Pre-Pitched tents on site

[gibbin82]

Certainly very concerned that this could be a very divisive move within the fence.

Will have to wait and see exactly where the camp is located and set up.

They will have to pitch the tents much further apart than we would normally expect to in a cheek by jowl field. They will end up taking up loads of space for very few tents. They arent using the Worth It View ones without guy ropes and they are allowing space for guest tents.

If the whole site was pre-pitched like this it would stretch all the way between the A37 and the A361.

Very odd and potentially very dangerous

[sinhala]

Lazy people generally have more money than sense.

[russycarps]

If he's using this company to trial it, give it a couple of years then GFL can run with it if they think it's a goer, rather than punters paying this company an extra 50 quid.

Not defending it by the way, I think it's shite, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Also, maybe they're not alerting the masses cos there's hardly any vacancies and/or they're not expecting much uptake.

[mikeb]

Hmmmm, I'm kinda beginning to feel that all I'm seeing posted is negative stuff, much of which to be totally frank tends to imply a somewhat selfish view i.e. concern about peeps somehow being able to get close to a favoured spot without driving a shedload of cr@p various to Somerset and rushing to be first in the queue at the gates to corral a suitable excessively large space somewhere nice !

Taking everything publicly available purely at face value, it seems to me that CampLight are trying to implement a pretty decent scheme that could possibly have a major positive benefit to the festival AND to the environment ... albeit at a relatively small cost. What's not to like about properly recycling abandoned stuff to provide more sustainable camping and encourage more sustainable travel ? My understanding is that up until now by far the vast majority of stuff left on site is ultimately just disposed of because it's impractical to do anything else even if it isn't completely wrecked. The "arrive on a Tuesday night in your cars stuffed full of cr@p various for a full five days" message is hardly conducive to encouraging sustainable travel either and more than likely had a very significant effect to the contrary !

So, a 'green' campsite for 'green' travelers then ? Sounds like a pretty d@mn good idea to me providing that I completely ignore my extreme reluctance to consider paid-for options as being anything even remotely close to a good thing to have. The only significant potential downside that I can think of is as I mentioned ages back: Sadly, it may not have the desired result because it may in fact encourage even more of a "don't give a fcuk" attitude than already exists. Only time will tell and all that. Anyone seriously considering giving it try ? It would be VERY interesting to see a first hand objective report after the fest

Edited June 13, 2013 by mikeb

[russycarps]

Selfish? What are you talking about?

being more wealthy than someone else should not allow you to be able to secure a better camping spot than someone else.

When you walk through the festival gates, everyone should be equal.

It's that simple

[ICGenie]

I think it's the position of this campsite in Pennards that's the biggest sticking point. Otherwise it kinda makes sense in a sustainable way. The tents get reused with no risk of tents being left that shouldn't be. One of the reasons people don't travel by public transport is because of the amount of stuff they have to bring. Maybe this would encourage more to take the coach / train? Or would it just encourage people to bring more beer?

I say this fully in the knowledge that being on Worthy View is actually meaning we're planning on taking MORE stuff (air beds, pillows, duvet) but that's more because we're not having to carry it far from the car!

[redmosquito]

Surely people knowing that there are folks on site who will pack up and reuse any equipment they abandon is only going to encourage more people to leave their tents behind?

I'd have less of an issue with it though if it was in some far flung corner in the festival and not one of the most popular camping spots on the site.

[Bathimp]

I think they are going to get a lot of curious visitors passing by on Wednesday afternoon on the way to the Cider Bus and may be a pitchfork wielding mob on the way back

Just cant visualise the set up and how it will be controlled unless it is part of the Tipi Field

[mikeb]

Selfish? What are you talking about?

being more wealthy than someone else should not allow you to be able to secure a better camping spot than someone else.

When you walk through the festival gates, everyone should be equal.

It's that simple

Edited June 13, 2013 by mikeb

[**claire**]

Surely people knowing that there are folks on site who will pack up and reuse any equipment they abandon is only going to encourage more people to leave their tents behind?

I'd have less of an issue with it though if it was in some far flung corner in the festival and not one of the most popular camping spots on the site.

[russycarps]

Ah right, I understand completely now. Being so wealthy that you can afford to buy/hire, insure and run a car, take a few extra days off to get to fest early, buy shiny new essential camping gear (every year if you generally leave it behind), buy a gazebo and/or lots of other stuff that might possibly be seen by some (and ME in particular) as being totally unessential and as a direct result of all this wealth be able to "secure a good spot" ... is all so much better than being poor, having absolutely no choice whatsoever but to minimise the time taken off work, travel by expensive PT, not being able to justify spending what little money you have available to buy camping equipment for just 5 days use a year (never mind the difficulty in humping it to the site) and therefore as a direct result of being poor having to pay just £30/40 to borrow someone else's old abandoned stuff at the fest instead. Yeah that all makes perfect sense now

I still positively hate the thought of paid-for options in absolutely any form because it just doesn't feel 'right' at all BUT is the financial aspect of all this REALLY that significant in the great scheme of things ? Even I have to admit that I think not. If it was £300/400 then there's absolutely no doubt about it, it's VERY significant. However, paying £30/40 simply has to be significantly LESS money being paid out in reality than the other alternatives plus there's potentially a massive benefit to the festival and the environment into the bargain.

So I ask the question again. Putting the issue of actually paying a small and IMHO very reasonable amount for something (along with any other personal/selfish considerations there may be ) to one side: What's not to like about properly recycling abandoned stuff to provide more sustainable camping and encourage more sustainable travel ?

[mikeb]

There's nothing like reading a well reasoned argument is there ... and that's absolutely nothing like one

Russy, you must know that I'm pretty much playing you at you're own game here and being bl**dy awkward or generally winding peeps up by making what are obviously going to be unpopular but quite valid points that are kinda difficult to come up with a good and justifiable argument against. I know from many years experience round here that you're very good at what you generally do so I'm highly unlikley to be the winner or come out even vaguely on top ! However, I must say that I'm kinda disappointed so far because your argument appears to have more holes than your average Swiss cheese and all that. You're 100% right that optional paid-for stuff in general is 'wrong' and level playing fields are 'right' BUT in this specific case I'm not so sure that things are quite so simple. The playing field is anything but level at the moment and the costs involved seem perfectly reasonable and justifiable. I've simply turned your wealth argument through 180 degrees and it's suddenly become bollox Maybe that's because your argument was bollox before it was rotated and all that

Edited June 13, 2013 by mikeb

[Brave Sir Robin]

Would anyone who used this service be able to comment on what it was like?

[scaryclaireyfairy]

so did this actually happen? anyone?

(sorry for the thread whiplash!)

[POKERDUDE]

so did this actually happen? anyone?

(sorry for the thread whiplash!)

[russycarps]

It did happen didnt it? I seem to remember seeing aerial photos where their bit was absolutely pristine, surrounded by piles of trash from the "normal" campsite

[scaryclaireyfairy]

in which case can anyone comment on the quality of the tents used etc?

i'm pretty sure i wasn't in 70 notes worth of pain this year but i'd like to know my options for travelling a good bit lighter. these bones aren't getting younger.

[frostypaw]

Definitely happened - if you walked from the Stone Circle exit by the Peace Dome and went to The Park past the Tipi field then on the right hand side you may have seen a big funky arch made of out tent poles - that was their base of operations.

They had a pretty wide range of tents as I remember, they looked smart, clean and in good nick - you could email them and ask.

[scaryclaireyfairy]

their replies will be a smidge more biassed than a past punter's tho!