Standon Calling started as a garden birthday party and has grown over 16 years into a beautifully formed inter-genre celebration of music, art, creativity and the great outdoors. You are in charge and can curate your festival experience to be hectic and busy, filled with late nights partying under the stars (or in a tent) but you can equally take it easy and enjoy a massage, wild walk or a dip in one of on-site hot tubs. You can bring the kids, grandma and the dog along – it’s great and here are 5 reasons to book your tickets for 2023.
There is a swimming pool
Yep you read that right. Standon Calling is one of the only festivals to have a heated on-site swimming pool that is clean and a delight to have a dip with little people. Pack your inflatables and book ahead of time as the free swim gets incredibly busy. The pool’s proximity to the main stage means you can take in big tunes as you swish around the water – remember your towel and your bikini!
Top Tunes
The line-up at Standon Calling has something for everyone on the roster – from big household names alongside emerging acts, dj sets, bands and other performers – this year we particularly enjoyed Anne-Marie, Sugababes, Gabrielle, Annie Mac, 24 Hour Garage Girls, Akala, Basement Jaxx and Madness. Whatever your music taste – you’re bound to find something you like across the various stages on the site.
Family (and dog) Friendly
Standon Calling caters for families very well. We were particularly relieved to see that there is a family campsite (for those that do need to return to base slightly earlier with little ones) and the family friendly offering is on point. From wholesome outdoor play activities from The Woodland Tribe (this year we used real tools to build a teddy bear play structure) through to Mr Motivator, Horrible Histories and the Flying Seagull Project. The site is filled with things that children will enjoy. There’s ziplines to wizz down, team games like lazer quest to take part in, dressing up competitions, dance sessions, crafts, puppet making and loads loads more. You won’t get a chance to do everything as there is so much on offer. Oh and they also allow pooches to join in the fun and as well as the dressing up for humans parade there is a pooch friendly one too. It is a joy to witness furry friends enjoying the fun with their owners (and families).
Festival Nannies
Partying with your offspring is different to pre-kid days when you could rave, sleep, eat, repeat. The kids may not be into the music, be keen to explore other areas of the festival or just want to relax back at camp. Cue Mortimer Nannies a festival service that caters for the kids so you can spend a few hours dancing the night away without snack requests or toilet breaks from your little folk. We spent Saturday night dancing away whilst the young Londoner got to hang out with other kids ina peaceful tent on site at the festival; watching movies, playing games and toasting marshmallows by the fire. At only £40 for 4 hours it is well worth it for a night out sand little folks.
Affordable (and delicious food)
Standon Calling allows cooking within the campsite (which we did attempt) but once you’re down the hill there is no interrupting the fun to cook back at camp (although the kid did try to convince us!) Thankfully though the food offering is delicious – one of the best we’ve ever had at a non-foodie festival. We has pizzas, wraps, burgers and fried chicken and everything was delicious and felt pretty good value compared to other festivals we’ve attended.
Proximity to London
Just adding a bonus reason to visit for all those London folks looking for a festival experience closer to home. Standon Calling is close enough to London so it doesn’t feel like a trek and yet far enough so it still feels like a staycation.
Standon Calling is on for 2023 on the 20 -23 July and earlybird tickets have already been released here.