Back to our Van Roots
We’re very lucky this season to have the weekends off work which provided a good opportunity to see what’s on in Kent on weekends… And when I say ‘What’s on’, I mean VW festivals! Back in March, we got the Caddy Camper for trips on our days off and it will come in handy now for going to VW festivals where it all started for us.
We found several festivals that we’ve never been to before, like Volksweald, Quex Park VW Festival and Kent VW Fest. So we sign up for all three. We also sign up to Beach Dubbin’ One (the new reincarnation of Beach Buggin’ in Southsea) with our old club South Coast Dubs.
The first festival to come up is Quex Park VW Festival at Quex Park near Birchington. It’s only a 20 minute drive from us so we can go on Friday once we finish work. We’ve gone back to basics with simply a bed, some chairs, a little stove and a coolbox. We’ve got our favourite camping foods: bacon, hotdogs, bread… and some beverages.
As we drive onto the festival, it feels great straight away! The camping areas look great, there is a great atmosphere. We find a little spot for our little Caddy and park up. That’s it, we’re ready! We go check out the festival field with all the shops and the music, and soon we’re dancing around till the music stops.
The next day, a little worse for wear, we are soon perked up by a bacon sarnie for breakfast with a hot steaming mug of tea, and we’re ready for another day of fun and frolics. We have a great time and we even meet some old Dub friends who we first met several years earlier at Brighton Breeze. On the last day of the festival, we are in no rush to leave as we don’t have far to go so we stick around to see the music. This is when we first meet Tom Dibb. In a weird coincidence, we have one of his CD’s in the Caddy Camper. It was left in it when we bought it and we’ve been listening to it almost continuously whenever we’re in the Caddy as the radio reception is rubbish. It was no hardship as we really like the CD.
Anyway, Tom starts playing and it’s awesome. We really relate to his music and his songs as they seem to capture our new way of life. We end up getting his new album, Ground Up, which is brilliant and turns out to be the soundtrack to our summer and will be playing when we get going again in November. Long story short, if you get a chance to see Tom perform, don’t miss it!
The next show we go to is Volksweald near Tonbridge. This is a bit further afield for us but we still manage to get there on the Friday night. At this point, the 2018 summer heatwave is in full swing and this weekend is a scorcher! Luckily we have a little awning this time to provide some shade. Volksweald has lots of bands on and some great stalls, as well as an inflatable pub. It’s yet another brilliant weekend in the Caddy, but by now we’re starting to feel quite certain we would like to have a transporter again…
By the time we get to Kent VW Fest we’ve made up our minds to buy a T5 camper, but we’re not sure yet exactly what we want. Stuart had seen one he liked at Quex VW show and it was still for sale at Kent VW show so we decided to take it for a test drive. 30 minutes later, the deal was done and the T5 was going to be ours! The festival was good but unfortunately it was a bit of a wash out as the good old British summer returns to normal service.
The final show of the season for us is Beach Dubbin’ One, formerly known as Beach Buggin’. It’s our ‘home show’, and this year we’ve volunteered to help. We go in the Caddy as originally planned as it’s a good opportunity to put it in the ‘For Sale’ section. Beach Dubbin’ One is a great success and the team have done a brilliant job in getting the show up as they have. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed helping out, and it’s been great seeing old friends from our old local VW clubs again.
There’s just something about VW camping that’s good for the soul. It’s certainly felt like coming home again this summer and we’re both happy and excited to go on T5 weekend adventures again during our working season.