On Saturday we headed for Hay Fever, positioned towards the left corner of the Hay Festival site, although it meant we had to walk through the crowds to get there, it meant we could soak up all the atmosphere, the hustle and bustle in certain parts but also the chill out sections where people were reading or talking in the sun.

At the entrance to Hay Fever was Wiggly Wigglers – a fun and modern approach to making a difference to our own environment. Various vegetables were on display, James pointed out that we had similar ones growing in our garden; colourful wellies had been planted up for bees, fruit and veg; there was a Rain Garden to show you how to deal with the run off (the weather of the previous two years probably gave them this idea!); there were some chickens and while we were there there was a talk on how to keep hens – I would have loved to have listened to this as we plan to get a couple of hens ourselves, never mind I'm sure Wiggly Wigglers would be happy to advise at a later date . . . there really was lots going on, it was nice to see James and his cousin Jacob taking an interest without being prompted.

So onto the Hay Fever marque, James and Jacob were unleashed into Techniquest! Mind you, Co and I being the big kids we are, were not far behind them! Co had to work out each exhibit before moving onto the next, where as James had to quickly look at everything first, before he could decide which one was more exciting to take a further look. All exhibits were hands-on, some needed more thought than others, each one was teaching families about science, all through a fun element. It really was great, you could see children of all ages enjoying the exhibits, one little girl was addicted to a beach ball that was being kept in the air by a tunnel of air, I say addicted because she wouldn't let anyone near it! 

We then decided to visit the arts and crafts section – my first impression was, what a mess . . . but for a child this was a dream some true! The floor was covered with cardboard boxes, plastic cartons, pens, paper, plastic bottles, string, glitter, foil and the all important glue – all this so the children could make rockets, of course I was more than happy to chip in with this! There was a huge display of rockets already, this section had kept many children amused already. For the adults who didn't want to get knee deep in foil, glitter and glue, they could have taken a seat on they comfy sofas near the book shelves. This was also a place were families could read the many books on offer. Once we were happy with our own rocket we decided to leave Hay Fever, we'd been at the site for about two hours and time had just flown by.

This is just a small run-down to Hay Fever, during the ten days of the Festival there was and would be yoga, fencing, knitting, juggling, drawing, films, screenwritting, storytelling with Mr. Men, Spot and Peter Rabbit . . . lots on offer for local children and children visiting Hay.