I remember when I first read about the Asparafest Music & Food Festival I thought it was crazy that we had a festival dedicated to celebrating this strange looking vegetable. Then I found out we, the Vale of Evesham is the largest producer of Asparagus within Northern Europe and then I decided actually to try the stuff. It transformed my morning poached eggs, and I couldn’t imagine breaking that soft gooey yolk with anything other than my asparagus tips.

So this year we decided to attend the Asparafest Festival to see for ourselves what this vegetable loving festival was all about.

We weren’t disappointed with what we found over at Ashdown Farm, Badsey in Evesham. Entrance was £10 each on the gate which would of been £1.50 cheaper if we bought online, under 10s went free, this included a free programme. So we paid £20 for what a jam packed day full of entertainment and free activities.

There were lots to do for the kids, and after having joined in with the street dance over by the asum stage, we had some ball fun, gooey autism mum moment but Dylan actually got out of his pushchair and joined in with this activity. Super rare for someone who usually finds comfort in staying strapped in his pushchair when there are crowds of people nearby.

He didn’t cope so well when we joined the crowd in front of the stage, but with his iPad and a bag full of snacks, it kept him happy enough for us to watch Mr Bloom while consuming some yummy pulled cajun chicken and skinny fries from one of the food stalls. Check out our video below to see Mr Bloom live in action.

After we had our mind blown by Mr Bloom’s veggies, we decided to explore the area, but we were instantly greeted by some big bubbles, queue three very excited children!

We continued our walk and came across the Clik Clik Asparalympics, watched some cookery classes, checked out the falconry, saw some ferrets and so much more. There were even a funfair and pony rides, but with our new family frugal pact, we managed to steer the children away from these and back to the free activities.

My favourite area for the children was the Junkfish Family Crafts area which had lots of activities for the kids to join in with as well as a play area for the smaller children. We made spoon people, crowns and then made shields and swords. Dylan even joined in which made us smile lots.

Just before we headed home for the day exhausted and happy, we managed to grab a photo with Gus – The Asparagus Man.

As I was drafting this post, I saw someone had commented on the Asparafest Facebook page about how as adults they had come along, paid £10 on the gate (would have been £8 for the Sunday if they paid online) and was disappointed with what they saw stating that it was aimed more towards children. Quite the contrary, if we had come childless we would have had just as good as time, we would have hit the bar for starters (duh) and checked out the cocktail van. We would have spent longer at all the food exhibitors checking out new flavours, and we would have spent the day listening to the bands and watching the entertainment provided. We might have been a bit of envious of friends who were there last night doing exactly this.

It was the most enjoyable family fun day, and I’m kicking myself for not checking it out in years gone by. We are even thinking about checking out the camping option for next year. Here’s a video snippet of our day at the Asparafest festival.