NOT many festivals give you the chance to wander through a maize field to discover a vintage fairground on the other side.

But that was just one of the many quirky charms of The Good Life Experience at the Hawarden Estate in Flintshire, Wales.

The three-day event, near Chester, was launched by former Catatonia singer and 6 Music DJ Cerys Matthews and focuses on celebrating the great outdoors.

And despite being a relatively new attraction in the crowded UK festival scene, it really stands out.

What makes The Good Life Experience special is that the atmosphere is genuinely as important as the activities on offer.

We came with our toddler on Sunday and found the event to be really family friendly. In fact you are first greeted by the sight of youngsters abseiling from the roof of the farm shop.

The festival was also wonderfully unconventional and full of surprises.

There were plenty of scheduled music performances, talks and workshops but we found the real joy was exploring and discovering things for ourselves.

So on our way to the vintage fairground we tried our hand at axe throwing, got up close with birds of prey in falconry area and took a sheep's milk ice cream break while sitting on a bale of hay.

Then we were persuaded to take part in a treasure hunt by a woman dressed as a bee.

In a different area of the site we learnt about traditional crafts in a tipi and elsewhere there was blacksmith demonstrations and leather working.

You instantly feel drawn in by unexpected things like watching an expert carve a spoon from a piece of wood.

The campfire cooking demonstrations were excellent too. Genevieve Taylor made eggy bread and pancakes and talked about the simple pleasure of eating outside.

And Roger Phillips foraged on site, answered questions on the weird and wonderful mushrooms he found and cooked up the edible ones for everyone to try.

The only disappointment was the food tent which was expensive and ran out of its main veggie option – halloumi – before Sunday lunchtime.

But with about 100 diverse activities and countless discoveries to be made throughout the weekend, The Good Life Experience lives up to its name.