After the slightly rainy success of Glastonbury 2015, summer festival season is well and truly upon us! To celebrate the start of the Great British Summer and the mass of fantastic festivals on offer I thought I would run down my personal top three UK festivals for 2015.  

1. Womad, 24-26^th July 2015

Womad is a really relaxed "world music" festival with lots of great stuff to discover and a few things to relive from your youth too.  Whilst its not a big headliner sort of festival, there are plenty of great things to see, hear and do there and its also great for the family. Held in a wonderful site in Malmesbury, this year I would want to make sure I catch De La Soul, Laura Mvula, The Staves, East India Youth, Ghostpoet, Tinariwen and finally catch a DJ set by Jazzie B (of Soul 2 Soul fame).  Apart from all this music, there is a site full of other activities including an old fashioned steam funfair (with some truly scary but fun rides), yoga and dance lessons, World Of Words (I love spoken word/poetry slams and highly recommend catching one if you get the chance) and a kids parade to keep the little ones amused.  

2. Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 7^th – 31^st August 2015

Edinburgh has always been a favourite city of mine and I also have a huge love of stand-up comedy, so the Fringe Festival that takes place there every year in August is pretty much the perfect place for me to spend my summer. I would wholeheartedly recommend both the city and the fringe; so much so, in fact, that I am going up there twice in the summer to explore the vast amount of talent that is unearthed each year! If you are interested in all things fringe related, keep an eye out as I will hopefully post some reviews of the shows I am lucky enough to see!  

3. Shambala, 27^th – 30^th August 2015

This is usually one of my summer festival highlights and this year will be my third visit in a row.  As you may guess I cannot recommend enough. It is less about the music, and more about having a brilliantly weird weekend wandering the site until you stumble upon something that catches your senses.  It might be a drum workshop in a clearing in the woods, a children’s singalong, a nipple tassel making session, a bollywood dance lesson or perhaps an interpretive dance "dance off" (on of the funniest things I saw last year)  . With endless things to do, and hordes of exciting and enthusiastic ‘shambaholics’ to meet, you are guaranteed to be entertained all weekend, and as a famously good festival for families, the little ones will enjoy themselves just as much as the adults!  (Word of advice, this one really does sell out by about March/April each year so start thinking about next year soon).     As you know, festivals are all about being prepared and ready for anything and that means you do need to carry some sort of survival kit with you to cover an extended day/afternoon out, the changeable weather and not to mention the unmentionable emergency toiletries. The Vida Vida brand really did originate from a love of travel and adventure so many of them have been designed for events just like festivals and extended trips away from home/luxury.  We often spot our own lovely practical bags (and other similar ones) at festivals which always gives us something extra to smile about and we have written about our recommendations in the past.  So, as a reminder, just take a look at some of our previous tips and advice as to which festival bag might be best for you.