Kempsford 2022

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G-CVIX
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Kempsford 2022

Post by G-CVIX »

Hi all, is anyone staying at Kempsford this year?

Just a word of warning - there doesn't seem to be many charging points this year although I'm sure the number will swell with extension cables once more people get here.

Also if you're staying in the top field, there are only a handful of showers between 100s of pitches. Far, far less than I remember there to be. They're positioned at the very farthest point from the entrance. I have asked if any more are coming, because I'm sure in the past more have arrived on Thursday-ish, but that's it. You're in for a long walk and probably a long queue come the weekend.

It's the busiest I've ever seen it on the Monday. Apparently there were people here at 4am to secure their pitches....!

Given the amount of people already here, it's disappointing that there are no food stands open tonight. Jo (the new manager) seemed annoyed that I had a couple of polite questions for her and also didn't know any of the answers re: various opening times so it's not a great start so far tbh. Oh, and I'm pretty sure the pitches have shrunk too.

I'm sure it'll turn into a great week though once I get settled.

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Tommy
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by Tommy »

I’m arriving tomorrow eve - hope all the decent pitches aren’t all taken.

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Wrexham Mackem
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by Wrexham Mackem »

Oh dear, that’s not the best of starts. I have everything crossed that Kempsford is going to be OK this year, when something that was so well run has a change of organisation it is a worry.

Hopefully settles down in the next couple of days, fingers crossed.

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G-CVIX
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by G-CVIX »

I *think* that they might be mistaken & more showers will come but who knows! It doesn't compute that they could think this would be enough for everyone!

It's very pleasant and peaceful so far, anyway.

Tommy - depends where you want to be! I'm in the top field, just to the right of the entrance from the first field. I'm tucked in behind the trees, on the fence. The chap next to me has cordoned off two extra (good) pitches for his friends that are coming on Wednesday so I'm relieved to have got this one really. I think most/all of the fence line pitches are taken but I'm sure there's some good ones left depending on where you want to be! :)
Wrexham Mackem wrote:
Mon 11 Jul 2022, 8:17 pm
Oh dear, that’s not the best of starts. I have everything crossed that Kempsford is going to be OK this year, when something that was so well run has a change of organisation it is a worry.

Hopefully settles down in the next couple of days, fingers crossed.
I'm probably a little on edge because of the change of management so perhaps I'm looking too hard for problems. Like you say, once it settles down & once things open up it should be good.

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Burleysway
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by Burleysway »

All packed up & heading down to Kempsford shortly. Regards to all :)

TheMaster
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by TheMaster »

What are the prices this year, per person per night?

TheMaster
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by TheMaster »

Just found it, jeez £100 minimum for 2 people. Marston Meysey just £15 pppn, showers and pub on site.

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G-CVIX
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by G-CVIX »

Yeah... I paid £125 for myself for the week back in 2019. I later added various family members for a total of three nights for an additional £120 (one has a camper so more money).

I've always camped here because the facilities were better than your average pop up site, and because you're so close to the base, but I am going to have to think hard for next year tbh.
Last edited by G-CVIX on Wed 13 Jul 2022, 8:39 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by AndyXH558 »

I was going to share a pitch with ian f. But due to my medical requirements and it being expensive I'm not there this year..

They quoted me £80 for 4 days then £75 for the electrical pitch. Which I need. All I wanted to do was run machine at night which could have done from am adjacent pitch. .
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Wrexham Mackem
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by Wrexham Mackem »

G-CVIX wrote:
Mon 11 Jul 2022, 8:33 pm
I *think* that they might be mistaken & more showers will come but who knows! It doesn't compute that they could think this would be enough for everyone!

It's very pleasant and peaceful so far, anyway.

Tommy - depends where you want to be! I'm in the top field, just to the right of the entrance from the first field. I'm tucked in behind the trees, on the fence. The chap next to me has cordoned off two extra (good) pitches for his friends that are coming on Wednesday so I'm relieved to have got this one really. I think most/all of the fence line pitches are taken but I'm sure there's some good ones left depending on where you want to be! :)
Wrexham Mackem wrote:
Mon 11 Jul 2022, 8:17 pm
Oh dear, that’s not the best of starts. I have everything crossed that Kempsford is going to be OK this year, when something that was so well run has a change of organisation it is a worry.

Hopefully settles down in the next couple of days, fingers crossed.
I'm probably a little on edge because of the change of management so perhaps I'm looking too hard for problems. Like you say, once it settles down & once things open up it should be good.
Checking back in with this one now the dust has settled. How did you find it? I have to confess I found it barely any different to previous years. The showers on the top field seemed to be more if anything, although that could be from two locations consolidating to one. Catering was good, bar was as good as ever. In fact, the whole thing was a good as ever. It was great to see so many familiar faces in regular spots and some new ones too.

Two points of improvement:
1) despite them being the norm for many many years, thunderboxes are a challenge and the site would really benefit from proper walk up mobile toilet blocks (to the same standard as the showers)
2) more tables and chairs for the bar and garden. These are white plastic jobs and cheap as chips, yet there are never enough from Thursday onwards.

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G-CVIX
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by G-CVIX »

Wrexham Mackem wrote:
Tue 19 Jul 2022, 9:26 pm
G-CVIX wrote:
Mon 11 Jul 2022, 8:33 pm
I *think* that they might be mistaken & more showers will come but who knows! It doesn't compute that they could think this would be enough for everyone!

It's very pleasant and peaceful so far, anyway.

Tommy - depends where you want to be! I'm in the top field, just to the right of the entrance from the first field. I'm tucked in behind the trees, on the fence. The chap next to me has cordoned off two extra (good) pitches for his friends that are coming on Wednesday so I'm relieved to have got this one really. I think most/all of the fence line pitches are taken but I'm sure there's some good ones left depending on where you want to be! :)
Wrexham Mackem wrote:
Mon 11 Jul 2022, 8:17 pm
Oh dear, that’s not the best of starts. I have everything crossed that Kempsford is going to be OK this year, when something that was so well run has a change of organisation it is a worry.

Hopefully settles down in the next couple of days, fingers crossed.
I'm probably a little on edge because of the change of management so perhaps I'm looking too hard for problems. Like you say, once it settles down & once things open up it should be good.
Checking back in with this one now the dust has settled. How did you find it? I have to confess I found it barely any different to previous years. The showers on the top field seemed to be more if anything, although that could be from two locations consolidating to one. Catering was good, bar was as good as ever. In fact, the whole thing was a good as ever. It was great to see so many familiar faces in regular spots and some new ones too.

Two points of improvement:
1) despite them being the norm for many many years, thunderboxes are a challenge and the site would really benefit from proper walk up mobile toilet blocks (to the same standard as the showers)
2) more tables and chairs for the bar and garden. These are white plastic jobs and cheap as chips, yet there are never enough from Thursday onwards.
Yep - I totally agree. The showers actually turned out to be great & once I'd settled in it didn't feel much different.

My issues would be:

1) Toilets - as you say they would really benefit from being the same standard as the shower blocks. The showground had some much nicer ones. Even if the toilets by the bar were still portaloos, there just needs to be something better.
2) Given that a lot of people are still around on Monday (and how hot it was), it would have been nice to retain some kind of facilities for those that were staying or just packing away after departures. All we could find to drink was the bath temperature water from the taps by Monday afternoon.
3) Washing up facilities and caravan waste facilities are a must!

Despite a few niggles and my early panic, it was a very good stay overall. Its not a cheap site & I can accept the prices for the convenience and extra facilities that you don't have elsewhere, but those toilets need sorting.

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Roger_Over
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by Roger_Over »

Our first stay at Kempsford, we did Tangerine Fields in 2018-19 and just day-tripped shows before that going back to 2000.

The stand out benefits for us were getting the car on the pitch, pre-marked pitch sizes, good views of passing aircraft (we arrived Friday and ended up in the NW of the site about three rows back from where the Clank was parked), water stand pipes, good catering and bar, decent showers, nice relaxed atmosphere.

Room for improvement in agreement with previous comments would be the loos and having more seating around the bar. Overall a very enjoyable stay.

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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by MiG_Eater »

Another great year at Kempsford.

There were definitely fewer toilets this year and that does need to change for next year as they were pretty awful each day presumably despite regular cleaning.

Always found a free shower in the evening so no issues - although on Wednesday the showers were cold which was weird...

Catering was really decent quality, and whilst not cheap - not overinflated either.

Aviation quiz and paper aeroplane competition a great finale as always - just wish it was a little later.

I would also echo the comments above about keeping some catering for Monday afternoon. Would be a nice place to stop for lunch after returning from the base and setting off.

TheMaster
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by TheMaster »

So with 720 pitches on site and a minimum cost of each one being £100 (for two people which I would say is the norm) that is £72k. Probably more like £100k revenue if not more considering many there seem to stay for 4 nights. Minus shower and toilet rental and whatever the farmer asks and it isn't a bad earner. Probably the catering companies on site also had to pay rent to the organisers.

I'll stick to my usual £15pppn place with ample showers and 15 minute walk to enter.

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Brevet Cable
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by Brevet Cable »

Er ist wieder da!

Back by popular demand...well, at the behest of one Mod, anyway. :grinning:
Some of you will be pleased to know that it's a one-off event for today only, although I may occasionally pop back on to stick my oar in on various topics....we shall see.

Anyway.....
As CVIX said in the initial post, it was a heck of a lot busier on the Monday than it normally is -- I arrived early afternoon, and it was more like a Wednesday with the number of people already in the top field.

Toilets....definitely a lot less than usual and they'd moved them further along the fenceline, presumably to compensate for this.
For whatever reason, I'd have to say that even on the Monday the toilets were bogging & wouldn't have looked out of place on a building site ( which is where they looked like they came from, without being cleaned first )...Don't know why, but from the Tuesday morning onwards one of the toilets was O/S due to the fact that the door was only hanging on by one hinge.
In previous years they'd had a team thoroughly cleaning the toilets a couple of times a day, but this year, other than them being pumped-out & the toilet rolls replaced I saw no cleaning done whatsoever.

Showers....again, less of them & all located in the one place in the top field.
A cock-up ( or maybe that should be a stop-cock - up ) meant one of the blocks of showers was O/S for most of the week simply because someone had apparently forgotten to turn the water supply on for it.
Again, the pond-life brigade tended to leave them in an absolutely gopping state ( still trying to work out why, but one of them even had several opened - but thankfully unused - packets of sanitary towels scattered around in it ! )

Water supply.... ranged between good & a mere trickle, and on a couple of occasions was non-existent.

Oh, and they could have done with giving the pitches a quick haircut, as they looked like they hadn't been done for a couple of weeks.

Other than that, it was good to meet up with the usual crowd & catch up on things, which - as one of them pointed out - is one of the main reasons for camping there.

I was asked if I'll be there next year -- as things stand I probably will ( depending, amongst other things, on how much they plan on charging ) but that may change.

Edited to add....
Surprised the rock concert on the Saturday night hasn't been mentioned ( or have I missed it? ) -- I think they must have heard it in Swindon! :thumbsup:

And looking forward to seeing IanF's photo of my hat.
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AndyXH558
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by AndyXH558 »

Image
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by ianf »

Hi Brevet the picture was posted by Andy558 as I cannot post pictures at the moment, thanks to him for taking the time to do this. So folks this is the hat you look for if you want to find Brevet! It was good to catch up with him again.
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Brevet Cable
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by Brevet Cable »

:cowboy:

Damn, I should have tucked the cord around the back, shouldn't I ! :grinning:

I'll try and find my bigger 'Meh..' badge for next year, as well as remembering to bring my '...I voted Remain' ones.
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AndyXH558
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by AndyXH558 »

A buck frexit one would be better
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Brevet Cable
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by Brevet Cable »

Does having a 'Bollox to Brexit' sticker on my trailer count? :grinning:

We shall see what I come up with for next year - may even add my XH558, TPM & FNHT badges too.

Hopefully see you there next year.
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106500
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by 106500 »

Some very quick belated comments. We stayed Tuesday to Monday and all in all have no significant complaints. In no particular order:

1. Quite pricy but you get what you pay for and theres no better camp site in terms of location for RIAT.
2. Toilets were rather grim. Needs to improve for next time.
3. Showers were excellent apart from a couple of incidents where they forgot to turn some of them on leading to long queues - inexplicable!
4. Our son and girlfriend joined us for the weekend but upon turning up needed to pay cash on the gate, so they spent an hour or so hunting for a cash machine locally. Crazy in this day and age… the bar had card machines.
5. No washing up facilities- however in previous years there was no hot water provided for these so they weren’t missed by us.
6. Low water pressure at times but understandable during peak times.
7. Rock band on Saturday were excellent! Best yet.
8. Plenty of beer provided - never ran out which was a big improvement on previous years.
9. Site was never overcrowded- well done by the organisers.
10. No bin bags provided- not sure why?
11. Good that RIAT programmes were on sale at the site.
Last edited by 106500 on Mon 22 Aug 2022, 9:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Tommy
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by Tommy »

To add, whilst the food was still “burger van” style, the quality of it was a step up from that in the showground. I tried to stick with healthier/my own stuff, but I had a really decent grilled halloumi burger with sweet chilli jam which hit the spot.

As a first timer at Kempsford, I really enjoyed it.

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AndyXH558
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by AndyXH558 »

Great that there is alternatives to the conventional hamburger.

Especially when I'm unable to eat red meat.
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Wrexham Mackem
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by Wrexham Mackem »

Yes, good shout out for the catering - the Thai was outstanding.
The local village pubs were on top form this year too, food wise.

Gt5500
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Re: Kempsford 2022

Post by Gt5500 »

Wrexham Mackem wrote:
Tue 23 Aug 2022, 12:31 pm
The local village pubs were on top form this year too, food wise.
Until they ran out and didn't bother to tell us when we arrived...(Red Lion at castle Eaton if you're wondering)

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