do at the festival are free, including all of the main stage and arena shows, the circus shows, donkey rides, workshops, soft play, craft sessions, animal encounters, dodgems, helter skelter, Inflatable assault course, archery, ace throwing… And the list goes on.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask them.

Hey, if you liked this review or maybe were inspired to try this out because of my post, you can always buy me or the kids a drink or a slice of cake on our next big trip! Just hit the button below, if you want to. 🙂

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