TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

If you want to say how wonderfully it all worked, you can also post.

However I expect it will mostly be negative, until people actually get on the field and have a beer.

Usually works brilliantly for me ;)

but I usually pootle directly to field 7c /7d at the crack of lunch o clock ::)

Just thought I'd start the thread on a positive note...

My pre-feed back based on last year - take your own toilet roll, just in case!

Very frustrating diversion on the A361. Not allowed to turn left towards Willismscot and told to "follow the diversion". This resulted in a long drive around and back onto the A361 so we're now we've waited for 15 minutes and been refused entry and been told to carry on driving back towards the motorway. WTF is going on? We're not early. The person directing won't say why.
Not the best start  :(  

The person directing won't know why. He'll just be told.
It's early, so could be convoys or just the guys on the gates making decisions to keep traffic moving in village.

The latter.

Early Q filled lane before 0630. Stewards only arrived at gates at that time & opened them immediately. Q on A361 by then, so was being sent on diversion round to field 7 to clear the A361 Q as quickly as possible.

More caravans than usual meant Qs built up back to lane very quickly. They require manouvers before next can camp as they aren't straight on arrival, hence taking longer to be parked. Hence field 2 didn't fill until after 8.

From FCs perspective, very smoothly done, Qs actually managed well. Just that arrivals immediately after 7 probably didn't get the field of choice.

Needs a caravan field, known in advance that isn't 1 or 2. Access not great, very small turning circle from lane to field entrance means slow access for them, and Qs build up if several together. Maybe 5 for them in future?

So despite all the standard warnings about there being no point arriving before the official gate-opening time because the police will move you on etc etc... :)

Have those warnings ever actually been enforced? The impression I get is that every year, the early queue is dealt with not by moving people on, but by opening the fields.

Not quite so. Stewards aren't on duty before a certain time, thus gates can't be opened stupidly early & those are moved on by security personnel

So how do you get a road-blocking queue for 6.30? Everybody turns up in quick succession just very shortly before 6.30, so there's no time for security to move them on?

Or *while* security is trying to move them on....

Talking of security imo it was shambolic this year.
In days of old you could only get on camping fields with a ticket/wristband.
Not this weekend......
You could walk in field 7 at will
No one manning the cattle grid gate,just a chap content to sit in his portakabin instead allowing everyone in!!
While queuing for a coffee I saw three people without wristbands in front of me.
Also no proper stewarding on nicks bridge.
Years ago you'd get checked going over.
Not now
Again a chap making a half arsed attempt whilst sat down across the way near his portakabin.
Again I saw plenty of folks wandering by the tents with no wristbands.

Ironically on field 8 after initially letting all and sundry in on wed/thurs the security finally got a grip and turned plenty of people away without wristbands who were moaning they'd been in earlier that week.
At least it was marshalled.
Thefields down Williamscot road were all marshalled excellently and wristbands.checked at all times.

I found it quite ironic given the rumpus over bag tags that the security was the worst I've seen in nine years.
In all the firm have done a good job but if they can't manage anymore they should hand over to another company who can do what they are paid to.
Either that or get better staff,a boss man going round checking they are actually in the right positions checking wristbands would be a start.....

No negatives here, absolute doddle getting in, easiest ever, well done organisers and whoever.  8)
Off motorway about 09.15, pulled in to field 4 at 09.25, give or take a couple of minutes. Tents up and everything by about 10.15, nice and relaxed.

Our choice of choosing Field 8 on Wednesday proved to be the right one.
Nice short grass and plenty of space.
A great vibe in the field with its own bar and barbecue etc.
We were a bit concerned that the vey popular music stage would be rather noisy but this proved not to be so.
Walking time to the arena was 7 minutes, so not too bad . (If this had got muddy I dare say it would have bee somewhat longer, but the weather was kind)
Hope this is an option again next year.

To be fair to the security guys, I seemed to be asked to show my wristband every time at the entrance to Field 7, and even occasionally going from 7a/b to 7 c/d - maybe this says something about me!
Agreed no checks at Nick's Bridge though...

On that note, when I went to the loo last night in field 6 as I made my my way back in to the arena field, a woman in front of me held both arms in the air and attempted to run past the steward. He stopped her but it was very clear she did not have a wrist band, as me and my partner walked past we heard him say something like 'oh go on then' and let her in, her jubilant cry of 'yes!' Confirmed our suspicions that she did not have a wristband. I have to say I was pretty disappointed at that as a paying customer. Although I have never noticed anything like this before and must say that in all my other experiences the stewards have been excellent.

Aside from 2012 when I asked one young guy for a bin bag and he asked me what for.......

No problems at all. Rolled up at 15.30 on the Wednesday and straight in to field 6, slight delay whilst they pushed a campervan that was daft enough to stop in the mudiest bit. After parking a bit of moving so the caravan next door could get their awning up, but that paid dividends as they made us coffee every morning.

Security good even on the Wednesday and nice and quite, even though we were 10 yards from Drew's famous bar.

Straight out of the field this morning with no queue.

Apart, from my back, legs and knees all being ruined a good experience.

I also was asked to show my wristband every time I entered Field 7

All the stewarding I witnessed was first rate, always smiling, always informative. I'm sure there were issues and problems, but i didn't see any. Was lucky enough to get into field 2, which is a help with a littlun and things were just lovely. Leaving the arena at about 1245 (after a push start by the McB's and others) went over the bridge into a queue, but nothing you wouldn't expect. However all still very well marshalled. I'm not sure if this is true, but the traffic light system leaving fields 7/8 seemed to be operated by a human rather than on auto pilot, this ensured that no unnecessary red traffic lights were given to cars if nothing was approaching from the other side. Well done! Oh, the gig was good too.

We headed direct for field 7 arriving around 2 minutes to 7 or bang on time depending on whose watch we looked at. Ended up in field 8, which we all thought was great.  There was security walking around the site at 3am as i visited the amenities. Every time we entered the field  we had to show our wrist bands.  On site security were helpfull, sortedout the labels for the bags and stuf.  Can't say i found any faults.  

Arrival was fine - ended up on 7c instead of b, where I like to be, but no problems (though there are more thistles there!).  Stewarding seemed fine to me.  I noticed that they didn't put people right down the bottom of b (near the trains) this year - maybe it was still too wet?

Leaving this morning I thought would be bad as there were lots of cars on the move when I left (just before 12), but we actually got out quickly.  The queue was way back into 7d though which must have been frustrating for them, and they seemed to be trying to clear c and d by stopping people leaving b at that point, which must have been frustrating for people in there!

After last year we refused to have any part of it and made alternate arrangements which were fab. Heard about the shambles when I went to the village for a paper at 7.15 AM on Thursday and knew I'd made the right choice.

We had no problems getting in or out. Arrived 11:00 Thursday, and went straight onto 7c. Were in the very end nearest the railway line. Lovely and quiet, except for the railway line. I assume there is an unmanned level crossing near there. :-)
Left at 10:30 Sunday. Queue out slow and steady. The traffic lights were definitely manned, and they just kept letting us out, as there was very little traffic on the Great Bourton road. The only time we had to really queue was at the Maxwell House roundabout in Banbury.

Paul

The AA I believe were manning the traffuc lights and, yes, there is an unmanned farm crossing close by.

There was a 14yr old stewarding the day car park who obviously didn't know how a car can/cannot manoevre...asking several to make mives into spaces that just couldn't happen without a large(r) turning circle....whuch annoyed some who realised but the steward started shouting when the manoevre didn't happen

Other than that, which is stupidly minor in the overall festival, I thought this year went extremely smoothly & was probably the best Cropredy for me in 15 years! Congrats to Gareth & the whole team along with all the acts!

Straight onto 7b just before 1030 Thursday (coming in from the Gt Bourton direction); left just after 0800 today (just this once eschewing breakfast at the school), no queues, looked as though the temporary lights and associated signs were about to be set up.

Btw, is that yet another housing development on the corner with the main road at Gt Bourton?

I wondered that too

its something very odd if it isnt!

We were on field 8 on Wednesday (thanks for the ticket Ian). We were parked up very easily by an "adult" not the scouts who realised that as a large caravan we needed a big turning circle and needed room for our awning. Well done! The field was great. Short grass. Good loos. Friendly staff. Will try to get a Wednesday ticket again next year.

Tony

We, a group of 4 cars, arrived at 08.30 from Williamscot end, tried to get in field 5 and was told by the people on the gate that it was full, I asked him what time had they opened and was told 5.00AM !!!!!!!. I could see that there was still room in there and this was confirmed when I later walked by to see more tents in there. We then went to Field 4, to be told that was full too and to drive on to Field 7. I then texted my daughter, who was just leaving Northampton, that all fields were full apart from 7. She arrived at Field 4 at 09.30, went in there and then sent me a picture showing the field less than half full ! Before anyone says "they have to keep the traffic from backing up" there were no queues at all from the A361 right down to Field 5, so that can't be the reason
     Anyhow, it was nice to see the McBastards were lucky enough to get their usual spot, it seems incredible that they are able to get that same spot every year, some people, it seems, are just born lucky  ;)

No problems in or out!  Stewards for the most part did what they were supposed to without fuss.  I was mystified by the bag tag thing, though.

A tip for a stress free departure from field 7 - walk to the Brazenose, stay till late afternoon, walk back to field, drive straight out.

Not a moan, but I am genuinely curious as to why the public footpath that links Crow Lane in Great Bourton with the canal via Peewit Farm was blocked by 'festival fencing' at the railway crossing? The footpath (and access to the crossing) is in a field adjacent to - but, because of barbed wire and hedgerows, not accessible from - a far-flung corner of Field 7, so it can't be said that either safety for children or worries about hordes of interlopers without wristbands  would have been an issue.

Yes, it compromised my walk from the Bell to the festival site and back but that was ok as I wasn't in a hurry and it was a good excuse for some exercise, but I was left wondering about the impact on other walkers and OS map users if public rights of way can be summarily blocked in this fashion.

Then I had a pint and forgot about it, until now, when I should be sleeping but can't because I'm still buzzing from the last 3 days...

Arrived about 1ish on Thursday; straight onto 7b which is where I wanted to be.  Excellent marshalling and this year they were allocating big enough plots for the family type tents most people have.  Security seemed good, was checked every time I came onto the field by friendly staff.  People round where I was camped were the normal good natured types and had several long chats with them.  Only slight downside was the very noisy generator by one of the lighting rigs but it did not seem to impact on my sleep.

Getting out on Sunday was a different matter.  We normally have a leisurely morning and late breakfast and leave at between 12 and 1 and there is no wait at all at this point.  I have never seen the field clear as slowly as this year, I watched cars sitting still or making 10m in half an hour; several just gave up and parked up to let the traffic clear.  We set off at 1:30ish and it still took over 30 minutes to get clear of the site.  

Funnily enough, that's more or less what we did. Tasty lunch at the Brasenose and good music courtesy of Ric Sanders (and the other bloke whose name I didn't catch). Then back along the canal to field 7, where the queues were still queuing but definitely much improved. A further half hour sit down in the field with a cool drink and then we drove out with no delay.

Btw Ric must have an iron constitution given that he was on stage until midnight the evening before; I'd have just been flat out all Sunday!

We had a leisurely arrival about 3pm Thurs, after rendezvous-ing with friends at the Bell in Great Boughton.
We were in 7d, not too far from the gate to 7a...the first time in my 25 years I've not been to the right of the roadway through the fields 7.

We left at peak time on Sunday, around 12:30. The road out of 7c/d was full of queuing cars and we were directed to a parallel queue in 7c.
Once through the gateway between 7a/b and 7c/d however it was more-or-less straight out.
The whole process from setting off in the car to the road back to Great Boughton took about 40mins.
Not too bad, I thought.

(If on my own, I'd have parked-up somewhere in the field and walked into the village for a leisurely lunch. But my companions were keen to get home and showered.)

Oh yes, I nearly forgot: we were held up getting up School Lane on the way in on Thursday.
The Fairport Facebook page explained the delay was due to a caravan 'incident' in School Lane, and I was able to start relaying that back up through the queuing traffic behind me. We were probably held up for 10 or 15 minutes.

Yes, there are 38 houses being built on that plot in Great Bourton by the Southam Road. Plus a large village Hall that most don't see the need for (we've already got a cosy smaller one that is very well used.

That field certainly DID NOT open at 5am. Totally false news. I was outside there on the lane at 6am, and it still hadn't opened. The camping stewards didn't come on duty until 0630.

Vo Fletcher was the singer-songwriter at the Brasenose with Ric.

We drove up on Wed night from Wiltshire with a view to kipping over in a layby (usual plan :-)

We totally missed the sign just at the northern end of Burford presumably saying the A361 was closed not much further on so ended up at a totally closed road.  We eventually sorted ourselves out to get to chipping Norton and onwards but it was very weird. We checked coming back on Sunday and there was evidence of what was probably a  single sign.

Hey ho.

didds

We arrived at about 9.30 on Thursday morning. No problems - straight into Field 7. Camping was fine. Friendly stewards and clean loos in the field. Showers lovely and warm. We had brekkie in the school on Sunday morning and went back and packed the gear away. We left about 9.45am and had no hold ups at all. All in all a trouble free experience. Nice...

Met friends at Tesco banbury as usual, convoy of 5 vehicles.  very smooth journey through to the site. Onto Field 5 where they said they coudn't accommodate us all together - well done for spotting this as soon as we entered the field too. So we moved into field four where despite there appearing to be acres of space nobody could make a decision it seemed despite there being a perfect triangle at the end of the "main drag" that would do. We eventually convinced the bloke and it was perfect, and relieved the wait for those behind us.

Getting out was fine... just a stream of traffic through and out of Banbury and the roafd to Chipping Norton was "normal" and a clear run through to the Swan at Southrop for a seriously excellent lunch, and onto Lake 32 for a campover a swim in the lake this morning :)

If we weren't going to The Swan I'd be happy to lunch in the village and watch some of the cricket. maybe something to remember for next year...  but I suspect the wife would like to return to the Swan ...  and I can;t blame her either!  

didds

I'm only repeating what the guy on the gate told me. Was there any traffic about at 06.00, if so did they get moved on ? Was there any one from Scotland outside the entrance to Field 2 ?

We didn't get to field 7 until about 16:00 on Thursday so no problems there!, but getting out was chaos. Last year we were at the services on Sunday at 11:10 (I know because Michael Ball read a dedication to me from my lovely wife about taking her to Cropredy). Six queues were on the go at one point. We waited several hours until we had to go. It seemed that at an intersection of (now) 3 queues from the field we were in and an extra one just past the gates (just past the toilets, if you were on 7) were not being run fairly. For example we were held while a load of vehicles came from the left field, and when that stopped, we weren't flagged on, so every 30 seconds or so one car came from the left field, when maybe 20-30 others in our queues could have moved on. Once past all that it was a breeze.
I asked a guy what the problem was?, it was a sell out I was told much more traffic the usual. Now I'm not an expert on queuing theory but it did sound a made up on the spot reason.
There were also an AA and RAC van going up the lane, perhaps a mobile charging unit would be of use next year by some enterprising local garage? or maybe the control units could have some jump leads? (presume it would be mostly flat batteries).
Finally there seemed to be only about of 20 toilets at the top of the 7's and they were mostly foul, kept running out of hand wash and toilet roll, the smell was not Channel No5 even at that was on the first day when we go there. The ones on the concert field were much better, kept clean and stocked. Fairly horrible all around but what a shame for children who had to perhaps perch over some dirty b*****s output (seriously can some people not clean up after them self?)

Loved field 8. Only problem was on Friday night we returned to the site to see that the area around the fire pit had been taken over by some folks without wristbands. Got a bit unpleasantly rowdy, (2 women eerie very close to a full on fight at one stage)' whereas the previous night's had been fun, with general banter and singing along  to the music. Seemed to have sorted it by Saturday, thankfully.

Re staying later on Sunday. We were told that we couldn't remain on field 5 and that the gate would be locked at 2pm. That was by the security bloke on the gate as we were about to walk off and leave  our vehicle!!!

Don't believe a word from the security on gate 5, they lied to me on Thursday morning.

Vo Fletcher?

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As a Cropredy virgin (at 60!) I was really impressed by the organisation and facilities at the festival.  Everything was made as easy as possible for us, with the stewards doing a fantastic job of looking after us when there was any traffic between field 7c and the arena.  Every member of the festival organisation I spoke to (from getting information about flogging a spare ticket to questions about when showers were available) was a perfect combination of efficiency and friendliness; I don't know how much training - if there is any? - or who does the training - but they seem to have got it right.  
Was dreading what toilet facilities would be on offer but was pleasantly surprised that there were 'proper' toilets in our field which were kept really clean,  and once the signage reflected a more equal balance between gents and ladies - no complaints at all.
Special compliments to the great serving staff at the coffee stall on the way to the Arena.
A super friendly festival - I hope I'll be there next year!

There were only a couple of vehicles at the gate 1&2 entrance & they did move on after being advised that the gate stewards weren't on duty & therefore they weren't getting in any time soon.

No moans from me ;D  We camped on Bridge Meadow so we could go to the warmup gigs.  Irrelevant, I know, as not part of the camping fields, but loos were cleaned every day, always plenty of paper, though they were filling up by Sunday morning!  My brother walked up to the entrance to 1 and 2 on Thursday morning to see what was happening and found a couple  of cars who had missed the turning into the fields and refused to move on saying they had a "special arrangement".  They were then turned around in the cricket ground entrance and went back up the lane into the field they had missed!

Loos on the main field I found clean with plenty of paper etc, the queues for the ladies proper toilets were always very long, unless you went in the middle of a set.

Like others, on Sunday we spent time at the Brasenose, and at the cricket match, leaving around 3.30 for a great run home.

yes, I spoke to your brother there.

That's a bit too Donald Trump for my tastes Chris. 😂😂

We headed straight for fields 7 etc with the caravan to avoid the bunfight on the Williamscot road.
Arrived just after 7am, drove straight on with no queue. Lovely helpful friendly people getting us on.

Set up and cooked breakfast in the sunshine.

No drama, no fuss.

Getting off was similar.

 8)

Still waiting to get out of field 7c, caravans everywhere and they've taken the portaloos away.

Not completely true  :D

Something weird happened to us in field 7 when we were leaving.
We were about halfway along the northern edge, packed up by 10:30 and joined the queue to join the track going south about 1/4 way down the field which stopped solid for about 2 hours, possibly more.
 The field must have been 75% full when we joined the queue and when we eventually reached the field gate we were leaving a field that was 10% full with only a dozen or so cars behind us. It seems to me that there were a lot of people who were not playing the game fairly.
The message is clear though, and next year I'll spend sunday morning in the villiage.

Like button.
Bridge Meadow works doesn't it? But it has been my 5 yr secret!

Yes it does work Hendo, and I have often wondered why we have never camped there in past years.  However it is very boggy in places and my brother spent quite a lot of time pulling camper vans out of the mud for the first two days using his Shogun and chains!

Yeah, first yr I used it 2013, the river was up. There were only 5 vans using the site then but we were watching water levels. Field was boggy to the extent I moved further towards the track. They were only using the first field then.

which is bridge meadow ?  the field with the entrance right on the eastern side of the bridge over the canal/opposite bridge stores, where the thai noodle stall is?  Is that not field 3?

(merely intrigued)

didds

yes thats the one - we had a nervous eye on the Cherwell for a couple of days, didn't fancy summer floating down the cherwell.

Not traffic or camping, but toilet smells. ( This seemed the best thread to say it)

This was the first year when J and I became aware of very strong toilet odours half way down the field, quite a few times. Assuming it was when they were being cleared out.

 could be but more likely the sewage works .... deffo whiffed that aroma a fee times

It was definitely the toilets you could smell at the bottom SE corner of the field. We were sitting about 10m back from the Radio Oxford tent and the smell was eye-watering for a few short spells. Not good whilst busy stuffing down a foot-long hotdog...!

I think it was more agricultural.

For didds....field 3 is the area behind the cricket pitch beside field 1&2....runs down the side of the tennis courts too. For backpackers only. Some thought you could be dropped off by car at your backpackers pitch too! Some expressed surprise when told they had to walk in from the road!

Snowflakes everywhere  ;D

Arrival was as per normal for us i.e. at the crack of lunchtime straight into 7b this time - so the nearest we've been to the field and setup by 2ish to a celebratory home grown cider.

Departure as per usual - pack up in morning and head to village the leave in the afternoon.  As we were in middle of the field we got to watch the queue develop around 10.30 ish and could see the traffic grinding to a halt - probably inevitable with several fields emptying on to one road.

As we were departing stoppped to help someone change a wheel.  They tell me that the AA/RAC charge for changing a wheel off road?  Saw the AA and RAC presumably jump starting a few cars as well.  Does nobody except me carry jump leads these days?  Maybe I should leave my number with campsite control to save the AA vans pushing up the road the wrong way.

Re smelly toilets - were they using a different chemical in the loos this year?  Something more environmental but perhaps less odour repressing?  The loos in 7b were foul smelling from thursday on though mainly clean.

We were slightly trepidacious of the loo situation this year as we had small grandaughters in tow. Needn't have worried, always found the loos both on and off the field immaculate, and small girls used them perfectly happily, apart from running out of sanitizer one evening. We did use the field 2 loos when the arena tardis queues were long though.

Err, backpackers and motorbikes, unless that changed this year?  I hope not, planning on being their next year...

I've now long abandoned trying to get there for the gates to open and to be on two or three. I much prefer to arrive mid morning and drive onto four, no queue or fuss.
However.....
I don't know if the parking crew were beginning to panic about the space left, but unlike previous years, and indeed like others on the field already, where your space meant you could park your car and your tent, one behind the other, I was initially given a spot that had room for my car with about a foot square space behind it, and enough room beside it for a one man ridge tent. Me and the guy next to me exchanged puzzled looks, when one of the crew directed another car between the two of us, leaving me barely enough room to open the car door and, just about, enough room to erect a toilet tent !  
Then an adult came over and sent me over to a fresh new line which was infinitely better, and I started to do the thing. A couple of cars together turned up. The folk inside got out, and the steward moved along the line. The woman in one car asked me if I had enough room, I said I guess so, and she promptly moved her car from the opposite side of the one next to mine, and parked it next to me, so that they had a cosy little wagon formation, where each of them could access the boot of their car without getting out of the tent. This left me with enough room for my tent, but not enough room to actually put it up. Having to insert the poles at a really tight angle caused me to put a tear in the loop part - nothing serious, but it will only get bigger each time I use it. I did my best, but unfortunately, at one point the end of my pole scraped along the length of her car. In the end I had to take my partially constructed tent down again, put it up in the access lane, and drag it into position, which wasn't exactly easy and it blew over twice, before I could peg it down. Apart from that, all was ok. As time was by now marching on, and I'd been awake for an hour and a half short of two days, I grabbed a well packed and therefore reasonably priced breakfast roll from the butty wagon on the bridge, washed it down with a pint of cider from the Lion, got my wristband, programme and t-shirt, watched FC Acoustic and Feast Of Fiddles until they played Kashmir and went back to the tent for a couple of hours kip.