Raspberry Kitsch - a North East Fashion, Travel & Lifestyle blog

Glastonbury. There's really no place like it in the world. I can't even put into words the whole overwhelmingly exhausting but exhilarating experience of being there. When you tell people you're going you're either met with extreme jealousy or a load of comments about the mud and how dirty you'll be after a week sleeping in a field. And yes, I finally got home on Tuesday afternoon sunburnt, bruised and blistered. But happy. Ridiculously happy after spending an insane week with the best sort of nutters. And honestly, I can't believe it's all over so soon. After weeks of planning and prepping, the whole week flew over. I wasn't really sure where to start with this post, but I knew I wanted to share some of my snaps - not the greatest quality because I'm definitely not a responsible enough adult to be trusted to take a DSLR to a festival and not drop it in the mud / lose it / break it. So here's a little snippet into a whole week of eating, drinking, dancing and complete over indulgence at one of the greatest places on earth. And of course, since festival season is finally here, how to survive at one... 1. Pack sun cream and patience
There will be lots of queuing. We waited for three and a half hours to get through those gates. And by the time we got through (and had been standing without any shade and three verrry heavy backpacks) we had managed to each burn our scalp, shoulders and noses. I'm quite olive skinned so in general, I wouldn't say I burnt easily and on holiday I usually use about SPF 25 as the highest. Glastonbury is a whole different game though. If you're lucky enough to get good weather, the sun is sort of relentless. And when you're out all day enjoying yourself, you don't notice how exposed your skin is. Even if you're a good tanner, take at least SPF 25 or 30, so you don't need to worry about looking like a lobster in all your photos. 2. Bring plenty of accessories and energy
Bindis, metallic tattoos, fluro body paint, feather hair extensions, floral crowns, costume jewellery, you name it, one of the girls brought it. You might feel a bit daft at first, but everyone loves to play dress up once they've had a few. And fluro paint is the gift that just keeps on giving. You can reprint it all over someone else's arm, or your clothes or someone else's clothes, then find it out glows in the dark. Or at least ours did. Which comes in pretty handy for losing people in Shangri La. Longer festivals like Glastonbury are all about pacing yourself.. you'll be out all day and pretty much all night, so catch up on your beauty sleep before you go. You won't be getting much when you get there. 3. Be prepared for any weather
Both times I've been to Glastonbury it's rained and it didn't spoil either experience. It's sort of expected and it comes with the territory. So even if the forecast looks amazing, always be prepared for the odd shower or torrential downpour. If you're lucky, the majority of the time the weather will be great but once the ground has gotten muddy, there's usually nothing that can cope but big boots or wellies. This year's forecast looked pretty grim so I made sure I packed my Barbour short gloss wellies and some decent rain coats. And a poncho from Target Dry (which although I don't have any photos of was one of my failsafes during the festival and came in super handy!) I was gifted the Barbour wellies last year and I love them because they're quite short so it means my legs still get plenty of sun! This year, Barbour very kindly sent me one of their Rampside Casual coats too to keep me dry. I've been on the lookout for a yellow fisherman's jacket for AGES now and I'm absolutely in love with this! Made from a durable cotton blend, it's the perfect lightweight jacket for summer showers. It's perfect because it's pretty warm but because it's thin, it folds up really small so it doesn't take up too much room in your backpack. Plus the canary yellow made me very easy to spot in a crowd! Above all, the best piece of advice I can give you for any festival is have fun. Scream, shout and sing until you lose your voice. Laugh so hard you think you might vomit. Take too many photos. Try out new weird and wonderful food. Discover a new love for body art. Get paint all over your clothes. Get lost in a crowd of people but just enjoy being there. Wear flowers in your hair. Accessorise everything with glitter. Treat yourself to one more cider. Stay out too late. Dance until your feet are so blistered you don't think you can walk. And come home with the best memories.