Few questions.

[Lewwy]

Hey so as ive said this will be my first V (actually my first festival), and I have a few questions..

Hopefully someone can help.

1) Am I able to go to and from my Car as I please?

Im in Yellow Camp, so im not sure how far away the car park is, but I dont want to leave my valuables (DSLR Camera) about during the night as who knows what could happen.. Id much rather go lock it in the boot of my car.

2) Im looking at getting this tent what are the odds on theft?

Haha, this is probably me looking into it far to much, but this tents main feature is being ready in 2 seconds, which means that in about 15 seconds, it can be packed away. Obviously dont want to come back to my tent drunk to find there is no spoon tent. As I say.. Im thinking too far into it I think

3) So can I take Jack Daniels or not?

Bit confused on this one, I know that no alcohol is to be taken from the camp sites into the festival.. But can I take spirits into the campsite? Or is it limited to beer? (This question is sounding more silly as im typing it; many women dont like beer!) Maybe it was glass bottles I cant take? HELP!

4) My friend bought a Red Car Park ticket... Can He use it Yellow?

He has now swapped camp to be with us, so can he use this parking ticket in any camp, or is it specifically red?

5) What time on Friday is a good time to get there?

Obviously it will get congested around Chelmsford very quickly, so what time do they start letting you in on the Friday?

6) Can we use gas BBQ's etc to cook food?

Right.. Im trying to think of more, but im spent.

Any help is much appreciated.

Lewis.

[richietal]

Hey bud.

Here are some answers from myself. There are bound to be differences of opinion and other people will have different ideas, but as a rule of thumb......

1 Yes you can. I have not been to Chelmsford before, I have always gone to Staffs before, but you could there, so I see no difference down south. By looking at the site map though, the car park is next to the red campsite and a fair trek from the yellow campsite. I wouldn't take a gucci camera at all to be honest. After a few hours drinking, when it turns 11pm, is dark and invariably cold and raining, and the whole world (it feels like) is moving in a similar direction, the last thing you want to be doing is traipsing a mile in one direction to dump your camera, just to go back another mile in the opposite direction to your tent. I just take a fairly cheap digi camera, which sort of leads on to....

2 Loads of people seem to take these. I'm not convinced of their water-resistant properties, but they are pretty popular, so can't be too bad. The downsides as far as I can tell are that they are an absolute nightmare to pack up (if you intend to keep the thing afterwards) and recognising yours amongst all the others might be problematic, depending on how messy you are planning to get! Theft is pretty uncommon, I have been going to festivals for several years and have never had anything go missing. But I do put my wallet/camera/phone inside my sleeping bag at night. And in the middle, not down the bottom. Another tip is to leave you tent in a mess when you leave it. Theives are less inclined to go rooting if it's a tip. If you have everything packed up and tidy, it's easier to go straight to your rucksak and look through the pockets (when more commonly the more valuable stuff will be. Plus, if your rucksak is full, they might just have the whole thing away, clothes, wellies, the lot.

3 You can take meths if you want. You just have to decant it into a plastic bottle first. You are allowed it into to campsite, but you're not allowed to take any alcohol into the arena from the campsite. Do a search on smuggling for that.

4 There is only one car park, the red one. The red campsite is near the car park, the yellow one nearest the bus drop-off point.

5 Get there as early as bloody possible! The roads are going to be a nightmare. 50-odd thousand people will also be driving there.......

6 Not sure about this one. I take a meths camping stove which I've never had problems about, and I've seen people with BBQ's, but I'm not sure about whether they are officially allowed or not.

Hope this helps. Once you've been to one festival, you generally get the hang of what you need, what you don't and what you'll take next time. For some of us it's a learning curve every time! Just keep looking on here at the whole forum and you generally get the vibe from everyone else too.

Above all, just go and have bloody good fun

Edited March 15, 2009 by richietal

[Lewwy]

Appreciate the reply mate..

Might have to be a more compact digi cam for this outing then, dont want to spend all the time worrying about where I left it or the weight of it round my neck.. Especially with the 'band facial capturing' lenses on it.. Heavier than a small car. :|

Im not bothered on what we use to cook, I said gas BBQ as a generalisation, I should have said tin foil tray.. Nah, as long as we can cook something in the morning, thats fine. Mmmm.. I can already taste the bacon sandwiches!

Fortunately I only live 45 minutes away from Hylands, so getting there early(ish) shouldnt be a problem. Not looking forward to that bit though!

Again, cheers for the help.

See you there? Among the 50,000 others

[richietal]

Ah, see I READ it as gas BBQ, but the image in my head was a foil tray thing. Gas stuff is fine I think.

And on the camera front, I get frustrated with anything more than a wallet and a beer on me let alone a massive camera round me neck.

I think they open the gates at midday but you know there's going to be a f**k-off queue formed well before that.

Yeah, see you there. Mine's the green tent near the watchtower

[Lewwy]

It might be easier for you to find me then.

Ill be wearing a hat.

[richietal]

Sweet. I'll meet you for a beer by the hot-dog stand, inbetween bands.

[MOLLYJESS]

I would add whatever time you get to Chelmsford be prepared for a long queue!!! I know people who have got there are 8am on the Friday - they do open the gates early (not sure what time) but if the queues get long enough they do tend to open the gates and start letting people in.

I have a DSLR and wouldn't dream of taking it to the festival - much as I would love to get some great photos it just isn't worth the hassle of having to carry it around all day - walking between stages can be quite a traipse and you can get a bit squahsed so the thought of having the camera round my neck as well is not a good one!!

car park to yellow campsite isn't too far - depending on which end of the field you camp I suppose.

Enjoy !!

[manlikemoley]

Was in Yellow last year, BBQ's were a def no-no!!! We tried to get some in last year (had no probs the year before in Blue) and they were taken off us at the gate on the way in to the camp. A crowd next to us managed to get one in and got it doused by security as soon as they sparked it up on Saturday morning. Apparently "Tents and Fire don't mix!!!"

We got in at about 10am last year. The Red Parking disc will be good for Yellow, you'll get a "hangy thing" for your mirror when your V ticket comes thru so the organsiers know where to send you.

[Lewwy]

See now im confused

Is there *any* legal way to cook food at V?

[manlikemoley]

Saw a couple with a camping stove last year.....s0d trying to wash up a frying pan after tho!!!

The catering on Yellow was pretty good last year tho and every one of 'em (including the noodle bar) was serving bacon butties and tea from about 6am (could've been earlier, that was just when the smell made it thru the zip in my tent......and I was strangely drawn!!!)

[MOLLYJESS]

You can take gas burners/camping stoves - you cannot take any form of BBQ. Some girls behind us were cooking some sausages/bacon on a disposable BBQ and a very friendly (not!) security guy came round in a little golf cart, jumped out and extinghuished the lot!!!!! Girls not happy - a couple more minutes and they'd have been cooked!!!! So be warned they will not tolerate BBQs! something to do with being a naked flame and not able to control it like you can with gas!

I took my camping stove last year and it was great cooking up a bacon/sausage sarnie in the morning - then boiled a kettle of water and washed the frying pan out - simple!

and boiled water handy for using in a bowl (£1 from the stall on campsite) and have a nice warm washdown in your tent rather than having to wash in cold water - makes you feel just a little bit cleaner - only a little bit mind!!!

[Sheppyy]

ye be my first time to a festival so ive been looking about for little things tescos do like a little cmaping stove thing for about £14 i think. 3 man tent for £20 has a waterproff up to a certain amount etc! so its probs handy just browsing about for little things

[Lewwy]

Molly it might be easier for me to pop round yours then on both Saturday and Sunday for a bacon sarnie..

What number was it you lived at?

The one with the black zip?

Ill be there

BYOB = Bring your own Bacon :|

Nah, we will sort something out.. 4/8 of our group are girls and im sure they would love to cook. HAHA!

Seriously, thanks for the replies though.

[richietal]

. 3 man tent for £20 has a waterproff up to a certain amount etc!

Edited March 17, 2009 by richietal

[Will_H]

You can take gas burners/camping stoves - you cannot take any form of BBQ. Some girls behind us were cooking some sausages/bacon on a disposable BBQ and a very friendly (not!) security guy came round in a little golf cart, jumped out and extinghuished the lot!!!!!

[young561952]

Hey so as ive said this will be my first V (actually my first festival), and I have a few questions..

Hopefully someone can help.

1) Am I able to go to and from my Car as I please?

Im in Yellow Camp, so im not sure how far away the car park is, but I dont want to leave my valuables (DSLR Camera) about during the night as who knows what could happen.. Id much rather go lock it in the boot of my car.

2) Im looking at getting this tent what are the odds on theft?

Haha, this is probably me looking into it far to much, but this tents main feature is being ready in 2 seconds, which means that in about 15 seconds, it can be packed away. Obviously dont want to come back to my tent drunk to find there is no spoon tent. As I say.. Im thinking too far into it I think

3) So can I take Jack Daniels or not?

Bit confused on this one, I know that no alcohol is to be taken from the camp sites into the festival.. But can I take spirits into the campsite? Or is it limited to beer? (This question is sounding more silly as im typing it; many women dont like beer!) Maybe it was glass bottles I cant take? HELP!

4) My friend bought a Red Car Park ticket... Can He use it Yellow?

He has now swapped camp to be with us, so can he use this parking ticket in any camp, or is it specifically red?

5) What time on Friday is a good time to get there?

Obviously it will get congested around Chelmsford very quickly, so what time do they start letting you in on the Friday?

6) Can we use gas BBQ's etc to cook food?

Right.. Im trying to think of more, but im spent.

Any help is much appreciated.

Lewis.

[Kaos]

you can also buy wood to make a fire, as long as its not TOO close to the tents.

[Will_H]

you can also arrive on the WEDNESDAY, thats when the site opens.

[Josephinus]

I don't think you can arrive on the wednesday either mate

[manlikemoley]

"the stewards are very helpful and pleasant"

This definitely wasn't V ;0)

[Gingerbond]

Found the stewards to be useless personally!