The Good Life Society

The Good Life Society

At The Good Life Society we run intimate events focusing on the great outdoors, community, food, craft, culture and music in incredible locations on two of Britain’s most beautiful private estates.

Each of our events aims to be the most friendly and inspiring anywhere.

Currently we run Camp Good Life which is a small festival for under 1000 guests on the storied Hawarden Estate in North Wales.

We also have Summer Camp, which is an annual event, running across four long weekends, for up to 100 guests on the Hawarden Estate.

And now we have our All Day Feasts, too. Our first ever one-day events, hosted within the storied Walled Garden of Hawarden Castle.

We also run occasional events for around 30 guests on the Glen Dye Estate in Kincardineshire, Scotland.

We filmed this short introduction to The Good Life in 2018, and it still rings true today.

Whilst our core values may seem ernest to some, underlying it all is an overwhelming desire to have fun.

"A bucolic bacchanal of a festival, a festive frolic of a festival, a riotous romp of a festival, hospitable and joyous."
- Michael Morpurgo, author

When we launched our first festival back in 2014 (remember that?), we made a conscious choice to focus on more than just music, or food, or craft. Instead we poured our energy into creating a festival full of powerful, memorable and -most importantly- FUN experiences.

This is the story of how The Good Life Society was born...

We’ve had boom and bust, mindless consumption and enforced austerity. And interesting things have come out of that austerity; a retreat to values and fashions that seem to encapsulate simpler times, the good old days. We’ve found ourselves yearning for the more honest and straightforward world enjoyed by our parents and grandparents.

Superficially, this has meant that bicycles and baking, beards and tweed, vintage style and gardening are now more popular than ever; on a deeper level it has meant that millions of people are returning to craft as a source of solace and comfort, that more people than ever want to get outdoors, to discover and consume things that are made with passion by small business.

People are trying to discover what makes them truly happy.

At its core this movement can best be defined, perhaps, as The Search for The Good Life; a life that’s fulfilled and considered, yes, but is also fun and values the things that matter... family, friends, a real connection with The Great Outdoors, proper food and drink, discovery, music that comes from the soul, great books, craft. All the things that don’t cost a great deal but that make life richer, more rewarding and better fun.

The idea was simple, to create a festival unlike any other, one that was curated entirely by the founders.

And finally, here's a longer talk I gave a few years ago, in which I try -in 20 minutes- to answer the question: "What is The Good Life?"

“If Willy Wonka had married Liv Tyler and they had run away with the Circus, then after a lifetime of beauty, craziness and brilliance they had gathered all their loved ones and dogs and children for a celebration of life with luscious food, the smell of perfume and wood smoke, and linked arms for and almighty hoedown, then it’d pale in comparison to The Good Life.”
- Tom Herbert, baker & author