5 Amazing Things We Loved At Hogsozzle 2018

What an incredible time we had at Hogsozzle this year, I must try not to gush too hard in this post because even two weeks later I'm still buzzing from the fun and frolics.

I definitely over packed for this one...

We arrived in convoy late on Friday afternoon, much later than my plan-loving brain had reckoned on. This meant we didn't have our pick of the pitches, and with 7 tents in our group we needed a large area to spread out. We eventually had to camp right at the entrance, which I was pretty miffed about at first but it turned out swell, we could see and hear everything that was going on and felt right in the action.

And the weekend began! There were so many amazing things at this years Hogsozzle, I honestly believe it was the most fun I've had at a festival for several years, the food, music and company was all spot on. Instead of the usual run down of what we did every second of every day, I want to change up my review style and I'm going to instead share 5 of the best things about Hogsozzle this year.

1. The Once In A Blue Moon Cafe

You have no idea the actual joy I had in my heart as I rounded the corner in the hidden wooded area and saw the first peeks of a tent I recognised from Curious Yellow last year. The Blue Moon cafe people really know how to run a festival chill-out zone. They they sell amazing vegan and vegetarian hot food that has actual nutrients in, they open early for breakfast and they take debit cards - in addition to a fab line up of smaller musical and comedy acts and I believe an open mic. The tent is beautiful too, I found out from them last year that it was custom made for them in India with a wonderful starry ceiling and lots of soft seating.

Late on Saturday we headed over to their fire pit and had a lovely vegan curry full of vegetables and for pretty good price of £7 for the 'deluxe' version with yoghurt and a flatbread. I also have to thank the guys for finding and keeping hold of my phone at one point in the festival! I can't wait to spend more time snuggled up in a corner with a rum, listening to music and chatting with friends at Curious Yellow in a few weeks time! If you want to find out more about the Once In A Blue Moon cafe, they have a website here.

2. Costumes and Crowns 

As always, the fancy dress at Hogsozzle was on point! I spent most of the morning before we set up fixing up my LED crown, my first light-up festival piece that I'd made myself and it was a dream. I did a DIY on how to make your own which you can see by clicking here. The best thing about it was that it lit up the portaloos which were pitch black otherwise!

These photos are from In Squared Photography's album of Hogsozzle pics, click here for more.

The theme this year was Fairytales and Fantasies and people really went to town with some mega costumes! There was so many giant sequins, wonderful facepaint and men in shiny leggings. 

3.  The Curious Yellow Takeover

I can't believe how lucky we are to be involved in two festivals like this that had such a fab crossover. Saturday night in the dance tent was all about Curious Yellow, which I've posted about lots and is coming up in just a few weeks. The DJ's took over with their unique dance vibe for the whole night and went down a storm. Seeing Greg and Dan from the Curious Yellow crew at a festival so completely different to the one they run was so fun and we found out that the Hogsozzle boys  will be attended Curious Yellow in return!

I don't have any photos of the guys as it was really dark in the dance tent and everything looked drunk and blurry by then, if anyone has one of their set-up let me know :)

4. Friends

This was the first time we have been to Hogsozzle without the band playing, so it was all for fun and no stress about instruments or missing band members. It meant everyone could relax and enjoy the weekend so we took a pretty large group of friends with us, some of whom we don't get to see very often and it really made for an amazing experience. Hogsozzle is small enough that you can't really lose anyone, so every corner we turned there was a friendly face covered in glitter greeting us and we had some epic dance tent moments with our crowd. We've talked about Hogsozzle a lot at home so it was really good to show our gang all of the fun there is to be had and make some amazing memories to kick off the summer with!

5. The Paint Fight

So, four years in and I haven't actually taken part in the paint fight. Party because by the Sunday all of my clothes are already wet and muddy and I'm losing my voice, which means I don't especially want to breathe in a bunch of paint dust. This year I planted myself in a prime spot at the top of the hill, near the bar, overlooking the main arena. The incredible Rumpsteppers revved everyone up and it was one of the most epic paint fights I've ever seen, the color just kept on coming every time the beat dropped and everyone came away looking like they were from another planet - next year I promised myself I will definitely get involved, as long as the showers are working! Even though I was pretty far back most of my clothes have remnants of paint powder on them - a word of warning if you are reading this in 2019 and getting ready for your fist Sozzle - don't wear your best clothes for the paint fight!!!!

So that's it, my top 5 favourite things from Hogsozzle this year! There was so much more I could talk about but I don't want to repeat myself from previous years. If you want a fully detailed run down on everything that was Hogsozzle 2018, I found this great post by That Festival Blogger, who I didn't get to meet this time but I'm certain that our paths will cross again by the end of the summer! I want to give a shout out to the Hogsozzle boys for an epic, unforgettable party, Frosty for the paint fight photos, Hayley and Ian for driving, Patawawa for being awesome and also for bringing back the biff with me and all of my lovely friends for making it a beautiful weekend full of love and amazing memories <3

Next up, Curious Yellow in two weeks and I'm BUZZING! I'll be sharing some of our costume ideas for the fruit theme over the next few weeks, if you haven't got your ticket yet, snap one up quick because it's going to unmissable - use the code 10turner2018 on their website (click here) for a tenner off.

Photo credits: Alex Krook, Tasha Rhodes, Ian Frost and In Squared Photography