This was our second visit to a Dogstival event and since our first visit in 2023, the event has moved to the grounds of Burley Park. It was a nice location and the roads leading up to it didn’t seem as hectic as they had been when the event was in Romsey. However, in comparison to the Romsey event in 2023, the parking is no longer free and was charged at £4 a car. Disabled badge holders were supposed to be able to park for free according to the website but upon arriving at the car park and showing our friend’s blue badge, we were charged £2. Later on, I discovered that this fee should not have been charged.
The event itself was busier than in 2023 and the queues were longer for the various have-a-go’s and owing to the hot weather, we didn’t end up having a go on anything. There was a decent amount of shops and suppliers who had stands at the event but most did not have special offers that were comparable to my local independent pet shop. We did however, get a nice deal from Scrumbles where we picked up five trays of wet dog food for an upcoming holiday.
There were plenty of benches dotted around the event, but there was a definite lack of shade and I felt that there could have been more paddling pools dotted around to help keep dogs cool. We came across one water refill point for dog water and most stands had bowls outside but if your dog does not like drinking out of communal bowls, that could be problematic unless you came well prepared. Sadly I did not see any easy access water refill points for humans which meant that we had to purchase more drinks and thus leading to more rubbish.
Although we enjoyed our day, we probably wouldn’t be planning another visit for a good few years but for those people in the area who have never been, it would still be worth a visit.