Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

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not_the_dj
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Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by not_the_dj »

Hi all,

We've booked tickets for the show this June. It'll be my wife plus our two kids, a toddler who'll be almost 2 and our eldest who'll be nearly 5.

Any advice from parents with young kids who've been to the show before? Loos, baby changing, general crowds etc?

Once you're in can you nip back to the car or is it a mammoth trek?

We've got ear defenders that they've used at music festivals before so that's sorted.

It'll be the first airshow I've been to since I was a kid so any friendly advice you can offer willl be great.

Thanks,
Col

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Tommy
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by Tommy »

Welcome Col,

I can't say much in the way of baby changing etc but one of the really nice things about Cosford is that you park your car on the airfield. So a lot of people like to set up camp around their car and watch the display. This is obviously an absolute joy because it saves you trekking everywhere with chairs, bags, food et al. So from that point of view it'll be pretty handy for you and your kids.

Apart from that I can't say, other than the fact that my parents had no trouble at the show when I was in nappies!

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not_the_dj
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by not_the_dj »

Excellent. Thanks for that.

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2e1var
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by 2e1var »

Cosford has a reputation of being a more family friendly show, not as crowded as other shows, access to the car all day and not so many of those noisy fast jets (although the Typhoon is booked this year). I find it a very pleasant experience and we take our kids each year. Can be pot luck where you get parked though. We were as close to the crowd line as possible last year but way back the year before. Lots of space to lay out picnic blankets etc. as with most shows the front of the crowd line can be congested but most of the stuff doesn't operate from Cosford anyway so no point in being up front, unless you're into Jags ! I would recommend an early arrival to avoid queues but I think the flying starts quite late, seem to remember 11ish from last year.

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D200
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by D200 »

The airfield is open at 0800. The runway is open for arrivals at 0920 until 1015. The Jaguars taxi between 1015 a 1045. Then the large, read huge, scale models fly until the dynamic flying starts at approx 1145. One of the models planned to be at Cosford this year is a huge white Vulcan powered by 4 mini jet engines. The ground displays are greater in number than ever before, and I would strongly recommend an early arrival to visit these before the flying display starts. It is usual at Cosford for families to lay out picnic facilities in the rows between carlanes. There is plenty of room and the cars are parked halfway between the crowdline and ground displays.

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not_the_dj
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by not_the_dj »

Thanks all, sounds great.

We'll be travelling up from Warwickshire, so not too far and we'll be able to get there early(ish).

Cheers.

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stevebrodie
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by stevebrodie »

Cosford is a great airshow for young families, as has been stated before their is plenty of space between cars to set up camp for the day, toilets not to far away from the crowd line, ice cream vans, Funfair is usually in attendance along with a craft fair. Getting in to the show is not as bad as years gone by either, can sometimes be a bit of a lottery where you get parked, so would suggest arriving early, more so if the weather is good as you don't want to end up right at the back of the base.

Hope you have a great time :smile:
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not_the_dj
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by not_the_dj »

stevebrodie wrote:Cosford is a great airshow for young families, as has been stated before their is plenty of space between cars to set up camp for the day, toilets not to far away from the crowd line, ice cream vans, Funfair is usually in attendance along with a craft fair. Getting in to the show is not as bad as years gone by either, can sometimes be a bit of a lottery where you get parked, so would suggest arriving early, more so if the weather is good as you don't want to end up right at the back of the base.

Hope you have a great time :smile:


Thanks, we're all really looking forward to it.

Cheers,
Col

(PS Love the avatar :wink: )

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Tbolt
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by Tbolt »

D200 wrote:The airfield is open at 0800. The runway is open for arrivals at 0920 until 1015. The Jaguars taxi between 1015 a 1045. Then the large, read huge, scale models fly until the dynamic flying starts at approx 1145. One of the models planned to be at Cosford this year is a huge white Vulcan powered by 4 mini jet engines. The ground displays are greater in number than ever before, and I would strongly recommend an early arrival to visit these before the flying display starts. It is usual at Cosford for families to lay out picnic facilities in the rows between carlanes. There is plenty of room and the cars are parked halfway between the crowdline and ground displays.


08:00? I was going for the 08:30 start quoted on the website, I guess I will be leaving a bit earlier then :hypno:

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D200
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by D200 »

My bad :tumbleweed:
0830 it is......

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Tbolt
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by Tbolt »

D200 wrote:My bad :tumbleweed:
0830 it is......


OK that's better. I saw it was listed as 08:30, I just though maybe you knew better. Anyway I will probably try and get there by 08:00.

smr
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by smr »

Posted this in the wrong thead I think...so here goes...

Hi,

My first time here and I see there may be some patchy rain, hopefully just in the morning and its dry for the rest of the day mind! But I was wondering if there is space between the cars in the car parks to put a 4 man tent up, I would never dream of blocking anyone elses' views and using a tent on or near the crowdline (not one of those types!) and it says on the FAQ that that is not permitted anyway, which is quite right too! But I have a littleun and two other kids with me so rather than be sat in the car if it is raining I wondered if we could bring a tent and put it next to our car, if there is space and it's permitted and acceptable?

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alpha586
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by alpha586 »

Hi you may have a little space to put up something like a beach shelter on the crowdline ( slightly back from the rope) there will.be no space for a 4 man tent anywhere on the airfield. There are breaks in the rows of cars but these are for emergency vehicle access better off taking either the beach shelter, if you have one, or some waterproof jackets/ clothing.
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smr
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by smr »


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not_the_dj
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by not_the_dj »

We used a little tent/shelter thingy like that the year before last (this was my original thread). The gaps between rows of cars where we were parked that year was good (not blocking the access routes needed for emergency vehicles but at the back of our car away) so we had a nice little base that we could use and still see the displays from the car. Ideal with little kids.

smr
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by smr »

Thanks, sorry for hijacking your thread. Appreciate the advice, with it being our first time we've got no idea what to expect really and just don't want to make the day as enjoyable as possible for the kids. Shall most likely invest in one of these shelters then. Hopefully if we get there early enough we'll be parked in one of the lower number car parks.

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not_the_dj
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Re: Advice for visiting Cosford with young kids

Post by not_the_dj »

smr wrote:Thanks, sorry for hijacking your thread.


No problem at all (it was from 2 years ago, but the advice is all still valid).

That was our first time to Cosford then and we didn't know what to expect, and it was a fantastic day out, although it was a nightmare in the car on the way in due to the traffic problems they had that year, last year was much better and this year being all advanced ticket should be even smoother (fingers crossed).

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