We’ll update this news post from top (older) to bottom (newer) to tell you our site build story for 2024 on our brand new 28 acres of flat and well-drained grassland. Don’t forget to follow our Facebook page to get the very latest news and more photos. It really is an exciting task having a new site to construct what we think will be a huge improvement to previous years. The weather is looking perfect too, plenty of sun but no heatwave … the ideal weather for a festival.
We’d like to thank Steve Hammond of Gosport Drones fame for much of the photography documenting our 2024 site build story.
It’s the 23rd of July and we’ve 9 days to go until Wickham Festival 2024.
Our team has arrived onsite to a brand new location to start our festival build. It’s going to be a busy fortnight for us, but we couldn’t be happier working in this picturesque location. We look forward to welcoming you in 9 days! Tickets are still available so come and join us!
8 days to go – say hello to “Big Top” – Main Stage 1!
Appearing on Big Top – Main Stage 1 this year will be The Men They Couldn’t Hang (Thursday), Suzi Quatro (Friday), Levellers (Saturday), Tony Christie & Curtis Stigers (Sunday) amongst many, many more fantastic acts. We’re going to have 4 beautiful days this year!
7 days to go – it’s 25th July – now say hello to “Little Top” – Main Stage 2!
Little Top – Main Stage 2 will be headlined on our opening night by Fleetwood Collective. We don’t often have cover bands but Fleetwood Collective proved a massive hit last year despite the mud. With visitors struggling to arrive on the Thursday due to weather, we thought we’d invite them back in the sunshine on our new grassed fields. Here they are performing The Chain in 2023. If you’re a Fleetwood Mac fan, you can’t miss this.
Closing Little Top – Main Stage 2 on Kilt Sunday will be Mànran, a multi award-winning Scottish supergroup. We have some incredible music lined up for this stage throughout our weekend.
Wow it’s just one week to go and both our main Big Tops are up as is our security fencing. Our site team will be busy today as cabins, toilets and other infrastructure starts to arrive.
6 days to go – things are starting to take shape.
Our 2 main stages look great on beautiful, grassed fields surrounded by trees. Wickham village is a quintessential English village and now we have the most quintessential setting for our festival … lush grass surrounded by woodland! With only 6 days to go we’ve more tents up, plus trackway, dressing room cabins, and the first toilets.
5 days to go – it’s time for some infrastructure
With our main structures in place, it’s time for us to get busy with the infrastructure. Today, amongst other tasks, we’ve been constructing our main stages and getting all the electrics in place.
4 days to go – the entrance tent is up!
Last year visitors would be walking down a steep slope alongside a fence, entering the arena, and then walking back up a steep slope to get to our stages … oh yes … in mud. This year you’ll arrive at our entrance tent with no slope and no mud … straight to your choice of stage! Walking distances are greatly reduced and across flat land to boot.
Serving a variety of lagers & ales, you can quench your thirst at the popular Moose Bar, which is always set in the centre of the festival between our 2 main stages.
Our glamping tents enjoy a lovely woodland setting this year. Still a few tents available if you fancy a little luxury next weekend.
3 days to go – our wonderful new festival site is starting to take shape
There’s enough space on our new field for our new arena plus campervan & motorhome camping, accessible camping, camping with electric hook-ups, dog-friendly camping, and Festival glamping. With sunshine forecast next weekend it’s going to be a great Festival.
2 days to go – let the pictures tell the story
We’re looking forward to our first visitors arriving tomorrow. You won’t be disappointed when you get here. It’s all much, much better than previous years.
You can now see where all our main structures are located. The Magic Teapot and Quay West Stage are at the far end. The Moose bar is now near the entrance between the main stages.
1 day to go – It’s Wednesday the 31st of July and we welcome our early arrival campers to our brand new arena site!
What a lovely atmosphere on Wednesday evening as we open our new arena for early arrival campers. So many people saying they love our new arena, as do we. This comment from Sarah on FB sums up one of the main changes we’ve made this year…
“From our pitch to the big top is less far than we usually have to walk from our pitch to the way out of our camping field! And no hill!”
Sarah Henly on Facebook
Please do join us this weekend for what promises to be one of our best ever Wickham Festivals. Tickets onsale online here and at the gate each day.
