With glorious weather forecast all weekend, this year’s Wickham Festival is set to be one of our best ever! We look forward to welcoming you this Thursday and hope you enjoy a wonderful weekend of magical music in beautiful scenic surroundings on our newly grassed fields. We hope you have a safe journey! Please note the following travel tips…
Campsites open from 12 noon Wednesday and from 10am Thursday. We have an extra 28 acres of wonderful grassed fields this year so all camping is on grass… none on stubble. All campsites will be well signposted so please follow the signs on arrival.
There’s an extra free concert for early arrivals from 6pm on Wednesday evening on our Festival arena featuring Sinitta (6.15pm) and Fleetwood Bac (7.15pm).
If you have a weekend ticket you can also gain free entry to the new Ideas Festival taking place on our Festival site Wednesday & Thursday daytimes, see www.ideasfest.co.uk for details. Your Music Festival ticket / wristband will also get you into the Ideas Festival for free.
On arrival in Wickham, please have your camping tickets available for inspection. You can set-up camp before swapping your tickets for wristbands from the Festival Box Office. Programmes will be on sale from Wednesday afternoon from the Box Office close to the arena entrance.
We have divided our camping fields into areas for ‘Caravans & Motorhomes’, ‘Tented Camping’, ‘Disabled Camping’ etc. We also have a ‘Mixed Camping’ area where groups wishing to camp in a mix of tents and vehicles can camp together. Please ensure whoever arrives first saves enough room for those arriving later. If you’ve booked an electric hook-up please ensure you’re directed to the area with electric hook-ups on the ‘Mixed Camping’ field. Most camping fields are accessed via the main A334 Winchester Road. Just follow the signs. ‘Disabled Camping’ is accessed via Blind Lane.
You’ll be handed a letter on arrival with a few tip on camping and the Festival generally. Please read it. The letter also contains a 24/7 Emergency Phone Number. On the back is a booking form for ‘earlybird’ tickets for next year. You can save a whopping £100 on every adult ticket for 2023 if you book before leaving this year’s Festival.
Please note it’s a little further to walk from our new camping fields to the arena. We hope the grass instead of stubble makes this worthwhile. You do have to cross the main Winchester Road but we will have a pedestrian crossing point with temporary traffic lights from Thursday to Sunday, manned by professional traffic marshals from 8am to 2am daily. There’s then a pedestrian ‘short-cut’ to our arena entrance. You do not need to walk along the main road to Blind Lane unless heading for the village.
From Thursday to Sunday we will have a free shuttle bus service linking all campsites with the Festival arena, Wickham Community Centre and the village centre. The buses will run at 15 minute intervals from 9am to 5pm daily.
A few more points:
- You can bring in refillable water bottles. We have fresh water taps on all our campsites and in the arena.
- If you wish to book a taxi, our taxis drop-off and pick-up point is located in Blind Lane, PO17 5HD at the entrance to our Day Parking field
- Almost all our bars, food and non-food stalls will be accepting both cards and cash. Please note we don’t have a cash machine on site but there is a free cash machine in Wickham Square.
- Please remain ‘Covid Aware’ and don’t travel if you test positive. If you experience symptoms while at the Festival please go to our First Aid Post where free Covid test kits will be available. Please note if you are unable to use your tickets due to Covid or any other reason we will not be able to refund or rollover unused tickets this year but you can give your tickets to family and friends.
- Fire Risk. The ground is bone dry so please take every precaution to prevent fire. No ground level BBQs or cooking. Don’t stub out cigarette butts on the ground. If you see any sign of fire please alert stewards and security immediately. We have extra Fire Points positioned throughout our car parks, camping fields and the arena.
Lastly, if you’ve yet to buy tickets but are thinking of travelling, day and weekend tickets are still on sale here and will be available on the gate each day.
With best wishes,
The Wickham Festival Team
