GOING to a festival with kids takes patience, endurance and courage. It will break you mentally and physically, but it will show you a fascinating, whole other world.

Camp Bestival is aimed squarely at families, so you won’t be alone in your experience. Don that fancy dress, cake on the glitter and start hauling your buggy or garden trolley across the Purbeck hills with the rest of the parents.

Aside from CBeebies favourites like Mr Tumble and Mister Maker, your average three-year-old has no time for the main stage. They want instant entertainment and chances are most slept through headline acts like Jess Glynne and Lewis Capaldi.

With that in mind, here are my seven most unexpected Camp Bestival moments that you’d only experience with children high on life and ice cream:

Buskers Spot

While the adults are glued to the festival programme looking for who’s on stage at what time. The kids have already immersed themselves in the festival and are up for anything and everything.

If it takes their fancy, then they’ll give it a bash. Such as a man in a giant costume reciting Don Quixote in a cod Spanish accent.

Unexpected and brilliant. Forty minutes later and an army of children are sitting quietly watching this impromptu show in an obscure field of the festival.

The Insect Circus

Now admittedly, I’d seen this before and knew it would go down well. The Insect Circus is downright quirky and children love it.

A heady mixture of cabaret, dance and entomology. From dancing ants, a huge giant snail and a curious ladybird.

It all makes perfect sense to little ones. Forget the mind-altering substances, this is as far out as it gets.

Dingly Dell

A particular family highlight proved to be the Dingly Dell area. This managed to be educational and fun, which is no mean feat at a festival.

Children could get hands on with free play and traditional arts and crafts while roaming free in the woods.

Caravan of Lost Souls

Another chance discovery. This menagerie of entertainers appeared from nowhere and assembled a pop-up stage right next to us at a food stand.

With characters such as The Joker, chimps in bowler hats and a mesmerising performance from a Freddie Mercury lookalike. It was strange and beautiful.

Big Fish Little Fish

The hypnotic beats of familiar 90s dance anthems drew us into the Bollywood tent. Inside, parents and children can let off some steam by raving together under confetti cannons, giant beachballs and a foam party.

I think my 20-year-old self would have approved of this unbridled display of parent dancing. Reach for the lasers (on Daddy’s shoulders.)

Sam Sam Bubbleman

Having reclaimed our inner raver. We let the kids be our guide to more adventure. Inside The Greatest Tent on Earth were a succession of popular children’s shows.

While we caught the tail end of The Gruffalo, we were treated to a full show from Sam Sam Bubbleman. Coming across like the Derren Brown of bubble blowing, Sam is an expert at putting children and adults inside giant bubbles.

It’s a simple premise, but it left the young audience rapt in delight. After all, who doesn’t like bubbles?

Join a parade and see where it takes you

If you relax and go with the flow, you’ll discover all manner of weird and wonderful parades. As we were leaving the festival, we noticed a giant dragon passing through the arts and crafts field. Walking in time with the drumming, we accompanied a cast of druids, pagans and fun worshippers.

Like the closing scene of The Wicker Man, we were unexpectedly taken to a towering wooden structure that was ritually set on fire. With the fire brigade watching over the inferno and all the children at a safe distance, it was the perfect finale to a beautifully bonkers festival.

You could have watched Annie Mac and a firework display on the main stage, but where would be the fun in that? Camp Bestival is a wild and shared family experience that will live long in the memory.