Bodfest street view

Summer village fests – BodFest 2013

I love the way all our local villages round us have started doing a village fest rather than fetes.  There’s been BloxFest for a few years which is massive in terms of attendance and the bands playing, while the others are just getting started and on a smaller scale (plus in generally smaller villages).

Today’s was BodFest, in Bodicote.  A friend lives there, so thought we’d pop down to see them and check the event out.  Compared with the other events earlier in the summer, this was very lucky with the heatwave weather.

Bodfest street view

There were the usual local stalls, selling cupcakes, local honey, foods, arts and crafts, plus some charity stalls and of course the WI with their cakes.  I was loving this stall selling beautiful seaside and beachy feel coasters and canvases.

handcrafted goods stall at Bodfest
cakes and cookies at Bodfest

There was a central display area for various shows – N loved the primary school choir, and the girls cheer-leading display.

watching the cheerleaders at bodfest

He wasn’t sure about the clown on stilts, wanted to talk to the pupppy in training for Dogs for the Disabled, and made a right mess eating a Calippo ice lolly.  As I’m trying to see whether keeping him off dairy for a couple of weeks will help his nappies, I thought it would have to be a lolly rather than ice cream.  And my theory was, a lolly in a carton would avoid the drips…I can tell you now, it doesn’t.  His t-shirt was covered as he’d tipped the carton up several times.  Never again (until he’s a lot older).

Calippo ice lollies

There wasn’t much in the way of food…not that was suitable and of a size appropriate for a toddler (even a hungry one like mine), so we shared a pulled pork roll with coleslaw.  Wow, it was delicious (I’m very happy I didn’t have the BBQ sauce on it as I’m sure it would have overpowered the rest), although even the radishes and red cabbage in the coleslaw didn’t make N want to try that part.  Meat only for him!

pulled pork roll at Bodfest

We mooched around for a bit, saw the fire engine turn up for its obligatory stint letting children run wild on it, then decided we’d had enough of the heat.

fire engine fun at bodfest
waving the flag at Bodfest

Just wandering round in the warmth for an hour or so with spot of lunch in the shade, was enough to send N to sleep in the car on the 10 minute journey home.

Does your area do village ‘fests’?  Or is it just an Oxfordshire thing?

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9 Comments

  1. Looks lovely, it’s so nice when the weather is nice at these events, can make all the difference! My Nana’s village does one but last year was a bit of a wash out.

    1. I think, sadly, most events last year were wash outs. I know the ones by us were.
      I does make a big difference to the atmosphere. We went to Bloxfest, my old village which is a much larger event as well. Last year was warm, very busy and lots of fun. This year’s was dry (just about), but a bit chilly, and empty, with not much atmosphere early on.

  2. Apart from the beer fests, its all fetes around here. Always worth a visit. Especially the ones with locally made ice creams. Yum.

    1. They have fetes as well. The fetes are the traditional kind, the ‘fests are more about local bands, food etc, with bands, local crafts etc happening in the pub gardens.

  3. I love the idea of a fest, we do however have our village Carnivals and take part in creating a float every year! It would be nice if we had stalls and other activities going on though. Thanks for sharing your fest fun with Country Kids.

    1. The carnivals sound great though. Our town have a hobby horse festival, but at the moment there are just so many to go to, it’s so hard to choose

  4. Since we moved house in February I’ve started noticing all the fairs, fêtes and festivals there are in the county. We’ve been to a rally today and had an incredible time, I’m sure I’ll write something about when I’m not quite so exhausted!

    1. I’ve not made it to any of the county rallys. Poor showing considering they’re usually young farmer based! It’s definitely hard to choose between them

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