Vally Fest 2018 with Weleda – Part 1
Sasha Seaward
This Summer I was lucky enough to go to Valley Fest with Weleda. When the lovely folk at Weleda invited me to come along with my family, it was like a little gift from the universe. This time last year I was in hospital with severe postnatal depression. I came home in the Winter time and really felt like I had just missed out on the whole of Summer. So the idea of going to a festival – something I had been doing every summer since I was quite little – well, this was something that I was in no way going to pass up on this year!!
Weleda is basically the grandmumma of green beauty. They have been going for almost 100 years! (Hm, maybe that makes them the great-great-grandmother of green beauty!) They use the best natural ingredients to create their gorgeous products for face and body, as well as their health care products. I remember their homeopathic remedies from my childhood, the arnica cream was always tucked somewhere in the bathroom cabinet!
Weleda is certainly the perfect brand for ValleyFest – a festival that is totally getting it’s “green on”. There were no, I REPEAT..NO plastic bottles at ValleyFest, and no disposable coffee (or beer) cups! They also only sold organic food, and any single use items – such as plates for your delicious vegan tagine with couscous, were all biodegradable.
Festival Essentials
Before leaving home I thought I had better stock up on a few festival essentials. And of course they had to be Weleda. Lucky for me Better Food Co in St Werburghs sells a huge range of Weleda products. But if you can’t find any in shops in your area be sure to have a look online – or find your local Weleda Wellbeing Advisor! They are always happy to help (and spread the Weleda luurve!) I didn’t want to go too overboard, but I ended up getting uhhh a few things…..
I was so happy to see that Weleda had brought out a vegan friendly sunscreen – that ticked all the right boxes! Mineral, non-nano, green ingredients and it’s even fragrance free!! I would note that this sunscreen is thick. Oh it’s THICK. It works like a charm and I can massage it in so the white cast goes, but it does take a bit of work. As my children don’t like standing still for too long they do end up looking a bit “cricketer covered in zinc”…. but they don’t mind, they call it their ghost cream ha! Also, one last major point – this is the ONLY sunscreen that doesn’t cause their delicate skin to react. Winner!
Weleda Gentle Cleansing Milk 100ml
When I do festivals, I DO festivals. None of this queuing for showers malarkey (although as a side note the queues weren’t that long at ValleyFest if you DID want one!) So I needed a cleanser where you don’t need water. This Gentle Cleansing Milk is perfect. Massage it on and wipe off with a (preferably reusable, washable!!) pad. Plus it’s perfect for getting rid of your makeup! Super clean skin – with no running water necessary
Weleda Refining Toner 100ml
Whats that? Skin still feeling a bit ick? Try wiping over it again, but this time with the refining Toner. Oilier skins will thank you for this! Plus sunscreen and makeup can be hard to fully budge. This is the perfect back up to your cleanser. Just don’t use this one on your eyes.
Weleda Calendula Toothpaste
I always find that cleaning my teeth helps me to feel super fresh, even when I’m camping and am basically slowly stewing in my own sweat and grime each day. I love, love, love this Calendula Toothpaste from Weleda. It comes in a metal tube and the ingredients include fennel – one of my faves! My kids aren’t so keen on the taste of this one but love the Children’s Tooth Gel 50ml.
Weleda Calendula Baby oil
So after a full day in the sun I do like to give my skin a little “treat”. And although Weleda do have After Suns especially formulated for this… I have to say my heart will alway belong to their Calendula Baby Oil. Made with sesame oil – an ingredient known as the queen of oils! This is incredible for skin, so healing and soothing. And safe to slather on everyone.
So all stocked up and ready to go.. Lucky for me Valleyfest is only 30 minutes drive from my front door. So after a short pootle down the road, we arrived at the farm, and got there nice and early – before any queues! My boys then probably had the highlight of their lives then and there (honestly forget the festival, this was the best bit for them! Hahah!!) when a huge tractor with a trailer picked us and all our many, many bags up and drove up the hill to the campsite. Now this is where smaller festivals really do seem much more appealing, as we pitched up super easily with a nice amount of space outside for us to sit and chill. Plus the walk to and from the festival site, or loos, was probably only a couple of minutes. But the best part of the campsite was the view. We we pitched at the top of a hill, overlooking rolling countryside, and the stunning Chew Valley lake. It really was the most blissful setting.
After a few mallet on finger accidents, a little bit of swearing and a few tears, the tents were up and we had a cheeky glass (well.. metal cup) of wine. Then we were off!
BUT …..you’ll have to wait for part two of my blog post to hear all about it 🙂
