Sources and archive credits

The fullest picture of HESFES comes from reading the documents left by different people. A notice tells us what a family could book. A camper’s account tells us which activities they actually found when they arrived.

Surviving festival pages

The original website can be read through dated copies held by the Internet Archive. Among them are the organisers’ own early timeline, their last-minute notice about tickets for Rougham and the 2011 science programme. The historical booking page uses two archived versions of the same address to show how its purpose changed between 2008 and 2012.

The Dorset newsletters

Education Otherwise has digitised the newsletters that carried the early invitations. Its October 1998 issue records plans to return to Monkton Wylde after the first camp. The December 1998 and April 1999 adverts give different prices for the following May. The August 1999 issue looks back and records the number of families who camped. Find the three accounts together on the 1999 page.

Accounts from the field

The Mersea Island account comes from a family who visited in 2007 and wrote about the experience in 2011. In Suffolk in 2012 a camper recorded the children's cabaret and evening performances. Accounts in French and Spanish document the 2015 gathering at Pembrey. The organisers’ archived venue announcement confirms the location, correcting an earlier listing that still named a Suffolk venue.

Each year page links to the material used for that record. Photographs in personal blogs remain with their publishers. Follow those links to see the images alongside the original captions.

Finding information about events today

HEFF publishes dates and venue details on its own website. Education Otherwise maintains a catalogue of community groups. The events directory and home education guides use the relevant organiser or public body for practical information. Historical adverts can be read for context long after their prices, booking addresses and contact arrangements have expired.

If you have a dated programme or can identify a missing venue, the contact page explains how to offer a correction.