It's Eleanor Mae: My Boardmasters Festival Experience 2016

'The View' Stage

Generally, a weekend spent sleeping on an inch thick pilates mat, in a (very) temperature sensitive tent, surrounded by dirt, dust and drunk people, doesn't really appeal to me. Yep! You guessed it. I could not be more the type of girl to enjoy early nights, the comforts of a warm shower in the morning and typically more than one type of fruit and/or vegetable per day.

When my friends decided our annual girls holiday was going to be Boardmasters Festival in Newquay, Cornwall, my immediate thoughts were "oh god". Newquay was the holiday destination for many school friends when we finished Year 11 at the age of 16, so the thought of camping here only reminded me of the times we'd sneak various alcoholic tipples from our parents' supplies and get stupidly drunk in a field in the middle of nowhere.

After researching the festival a little, my mind began to be swayed. Boardmasters is an annual four day festival in Newquay, Cornwall, which combines surfing and skateboarding with music and camping; the vibe seemed so much more chilled than the other festivals I always avoided in the past. The reviews and photos sold it to me, I was actually excited for a festival and even the prospect of camping became less frightening.

One of the many photos that swayed me. Credit: Boardmasters Photo Gallery

I have now returned from my festival experience, and can honestly say I loved every minute. If you're like me and generally avoid festivals like the plague, Boardmasters is definitely a good one to start with. August is the perfect time of year for this festival; the sun shone all weekend, meaning my amazing friends and I could take trips to the beach or just lounge around the campsite during the days, and hit up the main arena to watch music acts in the evening.

Even though our hair became greasier and the portaloos became progressively more disgusting as the weekend went on, everyone learnt to embrace their inner filth (even me!) and make do with some dry shampoo and baby wipes to stay fresh (ish). Saying that, if you really can't bear the thought of greasy hair and dirty portaloos for the entire weekend, the festival offered luxury hair washing facilities and toilets (supplied by "When Nature Calls") for £12.50 per day or £30 for the weekend. My friends and I took advantage of the one day offer so we could freshen up mid-way through our trip, and boy we were glad we did!

The main arena was so different to anything I'd seen before, with stunning views of the Cornish beaches and coastline at every stage. There were countless places to buy food that catered to even the fussiest of eaters; there was Nandos, paella, chinese, tapas, burgers, halloumi and chorizo, pancakes, healthy smoothie bars, mac and cheese and so many more (I recommend the paella, it was delish!).

In conclusion, for someone who avoids festivals at all costs, Boardmasters made me completely reevaluate my opinions and was definitely a good starting place. It was unbelievably chilled and I'm so surprised to be saying that the camping wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be, although I would definitely recommend taking something a little thicker than a pilates mat to sleep on...

Here are some of the photos we took of the weekend.