Please note, although our tickets were kindly gifted as PR tickets, our review is our genuine opinion of the festival. We have done our best to use photos without other children in them, however if you would prefer us to remove any photos, please just let us know.

The August Bank Holiday weekend, for us, has always been a weekend to spend with family or friends, and enjoy some time together before we get back into the routine of September (even if our schools have already gone back!), so the opportunity to head to a brand-new festival in Yorkshire was one we were very excited for!

We have been super lucky to have already visited Elderflower Fields festival, Gloworm Festival and Camp Bestival this summer, so we could not have been happier to be finishing off our summer with another family festival on our lineup – plus, we do love a farm!

Here’s our review…

What is 5 on the Farm Festival?

5 on the Farm Festival is a brand-new festival that took place at Cannon Hall Farm in Yorkshire. Surrounded by stunning countryside and in the grounds of a beautiful working farm, there really was something for everyone to enjoy at the festival, from talks and shows, to kids’ activities, dog shows, market stalls and more, not to mention all the fun on the farm too.

With it being our first festival without music, we weren’t sure what to expect, but it really was a fantastic day out.

The festival doesn’t involve camping (we stayed at Spring Wood Pop Up Campsite), and most visitors would just come for the day (or you could book tickets for more than one day if you wish).

We visited on the Sunday, arriving for opening at 9.30am and Lily still didn’t want to head back to the car just at closing time at 7.30pm, she couldn’t get enough.

Here are just some of our highlights.

Our top 10 highlights of 5 on the Farm Festival

Milkshake Meadow

Milkshake Meadow was so much fun for all kinds of reasons, some of which have their own highlight below too. Designed with young kids in mind, it made heading to a festival with the family just so much easier, thanks to its own facilities and activities for all ages.

The Milkshake Meadow stage was a festival highlight of Lily’s, and she spent hours in the area, from dancing the day away with her favourite Milkshake presenters (and Milkshake Monkey!), to meeting some of her heroes, as well as playing with all the giant games in the Meadow – you could even get your face painted, and all the activities were included in the tickets.

She met Blue from Blue’s Clues, Peppa Pig, Chase & Marshall from Paw Patrol and even got a high-5 from Fireman Sam. She may now be 6, but meeting her heroes sends her buzzing, and the Milkshake team really did makes many kids’ dreams come true by meeting their favourite stars this weekend.

Nipperbout

Even though they were in the Milkshake Meadow area, Nipperbout needed their own highlight section because their team were just amazing and there was so much for Lily to do.

One of her favourite things to do is arts and crafts, and throughout the day she made so many different things, from decorating her own tote bag and making a sock puppet, to making a mask and decorating a plant pot before filling it with seeds to take home.

However, the Nipperbout team were also the reason we didn’t leave til nearly 7.30pm – because Lily fell in love with the circus workshop and just wouldn’t leave!

The team were so friendly, enthusiastic, and were so encouraging – even helping an uncoordinated mummy here with mastering the diablo! So sending a huge Thank You to all the Nipperbout team – you were amazing.

Off the Grid

The Off the Grid area was a hidden gem at 5 on the Farm festival, but a great place for all the family to enjoy.

Thanks to the Yorkshire Dales Bushcraft team, the Off the Grid area was a lovely spot to get involved with some amazing crafts, activities and workshops, as well as to relax in a hammock or on a hay bale by the campfire.

Lily really enjoyed making a necklace out of a wooden disc (or beaver biscuit!) and finding out more about crafting with natural materials, not to mention hanging out in a hammock for a while!

Woodland Trust

The Woodland Trust area drew us in from the moment we arrived – it was a brilliant way to start the day, although if I’d known we’d end up with a tree take home, I may have waited til later in the day 🙂

The team there were lovely and Lily was their first child of the day to make a bug hotel, while I chatted to the staff and signed up to the Woodland Trust too. The tree display was also great fun, with puzzles and hidden wildlife behind the secret doors!

Main Stage

Some of the main stage talks were wonderful and even Lily was excited by them – particularly the Stefan Gates Mindblowing Gastronaut Show (with its giant whoopee cushions!) and All Creatures Great and Small, but with names such as Ben Fogle and Adam Henson on the line up, you knew you were in for a treat.

Dog Show

We are huge fans of dogs, so checking out the dog show was a must-do for us! You’re welcome to take your four-legged friends to the festival too, which was very exciting for Lily to see with so many dogs around!

Shows took place throughout the day, with giant dog treat prizes to be won too.

Farmers Market

The Farmers Market was a fantastic place to pick up some farm-fresh treats and gifts – we may have taken home some fresh cheese, delicious cookies and rainbow popcorn!

Cannon Hall Farm

Cannon Hall Farm itself was a huge highlight for us this weekend and it made our day out at the festival even more special.

Not only do you get to visit all the animals on the farm and learn about them too, but there were also some great play areas, both indoors and out.

We set up early afternoon in the Hungry Llama Indoor Play Area, with soft play, big slides, climbing and an under 4s play area – plus we could sit down for some yummy hot food for lunch too.

We then headed out to the outdoor Adventure Playground which was just huge, with giant slides, towers and even a great tube maze which I’ve never seen before! As we came out the tube maze, we also saw the meerkats being fed.

Cannon Hall Farm would really be a great day out in itself, so having it as part of the festival too was just fantastic.

Fire Brigade

Who doesn’t love a fire engine?! The firefighters were so great with all the kids too and Lily really enjoyed finding out all about the fire engines, not to mention earning herself the “biggest sticker in the whole wide world”!

Little Farmers Club

Also in the Milkshake Meadow was the Little Farmers Club where Lily enjoyed doing even more activities while learning about fruit and vegetables. Lily’s favourite activity was painting with vegetables as well as getting involved with farming crafts!

There really was so much to do, helping kids learn about where our food comes from, while having fun too.

Food & Drink

Although you weren’t allowed to take your own food and drink in, there was a whole range of food and drink options at the festival. We enjoyed lunch at the farm itself, but also a crepe in the afternoon and some chips for the way home! You could also choose from many yummy treats at the Farmers Market.

Fresh water was also available across the site.

Tip: if you were wanting food and drink, it would be best to avoid peak times as they could get busy.

Accessibility & family

The festival team has worked hard to make it as inclusive as possible, including accessible toilets, and accessible viewing areas by all the stages. The event is on fields, however they did put down tracks in areas to help make it more accessible.

For families, there was dedicated breast feeding area and lost child area too.

For more on accessibility, click here.

Developments for the future

As with any festival, there will always be ways it can be developed, but even though it was the first year of 5 on the Farm, they ticked so many boxes to make sure it was as great as it could be – we both had a great time.

The main things I’d suggest would be to add in a mobile Changing Places toilet to make it as accessible as possible for everyone, as well as to allow people to take in small amounts of food and drink, particularly with small children in tow.

From a personal point of view, we had so much fun in the Milkshake Meadow dancing along to the shows, so maybe by adding in a bit of music for all the family to enjoy across the site, it could add in more for all ages, not just the younger kids – plus we do like an excuse to dance!

Finally, Lily was excited to meet Keri, Amy and Derek as well as Milkshake Monkey in the Meet & Greet, but was disappointed the session didn’t happen – thankfully she was quickly distracted by the circus, but I know there were families who had waited around for this.

Conclusion

We had a brilliant time at 5 on the Farm and we’d like to thank everyone involved in making it happen.

We learned so much about farming, saw some of the top names in the industry, and had great fun while we were at it!

It was also one of the most affordable festivals we’d been to for food and drink, with more normal-priced hot drinks available while we were there.

Lily had an absolutely wonderful festival, and even though we were one of the first to arrive, she would have stayed on long if the day hadn’t been ending!

The atmosphere was so relaxed, you could sit on hay to watch a show or relax in the fields on a picnic blanket – yes, some of the retail areas were busy in the morning, but it was so much quieter in the afternoon and everyone was so friendly.

It was a great setup with so many different things to do, particularly for younger children, with the added bonus of the beautiful farm, animals and play areas there too – and it was all included in your ticket price, which really was fantastic.

The team had clearly considered areas for shelter from sun/rain too, which was brilliant, even as an outdoor event.

I also can’t thank the staff at Milkshake Meadow enough for just being amazing – everyone was so friendly, welcoming, and helping every kid have the best day possible.

We hope to see you again in 2022, but we also hope to head back to the amazing Cannon Hall Farm before then too!

Find out more about 5 on the Farm festival here

Related links

Our review of the Spring Wood Pop Up Campsite is coming soon

Check out our top family festival camping essentials here

Check out our top family friendly festivals here