How to find your tent at a festival

At a jam-packed summer festival, finding your tent can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Sally Cameron Griffiths shows you how to mark your territory

Have do you plan to distinguish your tent from all the others? Share your tips in the comments section below
Tents at Glastonbury festival
Good luck finding your tent among thousands of others. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

There's nothing quite like having a nap in your tent at a festival after a day spent in the hot sun (or freezing rain), listening to music that will muddle around your head all night, and walking further than you would usually tread in a month.

At Reading one year I remember how happy I was when I found my tent late one afternoon. I unzipped it, stepped inside and thought I'd put my head down for a sleep.

Until I realised I wasn't in my tent. It was somebody else's. Somebody that had obviously been there for some days, judging by the pile of dirty clothing that was being used as a sleeping bag.

I scrambled out, glad not to have bumped into its owner, and spent the next half hour trying to find my tent.

It's hard enough to find your tent on a campsite, let alone at a temporary party with thousands and thousands of canvas homes.

That's why this year, I'm taking my new best friend to a festival with me. Yes, my festival buddy is going to be a windmill - one that will mark out my tent nice and clearly when I'm wondering back to it after an afternoon spent in the sunshine (hopefully).

Here's how you can make one.

What you need

Three windmills

Dowel, 2m
Coloured card
Patterned wrapping paper or wallpaper
A nail
Sticky-back plastic (if you want to make a shower-proof windmill)

How long will it take

Five minutes

What to do

In pictures: Follow our step-by-step instructions

1. Cut out a square piece of card and cover one side with patterned wrapping paper or wallpaper. You can cover the card with sticky-back plastic if you want to make it waterproof.

2. Cut into the square: starting at each corner, cut halfway towards the middle of the square.

3. Put the nail through the middle of the square and waggle it around so the hole is slightly bigger than the nail.

4. Put a nail through each triangular end. Again, waggle it to make the hole slightly bigger than the nail.

5. Join the outer holes to the middle hole, securing them with the nail. Voila! A windmill with four blades.

6. Hammer the nail through the piece of dowel.

7. Take your windmill with you to a festival, or anywhere that you want to mark out your space.

NB. This system will work well - as long as your windmill doesn't get pinched.