JollyDays Supported Holidays: Latitude with Derek & Wendy

The first of many more trips to the family oriented festival was a complete success.

Forget the concerns over the weather, we managed to dodge the showers and breathe in the air at Latitude, Suffolk.

We found our comfortable bungalows overlooking Oulton Broad and settled in for the next four nights. It was a great base for our festival experience, in a picturesque area and a very pleasant club house. As usual we nipped off to a nice restaurant on our first night.

The first day of the festival was blessed with a dry sunny day. We took full advantage and set off early to enjoy the atmosphere as much as possible. Passing rainbow sheep on the way, we made our way to the Sunrise Arena and enjoyed our very first experience of live music in a beautiful woodland setting. We organised ourselves on our waterproof matting and just relaxed. That seemed to be the order of the day! Picnic lunch was soon on the cards, as it was on another day at the festival. The bands were fantastic and it was a good start to Latitude. We explored further as the day went on and familiarised ourselves some of the other areas around. It was so busy, but also comfortable. The festival grounds seemed to go on and on. There was more food stalls than you could count and of every variety. We visited the Literary Arena and chilled listening to a budding author reading from one of his early novels. The Comedy Arena was mobbed, so we didn’t get the chance to be involved with the fun unfortunately. We moved on and visited the World Arena and watched other acts and danced along with the music. It was good to have a wide choice of food stalls as we were going to have our dinner there too. Off to the Obelisk Arena to watch KT Tunstall before deciding nearly nine hours at the festival was enough for our first day. We decided to head home to our club house too rest and look forward to day two.

We awoke to a miserable day. Therefore it was decided to make our way to Great Yarmouth and have a game of 10 pin bowling. Amber was the top shot! There is hardly a holiday, it seems, where we don’t get a game or two in! Off home for a late lunch and then those that wished to, went for a swim before setting off for the evening at Latitude. The weather improved vastly, but of course it was rather muddy. Trying to park our minibus was fun....we managed to get stuck in the mud and needed some assistance to get out before finding a dry area to park. We were off to the main arena, The Obelisk Arena, to wait for Paolo Nutini. Apart from enjoying other groups, it was well worth the wait and we stayed late into the night. Off home we went to get some sleep for day three at Latitude.

Again, we headed off early to make the most of day three. The weather was very changeable, but overall sunny with intermittent showers. It didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for the festival and we happily found cover when the rain fell. True British spirit! Our first stop of the day allowed us to watch a dance troupe rehearsing for their performance later in the day. It was a very nice location, set over the lake. We wandered on from there and made straight for the official festival merchandising stall to buy tee shirts and other memorabilia. On from there we visited the Poetry Arena and thoroughly enjoyed some of the readings. Some were extremely funny. We had a nice time and it really made a change to listen to poetry. We wandered on and took in more of the music and had another picnic. During the day we said goodbye to both Amber and Caroline. After they both went, we decided to go back to Oulton and get refreshed for dinner and a game or two of pool at the club house.

Our last day and we were off home after our usual full breakfast. Also, as usual, we didn’t head straight home. There was still plenty of time to enjoy a day together. Off we went to Ely and visited the lovely city where we marvelled at the cathedral and the immense size of such a structure in what appears quite a small city. Looking for a nice place for lunch, we found ourselves down at the Maltings. We came across a very nice restaurant overlooking the waterways. Unfortunately after lunch we had to make our way home. It was sad, but what a great time we all had at Latitude.

Thanks to Colin, Amber, Caroline, Robin, Robert, Mikey & Christine for making our first venture to Latitude the great success that it was!!