Review: PodPads Definitely Put The GLAM Into Glamping

Phew. We did it. We survived a festival with our two-year-old. (Do I get a medal, or something? I feel like I should…)

But there’s no doubt that our three days at Camp Bestival were made even more amazing thanks to the accommodation we were in. As previously mentioned, I’m not a happy camper. I like to be clean and I like my home comforts. Three nights in a tent – even a 5-person tent – filled me with slight horror. So staying in a Podpads hut was the perfect solution. But was it as good as it sounded?

YES!

Camp Bestival Podpad Bunkpad

Letter G

G is for good night’s sleep. Thanks to the comfy bunk beds in our PodPad, I slept soundly while at Camp Bestival. (Well, apart from the few hours on our second night when our little one decided to get into my single bunk bed – that was a bit of a tight squeeze.) We had sleeping bags and we took our daughter’s Peppa Pig readybed. Although to be honest, at the end of each day, she was so exhausted that she would have slept anywhere!

L in a star

L is for lighting. The BunkPads come with four bedside lights and a strip light by the door. You can let natural light in by opening the windows and door. There’s also a few plug sockets, which is handy for charging phones. Apparently it won’t cope with hairdryers or GHDs but who needs those at a festival, anyway?

A in a star

A is for a nice cuppa. A lovely touch in the PodPads camping area was that you could visit the reception hut at any time during the day and get a complimentary cup of tea, coffee, hot chocolate or juice. They even supply you with a few mugs to take along to fill up. The staff were super-friendly too. A welcome start to each day!

m in a star

M is for medium-sized shower queues. There were around 15 showers in the Boutique Camping Site, and they started getting busy at around 7.30am. But even then, the queues weren’t outrageously long. On the Saturday morning, I queued for 20 minutes and on the Sunday, I queued for five minutes. The showers were hot and had enough room to get undressed, hang clothing up to keep dry and then get dressed with loads of room to spare.

p in a star

P is for perfect temperature. Before going to Camp Bestival, I had worried about whether the BunkPad would get cold at night or really hot in the mornings, but it was just perfect. The hut stayed cosy at night and then felt nice and cool in the mornings (none of that ‘gasping for air’ thing you get in a tent).

i in a star

I is for ingenious way to transport all of our stuff to the campsite. Because the PodPads are so spacious, it’s tempting to take loads of stuff (they even have shelving and hooks for your coats!). Friends warned us before we went not to overpack, since you generally have a long way to travel from carpark to campsite. But those clever bods at Camp Bestival have trolleys that you can hire (each one has a name – ours was called Hugh) to transport all of your stuff from car to campsite. BRILLIANT. Some people hired a trolley for the whole weekend, and used them to cart the kids around the festival, but we just hired them for half an hour at a time.

n in a star

N is nice, cute huts. There was something so aesthetically pleasing about coming back to our little painted PodPad each evening. Strolling along the grass in the dusky light (we generally headed back at 8.30pm/9pm with a snoozing child in her buggy) and walking past the yurts and bell tents to our row of brightly painted huts was just a treat. Each morning, we’d put our picnic blanket outside on the grass and eat breakfast surrounded by the huts, as the sun broke through the clouds. Just lovely.

Letter G

G is for great toilets. At a festival? Really? Yes. The loos in the Boutique Camping Site had toilet roll, they flushed properly and there was even POSH HAND SOAP. Hallelujah. Here are some snaps from our weekend…

Podpads review - Camp Bestival 2013

If you want to find out more about PodPads, check out their website – they are without a doubt, a pricey option when heading to a festival (our BunkPad would come in at £825 for the duration of the festival) but if you’re in the mood to splash out, or it’s a special occasion, then GO FOR IT. (Psst! You can also buy a PodPads hut for home use too – I’m a bit obsessed with the idea of having a spare bedroom hut in my garden. Imagine when my mum came to stay and every night at 10pm, I’d say “Right Mum, time for bed – out to the garden!”…. tempting!)

 

Hey you! Boring disclosure rules mean I have to tell you that PodPads gave me a healthy discount at Camp Bestival in exchange for a review. All views are mine, not theirs.

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4 Comments

  1. August 7, 2013 / 7:02 am

    They look absolutely fantastic – I would love to stay in one, they make a festival with a family so much more appealing!

    Shame they are so expensive though.

  2. August 7, 2013 / 7:36 pm

    Hallelujah! That’s it I’m coming! These look ace I can certainly deal with a pod and not a tent!

  3. Soula
    August 8, 2013 / 2:07 pm

    They look awesome!!!!!
    That is my type of camping!!

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