Highbury Farm

Highbury Farm, the location of BarnCamp 2015, is located in the Lower Wye Valley on a hill above the village of Redbrook, postcode NP25 4LX. Highbury Farm is actually located in Gloucestershire, although it should be in Gwent. (location of site on Wikimapia Bing and Google Maps also Aerial View Map of the site)

Check out the weather at the MetOffice's web site

BarnCamp 2015 will take place in different parts of the Farm:

• The barn: plenaries, Workshop Space 1, indoor entertainment.
• The gathering field: for camping, compost loo and very a stunning view up the Wye Valley towards Monmouth.
• The upper field: featuring the kitchen tent, 12-volt-powered marquee for Workshop Space 2 and the fire space.

Highbury Farm is a vegetarian farm and the owners request that meat is not brought or cooked on site. There are two local pubs; The Bell Inn (English side of the river) and The Boat Inn, (Welsh side of the river) both within walking distance that serve the usual pub fare, The Boat being our recommendation as it also serves a good range of local ciders and has a fine outdoor space too.

The local shop also sells a good range of foods and snacks, beers/wines etc. so if you are allergic to Vegan food, you needn't starve!

Mobile phone coverage is sketchy so you may wish to choose your network SIM carefully if being contactable by mobile is important to you, see the Highbury Farm Mobile Phone Coverage page. In short Vodafone is about the best, with EE being pretty bad but not the worst. Forget 3G or 4G: phone calls and text only.

GREEN ROUTE - pedestrians and car-drivers; CYAN ROUTE - live-in vehicles only and please don't park too far into the field; RED ROUTE - deliveries only.

Getting to Highbury Farm

Everyone will be responsible for organising their own transport to the location.

If you're driving and have a space in you vehicle or you need a lift, take a look at our lift-shares Riseup Pad.

If you get lost/stuck or need to get in touch see the Contact page from telephone numbers and more.

Access to Highbury Farm by vehicle is somewhat difficult as it is situated up a steep hill in the valley. Most motor vehicles should ideally be left at the bottom of the hill rather than be taken up the track. For small vehicles, carrying the minimum of passengers would help. There is a decent* footpath up from the village to the farm, so leaving vehicle at bottom and walking is a good option.

*but very steep (and slippery when wet) in parts!

There's more info on their web site at http://www.highburyfarm.freeserve.co.uk/visitingframe.htm and also here it is on the map:

• Barncamp on Google Maps - new full routes and locations marked!
• Google Earth .kmz file Google Earth .kml
• Bing Map

Coming on the bus from Chepstow get off at the FIRST Redbrook stop (so second if you're coming from Monmouth) at the Bell Inn, go round the road behind the Inn and follow the steps up and signs for Offa's Dyke Path. At the top of the steps, turn right up the road behind the houses and then when you see a stile on your left climb over it and head up the steep grassy hill. Over the next stile and the camping field is on your right, back through the opening in the hedge and registration and everything else is in the Barn straight on up the hill.

By Car or other motorised vehicle

From Bristol the farm is about 30 miles, over the old Severn Bridge (M48) and then taking the A466 past Chepstow and about 13 miles up the Wye Valley. The bridge costs something like 6 pounds 20 pence for cars and 12.40 for vans. Latest toll prices at their web site.

Firstly, for those of you with satnavs, the postcode is NP25 4LX

Now the farm is on a very steep hill on a very narrow lane and the folk here are saying they would prefer people not to drive up but you can deliver things if you really need to/physically unable to walk up. You will need ninja driving skills to get anything bigger than a car up here so its best not to bother.

So if you're coming by car, you'll need to park down the bottom alongside the A466 Wye Valley Road, there is a car park (southbound street view with view of hill where Barn Camp is in background) past the village green on the left (river) side and then walk up via the GREEN ROUTE on the map above (follow signs for Offa's Dyke Footpath (and BarnCamp signs), up the hill behind the Bell Inn). *CAR PARK UPDATE 2013* Please note; the car parks in the village are now pay and display (not sure of the cost, probably ~£1/day?), if this is an issue for you and you decide to try and park 'elsewhere', please avoid annoying the locals by dumping the car outside the village shop/someone's house or drive/pub

Because of this make sure you pack your stuff according to having to hike up a big hill! If you come up with you essentials first and then you can get a hand making a second trip. Any real problems or if you physically can't get up here for some reason, please ring the BarnCamp hot-line (see Contact) from Thursday morning onwards to let us know.

To reduce the environmental impact of driving, it would be great if people could share lifts. Here is a noticeboard where you can offer and request lifts.

Streetview of turn off (north bound) up Highbury Lane (?marked Coach Road?) from A466 to Barn Camp

Live-in Vehicles

If you have a live-in vehicle and wish to park in the camping field, then follow the CYAN ROUTE on the map above. Be warned that there is a very steep incline on this road and a hair-pin turn into the field, so don't try it if you're articulated, or driving a heavily laden old combi!

Please do not use this route to drive up and park your car in the field. If it happens to be very wet, please consider parking your car down in the village and walk up via the GREEN ROUTE. You can use the CYAN route up to the camping field to drop your stuff and then go back down. Note that there's a turning circle beyond the entrance to the field, so keep going if you need to turn around.

If you do intend to park your live-in vehicle in the field, please do not drive too far in, stay near to the entrance. Thank you.

Deliveries

If you are delivering some infrastructure stuff to the Barn, Farm or Upper Field, follow the RED ROUTE, make your drop-off and then head for the car-park and walk up, or follow the CYAN ROUTE to park your live-in vehicle.

By Train and bus

There are trains to Chepstow, check http://www.nationalrail.co.uk to find out times.

Then there is then a bus service (69) from Chepstow to Monmouth stopping at Redbrook village. The last bus leaving Chepstow on Friday and Saturday is at 18.10 (6.10PM) from the bus station. The latest time tables valid from 21/07/2014 can be downloaded from Monthmouthshre County Council's web site (PDF). More details regarding public transport in the area.

By Bus

From Bristol catch the X14 to Chepstow, then follow the directions above for catching the 69 bus to Redbrook. Then follow the GREEN ROUTE up to the farm. If it's very wet then the RED ROUTE will be an easier, but longer, hike.

By Bike

There's no organised bike ride this year, like there was in 2013, but see the BarnCamp 2013 Bike Ride page for somew tips or if you fancy organising one yourself.