EVENT

Monday, May 20th to Monday, May 27th

Dates

Event Dates

The dates for Burning Nest 2024 are Monday, May 20th to Monday, May 27th.  In past years, participants are welcome to arrive on site from 8am on Monday the 20th. The last day of programming is the Sunday, but participants are welcome to stay on Sunday night and pack up on Monday morning. Please be off site by noon of Monday the 27th.

Arrival

You are welcome to arrive anytime from Monday the 20th. Nestlings tend to filter in over the course of the week.

Upon arrival, you will be greeted by our fantabulous Gate Team! They will welcome you to the Glade, check your ticket, and direct you to the appropriate camping area. If Gate is closed, please return the next day when it is open!

Burn Nights

We’re called Burning Nest for a reason! We have two burn nights each year. The Effigy Burn is on Saturday Night – a raucous, fun-filled celebration, with music and dancing and all that good stuff. The Temple Burn is on Sunday Night, and serves as a closing ceremony and opportunity for reflection. The Temple Burn is mostly silent.

If you’d like to get involved with building the Effigy or Temple, please get in touch!

If you want to help safeguard the community as a fire warden, sign up here! 

Vehicles On Site

To protect our safety and the Glade itself, vehicle movement on site (past parking at free camp) will be severely limited after the Monday. On the Monday at the end of the event, they will be permitted to (carefully!) navigate on site for striking.

Build and Strike

Build Crew can arrive on Site one week before the event, from Monday, May 13th. Theme Camps and Art Installers may arrive from the Friday before the event, May 17th.

Early entry is only granted by filling out a WAP form. (Work Access Pass). Be warned, this is a working site, which means if you are here to work, there is no such thing as a lay in! The DPW alarm goes off at 8am across the whole site.

Strike will be operating for three days after the event, from Monday 27th to Wednesday the 29th.

Location

The full address and directions for Burning Nest will be emailed to all ticket holders closer to the date.

 

A large private landholding, featuring:

  • Two large, beautiful lakes
  • Sheltered glades, sculpted gardens, and forested walking trails.
  • Vast open fields for theme camps, big art, free-camping & camper-vans, and lots of fire and fun.
  • A large stand of trees, marking the location of Copse Camp.
  • Room to grow.

Drive

London: 183 miles, Bristol: 88 miles, Birmingham 169 miles, Leeds 289 miles, Edinburgh 454 miles.
Directions will be emailed to each member ahead of the event.

Public Transport

Newton Abbott & Exeter train stations are 6 and 12 miles away from site respectively. The nearest bus stop is New Lodge.

Contact us if you need directions in advance.

AMENITIES

  • Nearest general shopping, 2.5 miles
  • Nearest hospital, 6 miles (Newton Abbott)
  • Nearest major centre for niche supplies or specialised treatment, 12 miles (Exeter)

Infrastructure

Accommodation

Everybody must bring their own accommodation to site. Most people camp in tents. Some sleep in campervans.

There are multiple areas to sleep.

The free camping area is large, spacious and flat. The field is perfect for tents and live-in vehicles, solo campers and groups of friends. There are no hard standing areas for very large vehicles, which may struggle in muddy ground. Small van-sized campers should have no issues.

Free camping is quiet and peaceful, the perfect place for a good night’s sleep! It’s a great location to share breakfasts or late night chats, away from the rest of the action. There are toilets in the free-camping area, but no power provided. Please bring a battery pack for your gadgets, or turn them off and enjoy the peace and quiet!

The theme camp area is situated on a beautiful field of protected grassland. It is noisier, and generally less flat than free camping. Vehicle movement will be restricted as much as possible in this area, so it is not suitable for late arrivals in campervans.

Accessible camping is located closer to the heart of the action, avoiding unnecessary long walks up steep hills.

If you have questions about accommodating your family, or if you have accessibility requirements, email community@burningnest.co.uk. See 2022’s accessibility guide as a PDF here.

Food & Water

Please plan to bring enough food, snacks, drinks, alcohol and chocolate bars for your whole week at Nest. Cooking is allowed in Free Camping on barbecues and raised firepits only. Do not damage the grass or dig the turf for fire pits!

A community member is organising firewood delivery. Stay tuned for updates.

The water project is returning! This year, it is even bigger and better, with a third water point available. This means water will be available in the main area in two places and up at Free Camping. We recommend bringing a large container to fill up and store at your camp, as well as a smaller bottle to take around with you during the day. Optionally, you can bring water with you (but consider your waste and recycling!).

Waste disposal

We have a compost pit for biodegradable food waste only (peelings, rice, cooked food etc).

The “Leave a Better Trace” principle recommends a “pack-in, pack-out” approach. Nestlings who remove all evidence of their passage, and dispose of it in a socially and environmentally responsible manner, are shining pillars of the community.

However.

The LBT Team is running a Waste and Recycling (WAR) Zone to manage waste in a responsible way. There will be a recycling and non-recycling skip on site near Free Camping. Nevertheless, please do your best to minimize the volume of packaging you bring and leave on site, reduce the weight (more important than the size!) of the waste that is generated at our gathering. Glass is especially heavy, so please pack this out yourself! Bring your own bin bags (clear for recycling, black for everything else) to keep your camp clean and tidy.

If you’d like to help with our Leave A Better Trace efforts this year, get in touch!

Parking

This year the charge for parking is £20 – you can purchase your parking pass at the same time as your ticket, on Quicket. No pass, no parking!

We have a large parking area for those Nestlings arriving by car. From Tuesday onwards, you will not be permitted to drive down from the car park to the lower areas of the site, due to the main road also being used as our footpath.

If you are camping in a van or car, you are welcome to park in Free Camping at the top of the hill – you will find this area has the most space for you, and is the flattest!

Theme Camps will be permitted to deliver essential materials after Tuesday’s cut-off. Drivers drive very slowly on the path, and only with someone walking in front to usher errant Nestlings out of the way.

Safety and Wellbeing

Safety

We have security on-site to safeguard our community and home. Our security team is well experienced with alternative events and Nest specifically, and does not want to spoil your experience of the event. However, our participants are reminded that the law of the land still applies at Nest. We have a zero-tolerance policy on drug use – please don’t bring or do anything at Burning Nest, that would get you in trouble in the default world.

Experienced medical staff are on-site 24-hours during peak gathering dates. If you develop medical needs while on-site, please alert a Ranger for immediate attention, or make your way to The Point or to Welfare.

Welfare

While we ask you to be radically self-reliant during the event, we know that sometimes we all need a bit of help. If you find yourself feeling ill, overwhelmed, or hurt at any time during Nest, our Welfare tent is open 24 hours a day from Wednesday at 4PM. It’s a quiet, welcoming place, run by caring volunteers, with the full support of our trained on-site medic if needed.

The Point

The Point is a versatile central space. It is a meeting point, an information hub, a venue for workshops, a performance venue, a home for Lost Property, a place to sign up for volunteer jobs on site and learn about updates to the programme.

The Point is clearly marked on all our maps and signposted throughout the site. You’re invited to make this a welcoming space with your own activities and workshops, performances, as well as your presence and creative flair.

Children

Children of all ages and radically self-reliant parents are very welcome at Nest. If you’ve ever taken them camping then you’re halfway there! Read through the Survival Guide – all tips count double for kids!

Children 14 and under can attend for free, children aged 15 – 18 are £55. To purchase a child’s ticket, just add it to your basket along with your own standard adult ticket.

Minors under 18 should be registered at Gate on entry in case of emergency.

Lost children will be taken immediately to The Point. Rangers will then locate the child’s carer(s).You must ensure your child has an identification item that specifies where you are camped and also knows where their family camp is. Immediately notify a Ranger if at all concerned about the whereabouts of your child.

Photo credit: Patrick Hendry