Our Wilderness Life Tonic

Doing something new, whilst also doing what we enjoy.

That was probably the theme of our first ever Wilderness Festival.

We went with friends, their families and the kids, not really knowing what to expect. Four days later, we left feeling that we'd probably only scratched the surface.

Wilderness is enormous. There are stages, lakes, food, talks, comedy, yoga, swimming, paddleboarding and all sorts of things happening seemingly everywhere you turn. With so much going on, the challenge isn't finding something to do — it's deciding what not to do.

We spent plenty of time at the Dive Bar, discovering some brilliant live acts.

Jeanie and the White Boys immediately caught our attention with their stage presence, while Gingerella brought a great indie-rock energy. PleasureInc were another highlight — an awesome vibe and exactly the sort of band that makes you want to stay for just one more song.

There were plenty of bigger musical moments too.

Carl Cox was fantastic, and we managed to catch both of his sets. The Last Dinner Party were also a standout. It was their first headline festival performance and they absolutely delivered.

We were lucky enough to catch a brief set from Annie Lennox, although I'll admit we were hoping for a little more!

And Groove Armada in the Valley was another memorable moment — the combination of music, setting and atmosphere was hard to beat.

Trying something different

But one of the things that made Wilderness feel different from a traditional music festival was how easy it was to wander away from the music and discover something completely unexpected.

We went to a poetry reading by Georgie Jones, which was heartfelt and genuinely touching. Not necessarily something we would have gone looking for, but exactly the kind of experience you get when you're prepared to try something different.

We also went to a book talk about Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard — a title that immediately caught our attention given our own interest in helping people navigate health and wellbeing in midlife.

It felt very much like our kind of conversation, so naturally we bought the book. Watch this space...

Then there was Police Cops, a wonderfully silly piece of performative comedy packed with all the clichés we've come to know from police dramas. Completely different again — and very funny.

For us, a festival couldn't really be complete without some movement and wellbeing.

There were free opportunities to join yoga, SUP yoga and open-water swimming, which meant you could balance the late nights and dancing with something that made your body feel good.

That was one of the things we particularly loved about Wilderness. Wellbeing wasn't presented as something separate from having fun. You could dance until late, get up and practise yoga, swim in the lake, paddleboard, eat great food, listen to music and then head off to a talk or comedy show.

It's actually a pretty good representation of what we think wellbeing should be: not restriction, but adding more of the things that make life feel good.

We barely scratched the surface

Even after four busy days, there were huge parts of the festival we didn't really explore.

There were locations we barely visited, activities we didn't get around to and probably dozens of performances and talks that passed us by while we were somewhere else.

And that's perhaps the best thing about going for the first time.

We left thinking about what we'd do differently next time.

Wilderness gave us four days of music, movement, new experiences, good food, laughter and time with friends and family. We did plenty, but somehow still felt as though we'd only just begun to discover it.