• Contacting Us
• Volunteering
• Site Opening Hours 2019
• Car Parking and Vehicle Access
• Travel - Getting here by car
• Travel - Getting here by train
• Welfare
• Camping
• Glamping
• GoGo Trolley Hire Service
• Site Rules and Guidance
• Frequently asked questions
• Kids Policy
• Drugs Policy
• Age restrictions
• Disability Access
• Retail Traders
• Catering Traders

By email info@deershedfestival.com

• Site opens at 10am Friday 24th July 2020.
• Site closes at midday Monday 27th July.
• On Friday the arena opens at 12pm. There will be entertainment in the arena shortly after it opens and the first band on the Main Stage will perform at 4pm.
• Please note that unlike in previous years, Sunday night camping and the Sunday night party are included for all ticket holders. The arena will close at 12am on Sunday night.

• Car parking is charged at £15 paid in cash on first entry to car parks. Please have payment ready in advance - correct change much appreciated! You will not be recharged if you leave and return.
• All live-in vehicle access is via Gate 1, not Gate 2.
• There is no specific glamping parking due to the glamping moving next to the lake.
• The pink car park pedestrian road crossing is now located further up the road, away from the vehicle entrance. Please keep kids under close control as you approach the crossing on foot.
• Vehicles enter the accessible car park via Gate 1. The entrance is clearly marked - please have any badges clearly displayed to help our parking staff direct you.
• Trolley hire is available from all 3 car parks.

Deer Shed Festival volunteers play an important part in creating the special festival community that our audience enjoys. So, if you are a people person and willing to get involved in a range of different activities we want to hear from you! If you are willing to give 8 hours of your time we'll give you a shiny new volunteer T-shirt and a ticket refund. Details on our volunteer information page.

They put some festivals in daft places - anyone for Lowestoft? Nope, us neither. Stupidly easy to get to us, just two miles from junction 50 of the A1(M). By car 90 minutes from Manchester, 70 mins from Sheffield, 60 mins from Newcastle, 45 mins from Leeds.

Coming from North, South or West the key to getting to us easily is to find junction 50 on the A1(M). Exit the A1(M) at this junction and take the A61 towards Thirsk. Take the first right on the A61 towards Baldersby St James. After 3 miles turn left at Gate 1 into the festival site.

Coming from the North-East or East exit the A168 at Topcliffe going straight through the village turning right immediately after the bridge onto Park Road and then right at the T junction. After 1/4 of a mile turn right at Gate 1 into the festival site.

It's all signposted clearly, so no bother.

We know that most of you bring a car full of clobber with you to the festival but for those with a bit of space to spare why not head on over to goCarShare and go share a car to save petrol and pennies.

The nearest train station to the festival site is Thirsk, seven miles away. Thirsk is on the main East Coast Main Line which runs from Kings Cross in London to York and onwards to Edinburgh.

We recommend Grand Central Trains for a great direct service from London to Thirsk in around 2 hours.

We run a limited shuttle bus from Thirsk train station to the festival site for a fee of £4. The shuttle runs inbound from 1pm to 9pm on Friday and outbound on Monday from 9am to 1pm - just look out for a bus in the main car park with our logo in the window.

Below are some local taxi companies who can take you from the station to the festival for £10-12

Comfy Cabs 07974 200336
Dale Taxis Of Thirsk - 01845 522 745
Chapmans Taxis - 07960 568 299

We have a longstanding partnership with the NCT (National Childbirth Trust), who are onsite each year. They have a dedicated NCT tent clearly marked on festival signage, located near the Teeny Beans tent. We know planning to bring very little ones to a festival can seem daunting (we've been there), so the NCT cater for a variety of your welfare needs. They offer changing facilities, feeding areas, milk sterilisation, high chair facilities, microwaves, sling hire and of course very important bathing times at the end of each day.

In addition our own welfare team are on hand to deal with all other aspects of, well, your welfare! Lost and found children, lost property, general information and advice. Or just a place to have a sit down and a snooze on a sofa.

Baldersby Park is a beautiful place to camp and making sure that you have plenty of space is always a top priority.

Bring your own tent, bring your campervan or caravan or choose from one of our glamping options (on sale in the New Year.)

Camping Rules

• Free camping in a tent is included in the full weekend ticket price.
• NO GAZEBOS please.
• Camp fires and BBQs are not permitted.
• NO GLASS anywhere on-site please. Your own alocohol is permitted in the campsite but not in the arena. Please decant into a non-glass container.
• There is plenty of camping space, please spread out your tents accordingly.
• Small camping gas canisters only permitted (up to 2.7 kg in gas weight).
• Camp site wardens will be stationed in the camping area throughout the festival to answer any questions.
• Please respect your neighbours and keep noise to a minimum, especially after 11pm.

Try as you might to pack lightly, you always seem to arrive at festivals with more gear than you’re capable of hauling to your camping pitch in just the one trip. Deer Shed is easy on the feet for the most part, but even their small site can seem like a bit of a trek, especially with the kids and a whole family’s worth of luggage in tow.

Luckily, GOGO Trolley are conveniently set up in the Deer Shed Festival car parks to prevent any potential tantrums. Let’s face it: the kids can only carry so much on their backs! Grab a trolley, load it up, and you’re ready to gogo. The trollies are high capacity, 1.2m long by 60cm wide, loads of room for kids or luggage!

Daytime Trolley Hire

Upon your arrival in the car park find the GoGo Trolley stand. You will need to pay a £50 deposit by card only. At this point, the time of hire will be recorded and you will receive a confirmation SMS of the hire start time and deposit amount. The hire cost will be £6 for the first 30 minutes and then £1 for every 5 minutes after that. When you are finished with your trolley, simply return the trolley to the point of hire and the GoGo Trolley team will deduct the cost of hire from your deposit and refund your card.

You do not need to book a daytime trolley in advance.

Slumber Truck Hire

With so much for the little ones to do at Deer Shed throughout the day, tired legs in the evening can sometimes be inevitable. Instead of getting the whole family tucked up in the tent before the headliners even set foot on stage, GoGo Trolley also offer overnight hire options, complete with cushions and a canopy, from 8pm on Friday. The kids can be safe and secure in their warm and comfy moving bed, while the grown-ups rock out to the evening’s main event.

Book your luxury Slumber Truck for the weekend below! (you will have to pay a £100 deposit by card when you collect your trolley, the card will be refunded upon the trolley's safe return.)

These are in additional to those in our terms and conditions. We have strict guidelines to adhere to if we want to be able to repeat the festival. Please do not make it harder for us to stage the festival next year by ignoring the points below.

• No animals allowed on-site.
• No glass anywhere on-site.
• The sale of single use plastic bottles and straws has been phased out, so please bring re-usable bottles to fill up at our many water standpipes around site. Cans of water and branded re-usable bottles are available to purchase.
• No amplified music i.e. don't bring your radio.
• No drumming, leave your bongos at home.
• Your own alcohol will not be permitted in the arena.
• Try to keep general noise in the campsite to a minimum especially after 11pm.

I've ordered a ticket but can't find it. Should I freak out?

Nope! There’s no ticket issue too big for the Eventbrite support team. In fact there’s a quick an easy form designed solely to resolve this problem: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/gettickets

I can no longer attend the festival – can I have a refund?

As per our terms and conditions we cannot refund tickets.

Should I bring cash to the festival?

We recommend it. The vast majority of food and retail vendors deal in cash only. We do provide cash machines on-site, but please be aware that these will charge for withdrawals.

Is it a long way from the car park to the campsite? I've got loads of camping clobber.

No, not in comparison to most festivals. The car park and campsite fields are adjacent to each other. Inevitably as more people arrive you will have further to go so get here early if you are worried. We do however have a trolley hire service which most people tend to take advantage of.

Can we reserve some space in the campsite so that we can camp next to our friends?

No you can't. You will immediately get off on the wrong foot with your neighbours if you try to do this. Try to arrange arriving at the same time or alternatively camp further from the car park where there is much more space and you shouldn't have a problem.

We are coming in a campervan but our friends aren't, can we camp next to them?

Unfortunately not. The campervan/caravan/trailer tent field is separate from the tent camping field. Our local authority have concerns regarding motor vehicles and tents mixing so we have to limit this. However if you have a small utility tent you CAN erect this next to your caravan/campervan/trailer tent. See below.

Can we put up a tent next to our campervan/caravan/trailer tent?

Yes you can BUT it must be yours (not a friends) and it must be small (not exceed 4m square excluding guy ropes.)

Can my friend help me put up my tent or park up my campervan?

Only ticket holders can gain access to the campsite. We have many volunteers who will help you out if you are struggling.

Can I buy a day ticket for Deer Shed Festival, I only want to come on Friday/Saturday/Sunday?

Afraid not. We want you all weekend. In our experience the vibe always suffers at festivals which have a different audience on different days.

I'm not the camping type. Can I leave site at night and return in the morning?

Yep! You're free to come and go as you please. Just ensure you keep your wristbands (provided when your ticket is scanned upon first entry) on throughout the weekend. Our car parks are efficiently managed so you can get your vehicle out easily. Keep your car parking ticket in your car.

Can I enter site, set up the tent, leave to pick the kids up and then return?

Yup, same as above! Just don't leave valuables in an unattended tent, to ensure the festival is not an appealing prospect for thieves.

Can I bring my dog, he's really well behaved?

No pets, not even our sheepdog is allowed in.

How do I book workshops and activities?

To book a workshop or activity, simply head to the location (stated clearly on the map in the print programme and on signs around site). You can book onto activities each morning for the day ahead, meaning if you arrive late on Friday, you will still be able to book activities for Saturday. Sometimes popular workshops do become oversubscribed, but we try to flag these in the festival programme, and there will always be a fun alternative available.

Do you have electrical hook-up and chemical waste disposal for caravans?

We do not offer electrical hook-ups to caravans but there are chemical waste disposal facilities available.

• Key workers managing the activities will be DBS checked.
• Children under 16 are the responsibility of their guardian/parents and signage within the children’s area will alert adults of this. Activities undertaken within the children’s area will be suitably risk assessed and any age restrictions will be applied by notice.
• Deer Shed Festival’s policy is to encourage family participation and signs will be displayed accordingly.
• Water is available freely from many standpipes dotted around the arena and campsite, and cans of water are available for purchase at bars.
• If you or your child requires medical attention, contact any member of staff or security who will then contact our medics. The medic tent is located next to the main campsite entrance and manned 24 hours.
• Feeding and nappy changing facilities will be available near the Teeny Beans tent. Suitable food vendors will be on site to provide food and drink.

• The dealing in or use of illegal drugs is not condoned by Deer Shed Festival. It is illegal to take, to buy or to sell drugs. Drug enforcement laws are as applicable on site as anywhere else in the country. If you deal in drugs, it is likely that you will be arrested via security and handed over to North Yorkshire Constabulary. There are covert security onsite who will take action as appropriate. Neither anti-social nor illegal behaviour will be tolerated and participants will leave themselves liable for eviction from the site.
• Experimenting with drugs can lead to adverse reactions. Drugs can kill. The crowds and the size of the festival can be frightening and disorientating and taking drugs could spoil your enjoyment of the event. If you do take drugs and you become ill, depressed or frightened please ask a steward to direct you to one of the many facilities on site which can help and support you.

• All persons 0-15 years old must have a valid young person's ticket. All under 16s must be accompanied by a parent or guardian who is over 21 years old (Maximum ratio 1:4)
• Those wishing to stay in the family camping area must be accompanied by children 16 years or younger.
• Under 25s will be asked to provide photo ID at the ticket exchange to gain a wristband that will allow service at the site's bars. Driver's licence, Passport, Citizen Card, VALIDATE UK are all valid forms of ID.
• Deer Shed Festival will not intentionally showcase content unsuitable for children. All comedy is rated PG. Other stages may feature material not suitable for children that we are unable to predict and classify due to the nature of live performance. There may be age restrictions on some workshops.

Each year we like to have a variety of traders onsite who can offer our family audience a festival shopping experience like no other. We are always keen to hear from traders (big or small) who have visually exciting shop displays adding to the overall aesthetics of the site. To enhance our festival-goers enjoyment and to reduce the competition between traders, we aim to have stalls which sell different stock. Historically traders have sold vintage clothes, book, jewellery, fancy dress and more but we’re always on the lookout for the new, unusual and quirky. If you would like to trade with us, please email info@deershedfestival.com with a description of your stall, your required pitch size, and a few pictures of stock and stall.

Just like our audience, we love our catering traders at Deer Shed and they are a vitally important part of the festival. Everyone needs to eat, right? Each year, we have a variety of different food outlets that cater to the needs of every member of our festival audience including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options as well stalls specifically catering to our carnivores and those with an insatiable sweet tooth. There’s something for all the family. If you would like to apply for a catering pitch, please get in touch and email info@deershedfestival.com with a description of your stall, your required pitch size, and a few pictures to show off your trading pitch.