The history of HESFES

A small notice in the October 1998 Education Otherwise newsletter invited readers back to Monkton Wylde after that year’s camp. By the following May, the organisers counted 138 camping families. Their reports, and the accounts people wrote when they got home, trace a festival that changed with its venues.

The Dorset camps

The first gatherings used the word Seaside in their name. In 1999 organisers offered a printed programme and booking form by post. A large field, marquees, hot showers and inexpensive vegan meals were part of the invitation. When the American educator Jerry Mintz visited Charmouth in 2000, he described groups of tents spreading across connected fields. Children were learning to juggle while adults held discussions close by.

From the coast to an airfield

A family who visited Mersea Island in 2007 remembered a labyrinth built on the beach. In 2009 the gathering moved inland to the Hop Farm near Paddock Wood, the name used in the organisers’ own short history. The Kent event in 2010 included a conference on the politics of home education alongside camping, music and games. At Rougham Airfield in 2011, workshops and performances occupied a dozen marquees.

The later summers

Stonham Barns in 2012 hosted a children's cabaret with a tap dancer and a comedy sketch. The 2014 Suffolk programme included a travelling library. In 2015 at Pembrey Country Park, families again had the sea within walking distance of their tents. Two accounts written after the gathering describe the Welsh location.

A further gathering was planned for 2016 but was cancelled. The festival year archive brings the surviving accounts together, including the names and dates people can use to find their own festival again.