Camp Quirky The Greenest Van Life Festival In The UK
As the days get longer and the weather starts to warm up, festival season begins! We were invited to talk at the Camp Quirky festival 2022 edition and didn’t know what to expect as we’d never been before.
Camp Quirky is put on by the team at Quirky Campers and they have a lovely selection of their hire vans on show for you to discover. If you are considering van life or even just a trip by campervan, then it’s a great place to come and try something out! The Camp Quirky festival is designed for those who are interested in campervans whether it be building out your own van, living in a van, or enjoying travelling in a van. The festival is also for anyone who loves the outdoors, good food, music and sustainability. There is a dedicated tent section if you are planning on coming and don’t have a van.
We were very impressed to see just how sustainable Camp Quirky is. The entire festival is run off solar via the solar bus! The toilets are all compostable and at the end of the festival not a scrap of rubbish was left behind! Quirky campers are always looking at how they can be more sustainable in everything that they do and this is something we are also passionate about.
Known as the Greenest Handmade Campervan Festival in the UK, Camp Quirky is completely powered by the sun through solar panels. There are compostable toilets, recycling bins and you are encouraged to use your own cutlery, mugs, plates to reduce the use of single use plastics.
The first day we arrived, we queued up and parked up the van ready for the weekend ahead! The festival field is big, so it’s worth bringing a flag or kite to remind you where you are parked. We were close to the main tents and this made it easy to find our van and our three vans together it made it easy for us to find them in the dark. There is plenty to keep you occupied, as when you arrive you’re given a detailed programme of the weekend on what’s on so you can plan what you want to see and do!
We ran a workshop on how to take better travel photos and loved sharing tips and tricks and meeting lots of lovely people! We were really nervous about doing our workshop, luckily though everyone that came to our workshop was really friendly and had great questions. There were many other workshops and Q&A sessions about a variety of topics, including carpentry skills, life on the road and sustainability. Some of our favourite workshops were given by Lou and Em from Campervibe about European van travel and Beth and Jakes giving their experience of full time van living. The atmosphere at Camp Quirky was very chilled and a great place to meet other like minded people who have similar interests to you.
Even though we made sure to stock up our fridge and food cupboards before we arrived at Camp Quirky we ended up not eating in our van the whole weekend. The variety of food stalls covered everything from Indian to Mexican and one of our favourites pizza! There was also a cocktail bar and the main bar in the main tent serving drinks all day.
We had the pleasure of sitting on a van life Q&A in the main tent taking questions from festival goers. Nic, Beth, Emma and Lou as well as Linzi from Quirky Campers were also taking questions with us. Some of the questions we answered were, “How do we make money on the road”? And “How did we start a business in social media”? Perhaps the cherry on the cake for this session was the appearance of Russell Brand. After the session, it was lovely to make new friends and swap stickers which is a must for vanlifers!
As the sun set and the evening begins, live music fills the air with the chance to let your hair down and have fun! The best times at Camp Quirky were in between moments, just chilling with friends, checking out other vans and meeting new people.
We had such an incredible time and ended up being one of the last to leave on the Monday. We’d spent hours chatting to new friends and talking all things life, travel, cats and vans!
This year, we are so excited for Camp Quirky 2023 and seeing friends and making even more new friends, eating delicious food and just having an epic party. For Camp Quirky 2023 we have been chosen to be ambassadors and are so excited to be involved with such an incredible van life festival.
If you love festivals, van life, amazing people, good music and good food then this is the festival for you. Book you tickets here and we cannot wait to see you at Camp Quirky 2023!
This article is sponsored by Quirky Campers.
The Images in this blog are shared by @steffellsphotofilm & @findingouradventure