Fairport's Cropredy Convention 2011

An annual well attended festival of folk and rock music held on the edge of the village of Cropredy, and run by Fairport Convention. This year's 31st anniversary of the festival will take place from Thursday 11th to Saturday 13th August 2011.

Line-up

Thursday's headline act is UB40, Friday is seasick Steve, with Hayseed Dixie, The Blockheads, Horslips, Lau, The Travelling Band, Charlie Dore, Home Service, Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts, The Coral, The Shee, and hosts Fairport Convention make two appearances opening the festival as Fairport Acoustic Convention and closing the show as is traditional, with many more yet to be announced. For the line-up details as available please click here.

Tickets

The 'early bird' discount tickets have sold out. There are substantial discounts for early purchase.

As in previous years, the festival offers three-day (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) tickets, two-day (Friday and Saturday) tickets, and Saturday-only tickets.

Prices for tickets purchased between 1 June and 31 July 2011 are:
Three-day tickets £95
Two-day tickets £85
Saturday-only £65

Prices for tickets purchased after 31 July 2011 (including at the gate) are:
Three-day tickets £100
Two-day tickets £90

To buy tickets, click here.

Times

The festival runs from 4pm - 11pm Thursday, Noon - midnight Friday and Saturday. Camp sites open 9am Thursday.

It's a very friendly festival with great ales, no sell-out out to rampant commercialism, and no huge ticket prices.

Getting there

There is a regular service to and from the festival from both the bus and train stations.

Road closure

A road closure due to late-running engineering work threatens to delay festival-goers attending Fairport's Cropredy Convention festival. In March 2011, the Environment Agency and Northamptonshire County Council closed a two-mile stretch of the A361 road as part of the Banbury flood relief scheme. The section of road between Williamscot and Junction 11 of the M40 was due to re-open in July but will not now be ready until October.

The closed section of road is used annually by thousands of music fans heading from the M40 motorway to the festival site between Williamscot and Cropredy villages. This year, however, festival-goers are being asked to use alternative routes.

A traffic management plan has been agreed between Fairport's Cropredy Convention organisers and local authorities, police, and highways officials. It contains details of diversionary routes and advises people to avoid using M40 Junction 11, the approach to Cropredy on the A361 from the Daventry direction is not affected by the closure. People who are coming up the M40 from the south are asked to leave at Junction 10 (Cherwell Valley Services) and travel via Towcester and Daventry. People coming from the north can leave the M40 at Junction 12 (Gaydon) and travel via Southam and Daventry. These routes and information are published on the Fairport Convention website. The organisers are also emailing customers who have tickets to the three day event.

Festival goers should allow more time for their journey. Most festival-goers arrive during Thursday morning and that's when possible delays are most likely. Organisers are asking everyone to stick to 'A' roads rather than clog up country lanes and to avoid looking for rat runs through the neighbouring villages.

Parking

Unlike many other festivals, here you can park your vehicle next to your tent. You MUST have a concert ticket for the day you arrive to camp or caravan. Space on the campsites is for concert goers only. If you wish to camp with friends or family you must meet up somewhere off-site and arrive together as spaces cannot be saved.

Please note Chinese Lanterns are banned at Cropredy.

There'll be more information when available.

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