Just So Festival 2015 Preview

Magical, mysterious and rather marvellous happenings at the Just So Festival 2015

There’s something rather special happening in the wilds of Cheshire this summer; something you shouldn’t miss, something entirely magical, mysterious and most marvellous – the Just So Festival!

If you’ve never heard of it before, then you’re missing out. Just So is a wonderful family festival, filled to the brim with art, literature, music, magic, theatre, fantasy and fun. Where else can you meet real life mermaids by a pirate ship? Or learn the tricks of the circus trade, or go on wonderful mysterious woodland adventures, meet the Gruffalo, make fern crowns in the forest, or create pretty paper lanterns for an after-dark parade?

At the Just So Festival, you will find a dazzling and dizzying range of musical, theatrical, and visual performances, workshops and art installations within the safe, natural and magical setting of the grounds of the Rode Hall Estate in Congleton, Cheshire. Every corner, clearing and glade holds a new magical surprise.

Highlights of the festival this year include –

• The Town Band of Bremen is a new outdoor family show about four fellow animals who all share a passion for music; featuring storytelling, live music, mask work, puppetry and all performed from their medieval cart.
• Pirate training camp, where you’ll find yourselves swashbuckling and carousing throughout the weekend. Visit all the jetties, complete all the pirate challenges, and you may be told the secret of the pirate’s code.
• Flying The Nest is a newly devised show inspired by British Birds. This piece is an interactive theatrical experience designed with and for children and families including those with Special Education Needs.
• The Redstone Centre will once again be weaving magical willow with families in the Spellbound Woods. There will be willow pod making, tribal willow sculpture sessions and campfire cookery too for a tasty treat!
• Head to the Village Green for the Just So tradition of the Midnight Feast. Held at Midnight in the Social Barn, with stories, songs and night time shenanigans!
• Create your own beautiful lantern from willow and paper, all ready to be lit with a candle on the magical festival lantern parade.
• Poet, comic, singer, ukulele-player and glasses-wearer, John Hegley has an entertaining poem for every letter of the alphabet. In his A to Z of people, pets and potatoes, meet the inquisitive Quibble, Guillemot the bird and the Christmas Caterpillar who surprises Santa.

With so much to see and do at the Just So Festival, you do probably need more than a day to explore the Spellbound Forest, the High Seas as well as The Social area and the stage; with daringly different and exciting things going on each day. Get involved in some Samba Drumming, try your hand at juggling, do whatever takes your fancy. Just So is the perfect place to spark imaginations, encourage creativity and spend real quality time together as a family. It’s not just for kids either, there are lots of things going on for the grown-ups too – retro disco anyone?

Families can book tickets for the day or choose to stay over for the weekend. Camping in your own tent or campervan or booking one of the yurts available, it’s all part of the great adventure. Just So Festival is incredibly family friendly, with all the facilities geared towards making life easier for families, including a lovely baby bathing area, a relaxing and comfortable baby feeding space and a whole area for babies and toddlers called Peekaboo.

 
Just So is perfectly designed for families. It’s a wonderful weekend in the middle of summer, if it rains, dance in the rain, if the sun shines, slap on the sun cream and enjoy. Whatever the weather, the show just goes on. We cannot wait for Just So this year, it is the magical, mysterious and most marvellous highlight of our summer.

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