I think I should start this post by pointing out that I am not the festival/outside camping/ being one with nature sort of person. I get cold easily, I have no balance (in muddy areas this has caused a number of soggy muddy bottoms) and I dislike all bugs. However one of my closest and longest friends the wonderful Leanne Carr asked me if I fancied a gander to Newquay to go to the Board Masters festival. A slightly bored Lizzy thought, hell, why not.

Two days later, a chipped windscreen, a confusion over tickets, a trip to Hertfordshire to pick up a new ticket (thanks parents) a near miss on the train down to Silverstone and a very tired Lizzy who had forgotten her toothbrush (darn) we made the six hour journey down to Cornwall. Leanne being an adult and a very organised person suggested we go to Stonehenge which has been on my list of things to do but due to my very lax knowledge of the geography of the United Kingdom had no idea where it was. However, we made a little detour and ended up at the very busy but utterly mesmerising Stonehenge.

Tickets at £15.00 weren’t cheap but when we got to the stones we were both in utter awe. I, not knowing really anything about them, had imagined them about waist height. Much to Leanne’s amusement they are just a little bigger. We spent the next hour taking selfies with the stones, listening in on a tour guide’s spiel, and weaving in and out of the reconstructed houses of the prehistoric people who built the monument at the time. We learnt so much about the spiritual importance of the stones and came out a little enthralled.

Four hours later we drove into the sunny town of Newquay; taking our tent, bags and my haul of food down to the entrance we found out you had to take all of your alcohol down first time round. So back up to the car again, we checked in to have a mirror quickly taken off of us. Setting up the tent we went back to the car to pick up the roll-mats forgetting to pick up our confiscated mirror. Four trips down we cracked open the cider, with our friend Jenny who we met there, and made our way down to the arena to see Everything Everything and Faithless. I took this time to a little drunkenly eat a steaming hot tub of mac and cheese, which was everything.

We spent Saturday at the beach, legs out, arms out, sunning ourselves and eating ice-cream; clotted cream for le adults (ie Jenny and Leanne) and a mega chocolatey one for yours truly #noregrets. Back at the campsite we had a proper catch up after not seeing Jenny in over four years, and drank too much wine and & cider before stumbling down to the arena. Pushing our way into a mosh pit (well done ladies) we were bashed about a bit whilst rudimental lit up the stage. Incredible stage presence and so many of their hits played, bloody bang on.

The final day we were all feeling a little exhausted despite getting quite a bit of sleep. I decided to spray my hair pink managing to get most of my neck and pyjamas involved in the process. Deciding to go back to Newquay, once arriving to go to the aquarium we decided instead it was time to find one of Char Balds suggested pasties; pork and apple. We found one in a dinky little pasty shop and my god it was beautiful. Back at the tent we drank the rest of the cider (rip liver) ate both a bag of salted caramel popcorn and doritos. We managed to see both Clean Bandit and I wolfed down a burrito before we finally went to see Bastille. Foot tapping, lighters out and hands swaying it’s one of the best live vocal performances I have seen to date. Tired out and exhausted we went back to the tent, waved goodbye to Jenny and snuggled into our sleeping bags.

The last day of the trip was spent packing up the tent, (getting a pop up tent is brilliant for putting it up but getting it back down again is another story.) picking up all our rubbish and making the seven hour trip back to Silverstone for me to later get the train back to Stoke-on-Trent. Armed with energy drink and minstrels we were immediately in traffic. Taking the alternate route we ended up on a road only big enough for a single car. Tired and exhausted we were happy to finally speed along the motor way and make it back pretty much on time. The next couple of days were exhausting but back at home wrapped in a duvet after a long hot shower the festival was just, brilliant. Not only something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but sharing it with two wonderful people was just spot on. Festival = done.