THE brainchild of its curators, Welsh music legend Cerys Matthews and Hawarden Estate Farm Shop owners Caroline and Charlie Gladstone, Camp Good Life (formerly known as The Good Life Experience) is a festival that’s all about stepping back from the pace of modern life to revel in the pleasure of doing things slowly.
Since its inception, the festival has welcomed thousands of people to the Hawarden Estate, where they have enjoyed the event's unique combination of craft, food and music in the stunning surroundings of Prime Minister William Gladstone's former estate.
While the festival itself is small – with capacity capped at 1,000 people – the site rolls across several hundred acres, meaning that there are always corners to be discovered, secret gardens ideal for lounging and plentiful elbow room. The festival finds its way into both castles, as well as the Walled Garden, Victorian Teahouse, 1920s cricket pavilion, boathouse and lake, the wildflower meadows and ancient woods.
Sadly this September's event will be the last in its current form with its organisers looking at hosting “smaller, more intimate and community-based events” in 2023 and staging six long weekends in two locations on the Hawarden Estate.
"It feels like a strange moment in our event's history," said Tara Gladstone, director at The Good Life Society, and daughter of Charlie.
"It's been going for a long time and changed every year so it does feel sad but at the same time I'm very much looking forward to next year and how our events will morph into what we think are the best versions of them."
Looking back on the festival's formative years, Tara is proud of what the Gladstones have achieved even if the organisation and financial status of the event has been stressful at times.
“It won’t surprise you to learn that it’s hard putting on a biggish festival,” said Tara. “It’s particularly hard to make money from one.
“Some people succeed but many more don’t and we fall into the latter group. Truth be told, we have never managed to make Camp Good Life or The Good Life Experience make a profit. It’s been fun, life enhancing even; but behind the scenes, it’s been hard.
"It grew and grew and then we shrunk it back but it has always kept its key ethos," she said. "It's about the outdoors, good music, good food, dogs, craft and making sure its family friendly.
"Covid forced us to change our approach but it worked for the business - we realised that customers were more interested in smaller, more intimate events that they got more out of.
"That way you get more interaction with speakers and makers and this year will be similar to last if actually a bit smaller."
Tara is also proud of how the festival has brought so many people to Hawarden and allowed them to discover the Gladstone estate.
"It has definitely been a beneficial outcome of the festival," she said. "Bringing the estate out into the modern world was important and I think it has been a lifelong ambition of my dad to make it less closed off to the public.
"The festival has really changed that and we'll definitely be continuing it. It is an astounding site and we want to give people the opportunity to enjoy it several times a year."
Looking back on the festival's history, Tara is certain about a few of her favourite moments.
"The first one was just so amazing and cool and then 2019 which was our biggest," she said. "It was when we moved it away from the farm shop and more into the grounds in front of the castle.
"But last year was definitely my favourite because it was my first one as director of the event and although it was probably a thousand times more stressful it also meant it was a thousand times more satisfying."
Tara is also pleased that the festival may have introduced people to crafts and skills they never knew they were interested in whether its wild swimming, axe throwing of foraging for mushrooms.
“So many people have interests they don’t even know are there because they never have an opportunity to try them,” she said. “We’ve always tried to come up with new things for people to try especially for those people who maybe live in a city and just don’t have access to this sort of thing.”
On this year’s line up Tara picks out Liverpool musician Michael Head’s performance as not to be missed while Ixta Belfridge’s live cooking demonstration is picked out as another highlight.
“Every event we do will positively inform what we do next,” she added. “I love that feeling when we’re at about 6pm on Sunday and most people have gone and all the staff we’ll sit around, have a drink and talk about fun things that happened over the weekend – it always leads to great ideas for our next event.”
Full line-up, weekend, day and family tickets and all vital information at thegoodlifesociety.co.uk
Dates: 16-18 September 2022. Address: Hawarden Estate, Flintshire, Wales, CH5 3FB.
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