Summer camps are usually known as a thing geared towards children, whether it’s the well-known mainstay of American culture, or the offerings of scout groups and similar in the UK (I used to be in The Girls’ Brigade as a kid). However, some people are recognising that there are adults who would also love to experience a similar concept for themselves, without having to work at one. So, in comes Camp Wildfire, dubbed the summer camp for adults, its tagline perfectly encapsulating what it offers: “Adventure by Day, Party by Night”. If you’re like me and you’re a fan of camping, field festivals, and doing lots of different fun activities, then this event might be exactly for you.
The way I found out about Camp Wildfire was rather interesting. I was watching the British TV show Dragons’ Den when I saw this pitch with a man and a woman dressed in scout uniforms. They were the founders of Camp Wildfire, seeking investment for this cool summer camp in England for adults. Unfortunately, none of the Dragons ended up investing in them. However, like many businesses that end up on the Den, it was a fabulous national advertisement for them. I was totally enticed and jumped straight to their website to read more and join their mailing list. I knew it was something that I was interested in going to one day, which I finally did a couple of years later.
Camp Wildfire runs two back-to-back weeks around the end of August and early September. I believe they both run more or less the same programme, and that they run it like this just to increase capacity for the year, so you would normally choose the one weekend to attend.
I bought a ticket to go alone, which I do often. Although I was based in Scotland, the festival was in Sevenoaks, Kent. Luckily, I have family in South London that I could travel down by train to and stay with, and I got an easy lift from there to the festival site.
Activities
You can choose from different tiers of tickets, depending on how many credits you’d like. Credits are like cash, allowing you to use them towards booking activities that are allocated a certain number of credits. You have an online account with Camp Wildfire, with which you would need to sign in to view all the available activities and spend your credit to enrol in the activities that you want to take part in. There are also some activities that are free and don’t require you to spend any credits on them. In total, there were 100+ activities you could choose from, from the creative to the sporty.
The activities that I spent my credits on were:
- DJ lesson
- Aerial silks
- Aerial hoops
- Afrobeats dance
- Drawing drag artists
- Capture the Flag
In addition, I also did some free activities: astronomy, mini golf, tree nets, screen printing and mask making.
These were all really fun, especially the things I tried for the first time: DJing and the aerial activities, which I’d love to do more of again. I loved the diversity in the number of activities available – you’re bound to find a few things that would suit your interests!
Music, Talks, Comedy and more
Around the site were various stages, many with live music acts and DJs playing music into the night. And there was also another stage dedicated to talks and comedy acts, where you can learn something or get entertained. These were the elements that gave Camp Wildfire a festival feel.
There’s also a board game tent. I loved the idea of it, but it was always so crowded and noisy whenever I went by it – I didn’t feel like I could fit in and join in anywhere.
They also had a mental health tent, run by the charity blink, and located a good distance away from the thick of the noise. It’s not something I’d heard of before at a festival, but I thought it was such a lovely idea. Inside were plenty of beanbags to chill out on and colouring cards and pens. Also available were free therapy sessions to book if you needed them. I found it to be a great respite a couple of times when I needed to get away from the busyness of the rest of the event and not necessarily retreat back to my own tent.
My Verdict
Overall, I think Camp Wildfire is a brilliant idea for letting adults enjoy something different and rather wholesome. My qualms were that I struggled sometimes with being there alone and found myself feeling lonely at times. It just didn’t seem like the easiest environment to make new friends. It felt like the majority of people were there with friends already and weren’t interested in adding to their established groups. Granted, there were provisions tailored for solo campers, such as a meetup for them and a solo campers’ area. I feel that the solo campers’ area failed because I saw people camping there who were clearly not solo. And then the solo campers’ meetup was OK, but so so – I didn’t get much from it, and they perhaps could have had more of them happening throughout the weekend.
Even with the feature of Patrols (an animal-named group that you could choose to be part of – Foxes, Badgers, Hawks or Squirrels), I was in Foxes, which was fun for buying merch, but I still didn’t quite feel that was enough to build the sort of community I was after. I reckon that Camp Wildfire is so popular, that the fact that there are so many people there just makes it that much easier to get a little lost in the crowds and unsure where you fit. I find that this can often happen to me anyway in these sorts of events with huge numbers of attendees. I would be much more likely to return if I brought a friend to accompany me, as it would likely just be that much more enjoyable. They wouldn’t have to follow me around the whole weekend, but it would at least make it more interesting to have them to hang out with.
Would I recommend Camp Wildfire? Overall, yes, as there are a lot of fun things to do, and so you can really tailor your experience. It’s also a lovely escape in nature, and it was nice walking around the sizeable festival grounds. However, I personally wouldn’t recommend going alone, as I didn’t find it as fun as I would if I were with friends. So, unless they improve the experience vastly for including solo campers, my advice is to go with a friend or group.
