Boutique Camping

[dpm]

I'll probably camp in the boutique camping section this year and have a couple of questions about it.
Anyone stay with yurtel (www.yurtel.co.uk) last year? They're pretty expensive but they do look good.
Any others that people would recommend?

Do each company share one area or are they sectioned off on their own?
Does each area have their own toilets and showers or are they shared between all the boutique areas?
Are they proper toilets?

Is there a couple of food stalls up there?

[skitch]

I'll probably camp in the boutique camping section this year and have a couple of questions about it.
Anyone stay with yurtel (http://www.yurtel.co.uk) last year? They're pretty expensive but they do look good.
Any others that people would recommend?

Do each company share one area or are they sectioned off on their own?
Does each area have their own toilets and showers or are they shared between all the boutique areas?
Are they proper toilets?

Is there a couple of food stalls up there?

I stayed in a teepee in 2007, was a great location, very quiet and good facilites.
Bit since then they've moved the location and also Tangerine Fields is now in with Boutique camping which makes it that more crowded.
There are showers but only about 10/12 for several hunderd people, if you're not up first thing then be prepared to queue.

The yurts and podpads were sectioned off last year but still in the same field as Tangerine Field crowd at the end of the day.

If you don't want to pay a fortune but dont fancy doing regluar camping I'd go for Tangerine Fields,basically it's a dome tent with double matress set up for you when you arrive so it saves you having to cart the extra baggage.
It's a good setup and the staff were very helpful imo.

There was a breakfast area but we didn't bother with it, a step down from the previous years apparently

[follyboy follyboy]

my friends were staying in artist camping which was in the same section as the boutique & tangerine fields last year. it was SHITE. i'm sure the yurts etc were nice but the facilities were terrible and it was so far out of the way, the walk to their area was rediculous. i wouldn't hold out much hope that they will rectify much this year since they seem to have gone down the cost cutting route so enthusiastically.
try and get a campervan if you are looking for some sort of comforts

[dpm]

I stayed in a teepee in 2007, was a great location, very quiet and good facilites.
Bit since then they've moved the location and also Tangerine Fields is now in with Boutique camping which makes it that more crowded.
There are showers but only about 10/12 for several hunderd people, if you're not up first thing then be prepared to queue.

The yurts and podpads were sectioned off last year but still in the same field as Tangerine Field crowd at the end of the day.

If you don't want to pay a fortune but dont fancy doing regluar camping I'd go for Tangerine Fields,basically it's a dome tent with double matress set up for you when you arrive so it saves you having to cart the extra baggage.
It's a good setup and the staff were very helpful imo.

There was a breakfast area but we didn't bother with it, a step down from the previous years apparently

I had a look at the Tangerine Fields alright but don't really want to stay in a tent. It's not just the hassle of carrying it and putting it up (although I'm not fond of it lol) it's the comfort and space aspect as well. We camped last year (yellow/Chaplin site) and would prefer something a bit better this year.
They do have a Geo-Domes & yurts as well, that might be something to consider. But not much info/pics on their site about these, so not sure if they would be as nice as the yurtel ones.

my friends were staying in artist camping which was in the same section as the boutique & tangerine fields last year. it was SHITE. i'm sure the yurts etc were nice but the facilities were terrible and it was so far out of the way, the walk to their area was rediculous. i wouldn't hold out much hope that they will rectify much this year since they seem to have gone down the cost cutting route so enthusiastically.
try and get a campervan if you are looking for some sort of comforts

What was wrong with the facilities?
The boutique camping area is just up behind the comedy tent and electric arena isn't it? That didn't look too far away. How long did it take to walk up there?
The camp site we were in last year was the furthest one away. It was quieter and had more space between tents but was about a 30 min walk from the main area. That was down next to the camper van area. One of the reasons I'd like to stay in the boutique camping is because I'd like to be as close to the action as possible but not in the middle of Hendrix.


Thanks for the replies.

[follyboy follyboy]

yeah it wasnt physically far away, but the route they forced you to take to get there was very long
well now i didnt stay there so i'm only going on what i saw, but there seemed to be maybe 6 flushing toilets that were filthy dirty from all the mud, no toilet paper in the ones i used. i didnt see or hear about the showers so cant comment on that.
There was a little shop selling water, crisps, choc etc (dont remember what else) few little food stalls (closed when i was there but it was prob 4am) everything was very cramped in together. No effort made to make the place look cool at all, none of the lovely touches they had in previous years like decorating the trees etc.
as with the rest of the site, there was NO effort made to control the mud. you'd think shelling out so much might get you some special treatment but i didnt see any.

[burro]

my friends were staying in artist camping which was in the same section as the boutique & tangerine fields last year. it was SHITE. i'm sure the yurts etc were nice but the facilities were terrible and it was so far out of the way, the walk to their area was rediculous. i wouldn't hold out much hope that they will rectify much this year since they seem to have gone down the cost cutting route so enthusiastically.
try and get a campervan if you are looking for some sort of comforts

wikky is right

we were camped in artist last year - lack of toilets and showers, lakes of muck and water around the toilet area, one place to get food which was expensive and sh*t, mammoth walk to the festival area

it was a load of sh*t

[skitch]

yeah it wasnt physically far away, but the route they forced you to take to get there was very long
well now i didnt stay there so i'm only going on what i saw, but there seemed to be maybe 6 flushing toilets that were filthy dirty from all the mud, no toilet paper in the ones i used. i didnt see or hear about the showers so cant comment on that.
There was a little shop selling water, crisps, choc etc (dont remember what else) few little food stalls (closed when i was there but it was prob 4am) everything was very cramped in together. No effort made to make the place look cool at all, none of the lovely touches they had in previous years like decorating the trees etc.
as with the rest of the site, there was NO effort made to control the mud. you'd think shelling out so much might get you some special treatment but i didnt see any.

I agree, no effort was made at all last year to make it "Boutiquey"
The "proper" toilets were as bad as any portaloos, and the smell...I don't know what kind of disinfectant they use but the smell is vile.

Location wise though I though was ok, I didn't think the walk was far at all.
I would definitely do Tangerine Fields again though, only because it would cost me nearly as much(if not more) to go and buy a tent, sleeping bag and inflatable mattress, and it also saves alot of hassle..

[dpm]

Whereabouts do you leave the festival area do start the walk up?

[cassidy]

i stayed in the Ti-pi's last year, have to say didn't enjoy the ridiculous walk from the car park, and no one knowing what direction to go ffs. Facilities were shite, nothing extra or 'special' about it. I was raging at the fact people who stayed with tangerine fields for over half the price had the same facilities as us. don't think i would recommend if they have the same set up as last year

[mojo]

my brother stayed in a yurt last year for the second time

he was complaining about the organisation of it, they made some mix up with his booking or some shizzle and he said the site was very poor compared to before

he wasnt impressed

maybe they'll pull their socks up this year dpm, if you have your heart set on it sure why not, it might be back to its usual standard but last years boutique camping sounded like a massive FAIL

[dpm]

my brother stayed in a yurt last year for the second time

he was complaining about the organisation of it, they made some mix up with his booking or some shizzle and he said the site was very poor compared to before

he wasnt impressed

maybe they'll pull their socks up this year dpm, if you have your heart set on it sure why not, it might be back to its usual standard but last years boutique camping sounded like a massive FAIL

Ya, the feedback in here about last year is very bad alright. It's a shame that the area does sound shite. You would expect more for the money.

Do you know if your brother stayed with yurtel or a yurt with some other company? Was the yurt itself alright, once the mix up was sorted out?

[mojo]

not 100% sure but i dont think it was the yurtels tbh, just the regular yurts from the boutique camping section

it was his second time booking with the same crowd whichever one it was....iirc it was around 400 quid for it but his gf likes her home comforts!

they said it was nice alright, warm rugs on the floor and that kinda craic. They really enjoyed it in 2008 but last year they were disappointed as I said. Its a fair few quid on top of your ticket like!

Hopefully the organisers will take on board a lot of the complaints re: fall in overall quality throughout ep 2009 and pull up their socks for 2010!

[dpm]

.... his gf likes her home comforts! ....

I know how he feels lol

Cheers for the reply

[bunnymengirl]

Maybe I have low expectations, but I stayed in a podpad last year (the little elf huts) in boutique camping and loved it. It was expensive, but we did EP instead of a holiday last year so went all out to have a good time. They are grouped together so that if you're going with friends you have somewhere to sit together. But if you don't want to mingle they are private enough to keep yourself to yourself.

The toilets in boutique camping are proper flushing toilets, not portaloos. Yes, they did get very mucky and blocked sometimes but they were cleaned pretty regularly and sometimes they even had toilet paper in them! (see my low expectations - I take my own tissues).

Podpads have a lock on them, so feel more secure than a tent, and the PodPad people were lovely. They have free tea and coffee for you in the mornings.

If you're not put off by the price, the yurtel is the ony way to go. They are really plush individual yurts with proper beds in them and fluffy towels. We sneaked a look around them. Toilets shared between very few people - on a combination lock! They probably even clean the mud off your boots for you.
Much better than the regular yurts, which are just big tents with rugs in them.

I didn't think the walk from boutique camping to the venue was that bad.

[dpm]

Maybe I have low expectations, but I stayed in a podpad last year (the little elf huts) in boutique camping and loved it. It was expensive, but we did EP instead of a holiday last year so went all out to have a good time. They are grouped together so that if you're going with friends you have somewhere to sit together. But if you don't want to mingle they are private enough to keep yourself to yourself.

The toilets in boutique camping are proper flushing toilets, not portaloos. Yes, they did get very mucky and blocked sometimes but they were cleaned pretty regularly and sometimes they even had toilet paper in them! (see my low expectations - I take my own tissues).

Podpads have a lock on them, so feel more secure than a tent, and the PodPad people were lovely. They have free tea and coffee for you in the mornings.

If you're not put off by the price, the yurtel is the ony way to go. They are really plush individual yurts with proper beds in them and fluffy towels. We sneaked a look around them. Toilets shared between very few people - on a combination lock! They probably even clean the mud off your boots for you.
Much better than the regular yurts, which are just big tents with rugs in them.

I didn't think the walk from boutique camping to the venue was that bad.

It's good to hear a positive review at last

[Livo]

Maybe I have low expectations

i always go to these things with very low expectations of the facilities too, and it usually works to my advantage

[bunnymengirl]

Maybe I have low expectations

i always go to these things with very low expectations of the facilities too, and it usually works to my advantage

... yeah, pessimism has it's advantages - you end up delighted with everything!!

[barryjordan]

Hi, we all stayed in a yurtel yurt last year and were very impressed. They're expensive but great for a family of four as the toilets were clean and close! Accommodation top class. Owners really good folks too! Walk to main areas not too bad - even for the kids. We found access via the performers area. Highly recommended by all of us (ages between 10 and 39ish). Sadly this year we will have find somewhere cheaper.