Bear Grylls Festival - Gone Wild - Is it Any Good?
18 July 2023
The Gone Wild Festival, which is fronted by the popular TV personality and Scout leader Bear Grylls takes place in summer each year. It is four days crammed full of adventure for children and adults alike with a huge array of different activities to take part in. Picture a music festival combined with an adventure holiday and you get some idea what kind of special experience awaits.
Bear Grylls is well-known for being the Ambassador for Scouting and the kind of activities on offer at this festival can be a natural lead-in to joining the Scouting movement, if the children have found them fun. There is no pressure or expectation that this will happen but it is a clever tie-in for the Scouts, that is sure to land them a few new recruits.
Activities in Detail
The range of different activities on-site is truly breathtaking in scope and ranges from axe throwing and archery to kayaking, climbing walls and obstacle courses. There are essential survival skills to learn, including how to find water, build survival shelters and make campfires. There are also classes on how to wild forage successfully, including how to identify what can safely be eaten.
There are some excellent guest speakers from the areas of science, adventure and sport. There is an area for yoga and mindfulness, including massage therapy. There are also many water-based activities including the ever-popular Stand-Up Paddleboarding (SUP), kayaking, and rafting.
In the evenings, there are bands and DJs playing so you can enjoy the classic festival experience. There is a babysitting service (extra cost) if you want some child-free time while you enjoy the music.
There are dance competitions, and a whole area dedicated to dinosaurs, where kids and adults alike can learn about them. They can create their own dinosaur puppets, meet people dressed as dinosaurs and have fun making their own fossils.
The largest difficulty with this festival will be choosing what to do next. There are slip and slides, tree climbing, wine-tasting and so much more. There is simply too much to contain in a single article.
Cost / Value
One of the best things about this festival is that once the entry fee has been paid, the vast majority of the activities can be done without any extra payment. One child under 11 goes free with each adult ticket. The earlier you buy tickets, the cheaper they are. They also offer easy payment plans, which allow you to spread the payments over the course of a year in order to make the festival more easily affordable. This is something that is unsurprising from an event associated with Bear Grylls, as he is known for wanting to improve access to events, regardless of people’s socioeconomic backgrounds.
It may seem quite a lot of money, on the face of it, but it is also an experience that your children will talk about for years afterwards. If you want to make some truly amazing memories of their childhood, this is one that will be almost guaranteed to stick with them. There have been rave reviews from many people who have attended and tickets sell fast.