Greenbelt

This bank holiday weekend saw us pile into the car with tents cooking utensils and everything but the kitchen sink ( we used a plastic bowl instead!)to head off to Cheltenham for the Greenbelt Christian arts and music festival.

We first headed off to my uncle's house in Gloucester to catch up with our Catchpole side of the family and chill out a bit before the camping fun began,.
It was a nightmare journey ...as any involving the M25 seems to be these days but was great to spend time with the family. Daniel and my cousin George aged 9 got on like a house on fire and it was so nice to see them playing so well together.

But Friday morning came soon enough and it was time to head down to Cheltenham and begin the queue and hunt for a good tent pitch.
As a family we love Greenbelt but the camp set up is always a little stressful; making sure we have enough space, have put the tents up safely and are close enough to all the amenities .
But things went really smoothly and after a little wait and queue we managed to be up and running just after lunch time.

Greenbelt for me is an awesome experience, a chance to chill out with family, to catch up with friends, to explore new musicians, to enjoy faithful acts such as Martyn Joseph and Simon Mayo that never fail to satisfy. But it's also a chance to be together with thousands of other people exploring and expressing their faith.
This year we had the privilege of going to some sessions exploring Pioneers and getting the chance to meet other like minded people going through the same sort of struggles and joys, the stresses and the delights that we are. It was a chance to network and be in a place where we felt people really understood us.

Greenbelt is also fantastic for families and Daniel absolutely thrived there, He loved watching, listening, making and doing. He slept better than he ever has done and ate brilliantly..he clearly is made for living outside!

This year there were many highlights, I loved as already said Martyn Joseph and the Rising, Simon Mayo talking about his new book Itch Rocks,Duke Special, Lemar, The Temperance Movement, I loved being able to sit and listen to Steve Chalke who was awesome, animated and really moving talking about community engagement...everything he said felt like it struck our heart strings for the work we feel called to do, I loved sitting in the Kitchen at CMS and re connecting with old dear friends . I loved being in the childrens play area and meeting people we haven't seen for years and years and I loved being with our family.

Greenbelt is an experience and I loved every moment if it !!