4 Days at a Naked Festival in the UK

Throughout the years, we’ve had the chance to participate in quite some naked events. There have been small gatherings that included a guitar and campfire, or sports tournaments, naked runs, family meetups, concerts, you name it. Some were better organised than others, but in most cases, we would walk away with at least a few good memories.

We never imagined though that one of the most entertaining events we’ve ever been to would be a naked festival in a country that is famous for its unpredictable weather and where they have more than 50 different words for rain.

The variety of naked events in the UK is impressive. Throughout the summer, something is happening pretty much every weekend and the cherries on the cake are 4 multiple day festivals. One is called Party in the Stark, organised by The Naturist Foundation. British Naturism organises the other three: The famous Nudefest which already exists since 2007, then there is NKD, a more family-oriented festival, and since very recently, there’s also “(this is) Every Body”.

Every Body festival is different from the other BN-related festivals because it’s not just for federation members but open to all. It’s also adults-only and clothing-optional, but what triggered our attention the most was that the word “naturist” was nowhere to be found on the website.

Not that we have anything against naturist events, but we learned throughout the years that as much as naturists like to be inclusive, the term will also feel exclusive to some. More and more people are enjoying some form of social nudity but don’t want to wear the label. So we wondered how different a “naked festival” would be from a “naturist event”.

The days before the festival had been magnificent. Bright blue skies and warm temperatures kept pushing us towards the nude beaches in Hampshire and Dorset. Because if there’s one thing we had already learned in the UK, it is to take every moment of sunshine you can get. The forecast for the weekend was less promising. Cloudy with a chance of rain and temperatures barely hitting 20°C in the afternoon. We started searching our van in the hope that we may have accidentally packed two sweaters and a jacket.

What had also been keeping us busy was how we would remain entertained for 4 days in a row. We’ve been to quite some naturist events before and most of the time that just means that there are a couple of activities throughout the day and a band playing in the evening. In between, you pretty much have to find your own entertainment. So we piled up a bit of work that would be excellent for rainy afternoons when nothing is happening.

Normally Every Body festival only takes three days, Friday to Sunday. To spread the arrival of the guests, this year the organisation had prepared Thursday afternoon for the early birds. To us, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to spend some time with the staff before everyone else would arrive. The queue at the entrance of the venue told us otherwise, the majority of the guests really didn’t want to miss a minute of the festival.

There wasn’t that much planned for Day 1, but by the time we got our van settled and met the neighbours, it was time for the quiz. The weather forecast had not been lying, a cold evening and a light drizzle forced us and everyone else to add an additional layer of clothes instead of taking one off. Something that would actually come in handy later that evening, but we didn’t know that yet. Luckily the event venue had a marquee where we could at least quiz without getting soaked.

There was a fun ambience, the quiz was more entertaining than it was competitive, beers were flowing and people were making new friends. But we all realised that in this kind of weather, clothing would be our only option. Until the final assignment of the quiz where each team had to make an as long as possible line of clothes. Within seconds, the whole venue was nude and the tone for the weekend had been set and during the party that followed the clothes stayed off.

On Friday morning, still a bit dizzy from maybe one or two too many pints, we opened the door of our van and could not believe our eyes. Blue skies all around. We opened up the weather app because being part of the digital generation we tend to believe our phone better than our own eyes and the app confirmed what we just had witnessed. Whatever stormy weather that was supposed to come towards us had completely vanished.

By the time we had taken a shower, made coffee, and chatted with a number of strangers passing by, we had already missed Fitness with Roy and Yoga with Mel. At other events, this could mean that we had passed on most of the activities for the day, but at Every Body it was barely 10:30 am. There were at least 10 other things we could participate in that day.

Day 2 was the day when we learned that nude activities don’t necessarily have to be traditional. There was no petanque court to be seen, but instead we got things like dodgeball, slip ‘n’ sliders, musical benches, and combat archery. These are not just great fun to do, but often even more fun to watch. The entertainment factor went through the roof.

Missing fitness and yoga would become a habit because we started valuing our slow and social mornings. The list of activities on Day 3 was even longer than the day before, but the one thing we were looking forward to was the “Splashdown”.

The organisation of Every Body had rented a waterpark nearby and around 7:30 pm we would put on our clothes only to take them off again half an hour later when we arrived at the park. We had been to nude swim events before, and they are always quite fun. But we had no idea what would be waiting for us at Tower Park.

This was not the typical water park that we’re used to. There was no 25-meter pool where people could do laps, there was no water volleyball pool, no kiddie pool and only a very small relaxing pool. Instead, there were 12 slides in the range of “pretty fast” to “almost certain that you will get hurt”. After just one slide, our mental age dropped by at least 30 years, and we were certainly not the mentally youngest that evening.

Just at like music festivals, our days started to get a certain rhythm. Wake up around eight, coffee, shower, chatter, then down to the central area, more chatter with the many people we had met during the last few days. First beer around noon and then the more exciting activities start. However we noticed that we started to lack interest in water fights or salsa classes.

It would be easy to blame the sun, the beer, or the lack of sleep for that but the true reason was the people. By that time, we had met a lot of people and had become part of a group that kept ranging between about ten and twenty-five. We had our spot on the lawn, some would go and others would come but it always remained our sweet spot. We would engage in conversations only to realise that we had missed yet another activity. And nobody cared at all.

And just like that, Every Body festival was over. When we woke up on Monday morning and after coffee, shower, and chatter, the only thing that was left for us to do was leave. The bright blue skies that had joined us for the weekend had also made place for grey clouds as an additional indication that it was really time to go. All we had left were great memories, and the pile of work that we had saved for dead moments but never had gotten to.

Writing this blog post now, about a month and a half after the festival, we have to admit that we struggled to remember all the activities. Some moments are still very clear in our memory like pictures in an album. But many things already slipped away over time. What we do remember as if it was yesterday is all the lovely people we met and the great talks we’ve had. In the end, it’s always about the people. The only purpose of activities is to bring them together in a fun and exciting way, and for us, this seems to work better with dodgeball and slip ‘n sliders than with petanque.