As the ancient stone of Lulworth Castle reverberates to a massed, shrill cry of “BOGIES!”, Camp Bestival smears jam across the chops of the summer once more. It’s the ultimate in family friendly weekenders, with its wooded craft grottoes, its CBeebies meet-and-greets, its vast inflatable assault course and its annual scenes of Tumblemania. Kids can clamber around a range of giant robots, while their grown-ups can try their luck on the Independent Poetry Fruit Machine. Bastille headlining Saturday night? Never fear – there are fieldfuls of smoke bubbles to chase, giant fairy-lit elk to follow around and likely a Dick & Dom Massive Rave going on somewhere out there in this kiddietown dreamland of mayhem, magic and mislaid crocs.
With respect to a bill designed to straddle a broad age-range of interest – Billy Ocean versus Self Esteem on Friday, Bastille featuring special guest Bluey – the main draw of the 2026 edition is Fatboy Slim’s main stage takeover on the Sunday. And if the bill is his curated idea of a good time, he must be a huge fan of Paul McCartney’s legendary “Meat Free Mondays” reggae rap, having booked The Beatles Dub Club (DJ Chris Arnold plus skanking horn section) to play ska and rocksteady versions of “I Feel Fine”, “Lady Madonna” and “Hey Jude”, and then followed them with the new wave reggae-punk of The Beat.
