Bwtglamp Eisteddfod 2017

Welsh Bootcamp
#1

This is an idea in it’s very infancy, so bear with me…

There is no place more Welsh, linguistically, than the National Eisteddfod, and Cat and I (and our daughters) had the pleasure of glamping at the Eisteddfod in Abergavenny this year.

And it struck us: many SSiWers like to go to the eisteddfod, some for a whole week, others for days here and there, but nearly always for the chance at immersion in Welsh. In the past we’ve had a number of groups rent houses locally and fill them with SSiWers for an impromptu bwtcamp experience.

And so, it seems logical for us to wonder how many of you would be interested in glamping at the Ynys Môn eisteddfod in 2017?

We could run it in a number of ways. We could just say we are staying there, come and stay too. We’ll have fun.

Or, if there’s enough interest, we could arrange with Best of Wales (who run the glamping site) that we have a number of tents arranged together, and that they run some activities suitable for new speakers with the evening etc. (they run various activities anyway)

Or, we could go a bit further, and organise some activities ourselves - a day trip around the island, for instance, a meal or two together somewhere, some activities on the Maes etc.

Who might be interested, and what would you be interested in?

We’re a bit time dependent, because the glamping site has already started accepting bookings, and the Eisteddfod organisers will soon be telling them how much land they have for the glamping site, so we hit them with 20 bokings after that happens, they may not have the space.

Each tent has enough room for two adults comfortably, but we fitted 2 adults and 2 children in ours, with enough room to spare that we think we could shoe horm the whole family (2+4 kids) in if we needed to.

As an indication of price, the tent this year were just short of £800 each, so £200 each for 4 sharing.

If we were to organise more than a couple of meals, then we would have to charge a bit more on top of that price, and access to the Eisteddfod is not included, although if you volunteer for a half day in Maes-D, you’ll ge free entry on that day.

What are your thoughts?

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#2

I would certainly be interested - unfortunately there’s pretty much no way I’d be able to afford it :frowning: .

#3

We are planning to go to the Eisteddfod anyway. Originally only for the latter end, however, I’m sure I could convince Emma to make it a week. If we didn’t stay at the site we would definitely join you for the odd day here and there or parts of the day. If Emma isn’t keen and still wants to go for the end of the week, I may go up early on my own.

Definitely keep me posted about this.

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#4

I’ll be at the Eisteddfod either way, but would definitely be interested in this! :slight_smile:

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#5

We’ve given this some thought, but have decided that this time it wouldn’t work financially for us. Having just moved and needing to invest money in the property is the main deciding factor. Funds will only stretch so far and if we did fork out for the glamping, then that would have to be our main family holiday for the year. It doesn’t make sense for us considering we live only 35 minutes away from the 2017 Eisteddfod site. :wink:

We may be able to offer some accommodation ourselves for the Eisteddfod week. We have a spacious chalet in the garden, which granted needs some work, but it may well be comfortably habitable by then. We’ll see how it goes.

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#6

@hectorgrey Yes, un fortunately, the Esiteddfod is never a budget holiday!

@AnthonyCusack I was wondering about this. I can;t see a problem, wother than the obvious logistics, with “sharing” a tent, ie someone wha wants to be at the Eisteddfod from Saturday to Monday clearing out to allow someone else to move in on Tuesday. This would have to be oked with Best of Wales, but it’s an option.

Further thoughts / clarification: While I’m talking about a Bwtcamp style Bwtglamp, I wouldn’t be organising full days of actvites / accompanying groups around to different stands etc. I’m thinking more along the lines of everyone doing their own thing, but in the company of fellow SSiWers, in the Welsh atmosphere of the Eisteddfod, and with some organised events (if there is demand). FOr instance, it’s always noce to go around and see the local area, so we could arrange a guided tour of some of Môn’s sites one day, and I could get in touch with various stands who might be interested in hosting a “learner’s” activity, which they could advertise, and we could provide the basic numbers that would enhace the event, give us a chace t get under the skin of the event / organistion etc.

I would be at the Eisteddfod straight from July bootcamp, so you’d get no sense out of me til Monday anyway!

But it would be great to see lots of SSiWers enjoying the Eisteddfod together, and the Bwtglamp idea would give us a base of for the committed.

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#7

We are currently planning to do tent camping next year, with at least one other family with a keen learner dad and Welsh speaking children. Would there we any chance of joining the general cluster with ordinary tents do you think? (We haven’t really thought about the glamping option - that may be possible too, I guess.)

#8

You can ask when you book your pitch to camp in a lump with friends - you give a group name as I recall and they put your pitches together

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#9

Diolch, grêt! I’ll probably ask on here nearer the time if there’s any other campers that would like to join us! I was wondering though whether anybody knew if the glamping was mixed in with the rest of the tents etc or whether it’s a special, um, ‘glam’ area? Thanks! :slight_smile:

#10

Yes Leia’s right. They do this with caravans also. I have friends who’ve been going as a large group of about 4/5 families for many years now and by now they don’t even have to ask, the Eisteddfod group them automatically!

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#11

I’d definitely be interested. Not sure how the logistics would work though. Would we need to find people to share a tent with, or are you offering to take on that headache… -er, I mean task?

It would also depend on overall cost. What’s the rough price of a week’s entry to the Eisteddfod? I’ve only ever gone for the day before, and I can’t find the info online.

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#12

It was about £20 a day this year, but you can volunteer for half a day, get in free and be on the Maes for the rest of the day. I volunteered twice for Maes D and 4 times for Yma i Helpu, paid to get in once and didn’t attend at all one day. So apart from my accommodation (AirBnB, about 20 miles away, in England) attending wasn’t expensive. There was a weekly ticket, available until the end of June, at about £195. As I didn’t know when I was going to be working where it wasn’t much use to me. Although the event is from Saturday to Saturday there is an event on the first Friday night.

Volunteering was a bit complicated. Maes D was overwhelmed with volunteers whereas the main Maes wasn’t. I found myself double booked a couple of times but I was led to believe that they intend to simplify the volunteering process for 2017, to one application rather than several.

Volunteers still need to pay to attend the major evening events on the main stage, but you may find yourself, as a steward, working at the event. But you might not, so you can’t guarantee being at your favourite event.

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#13

Interested, though would be helpful to understand what “glamping” means in this context. There’s a wide variety of interpretations on that. Is there a secure area for belongings?

AM

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#14

Mae’n ddrwg gen i. Not volunteering, not coming… not fit! But curious as a :cat2: - what is ‘glamping’???

#15

“GLAMorous camPING” i.e. with tents fitted out with stuff you would normally get under bricks and mortar, like proper beds.

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#16

Sorry Bob, but are you sure it’s not ‘GLamorous cAMPING’ or it could even be ‘GLAmorous caMPING’. Just saying. :joy:

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#17

Or maybe the C just mutates to GL …

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#18

Yes, I’m sure this is glorrect. Thank you.

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#19

In the original post the price was given as £800/week … for a tent. Is it just me or does this seem a little (read very) expensive? Is anything else included in the price? Maes tickets maybe?

#20

Well, (outside the Eisteddfod season) often Bricks and Mortar accommodation is of course available for quite a bit less. But I guess some people are after a “lifestyle experience”, being able to say “we went camping” without the obligatory creepy crawlies and a cold, wet sleeping bag.