Cherry Hinton Hall · Cambridge CB1 · Late July/August · Four days
Cambridge Folk: the festival with chairs
The Cambridge Folk Festival has been running since 1965, which makes it one of the oldest in the world, and its audience brings folding chairs. Not blankets, not a groundsheet, actual chairs. Nothing tells you more about what sort of weekend it is.
Continuously, which makes this older than almost every festival in Britain and considerably older than most of the audience. It is small, it is civilised, and it has never felt the need to become anything else.
What the chairs tell you
Everything about this festival follows from being small and seated.
Widely used
Check the festival's current policy, since seating rules vary by area and year.
Around 14,000
Which keeps everything walkable and every queue short.
A city park
Not a remote field. Cambridge is a short distance away.
Genuinely
Children, parents and grandparents, and it has been that way for decades.
Kent to Cambridge
Over the crossing and up the M11. A straightforward run in an unusual direction.
| Pick-up area | Distance | Each way |
|---|---|---|
| Dartford & Bluewater | 72 miles | 1h 35m – 2h 5m |
| Bromley & Orpington | 74 miles | 1h 40m – 2h 10m |
| Gravesend & Northfleet | 76 miles | 1h 40m – 2h 10m |
| Sevenoaks & Tonbridge | 81 miles | 1h 45m – 2h 20m |
| Rochester & Chatham | 82 miles | 1h 45m – 2h 20m |
| Maidstone & Aylesford | 86 miles | 1h 50m – 2h 25m |
| Ashford & Tenterden | 102 miles | 2h 10m – 2h 50m |
| Canterbury & Whitstable | 106 miles | 2h 15m – 2h 55m |
Camping or not
Being close to a city gives you options most festivals do not offer.
| Format | How it works | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Camping | On the festival campsite | The traditional way, and the cheapest |
| Day returns | Under two hours each way from north Kent | One or two days, no tent required |
| Hotel in Cambridge | A short distance from the site | Anyone who would rather not camp. Book early |
| Mixed | Two days out, one night over | We price any combination as one arrangement |
A weekend at Cherry Hinton
Day returns genuinely work here
Under two hours from north Kent and a site on the edge of a city, which puts Cambridge Folk in a very small group of camping festivals you can do without camping. For anyone who has decided their tent days are over but still wants the music, this is the one that accommodates that, and we run a fair number of single-day bookings to it.
Bring a chair, having checked the rules
Folding chairs are a Cambridge institution, and seating policies do vary by area and by year, so check the festival's current guidance before you pack six of them. Assuming they are permitted, they take real space in a vehicle, and six chairs plus six people plus camping kit is a different load from six people with rucksacks.
It has not tried to grow
Around fourteen thousand people, on a site in a city park, with a bill built on musicianship rather than spectacle. There is no ambition here to become Glastonbury and there never has been, and after sixty years that consistency is most of the appeal. Queues are short, walking is minimal and nothing is a trek.
Cambridge is worth building in
The city is a short distance from the site, which means a group can take an afternoon off, see the colleges, eat properly and come back for the evening. Very few festivals offer that. Tell us if you want it and we will build the runs into one arrangement.
Cambridge Folk questions
Chairs, camping and the city.
Can we really bring folding chairs?
They are a Cambridge institution, though seating policies vary by area and by year. Check the festival's current guidance before packing six of them, and tell us so we size the vehicle.
How big is the festival?
Around fourteen thousand, which keeps everything walkable, every queue short and nothing a trek. It has deliberately never tried to grow.
Can we do it without camping?
Yes, unusually. It is under two hours from north Kent and on the edge of a city, so day returns and Cambridge hotels both work well.
How far is Cherry Hinton Hall from Kent?
Around seventy to a hundred and ten miles, roughly an hour and a half to three hours over the crossing and up the M11.
Is there a road charge?
The Dartford Crossing applies both ways. We confirm whether it sits inside your quote before you book.
Is it suitable for all ages?
Genuinely, and it has been for decades. Children, parents and grandparents throughout, and one of the gentlest festivals in the country.
Can we spend time in Cambridge?
Yes, and very few festivals allow it. The city is a short distance away and we can build the runs into one arrangement.
Is the fare fixed?
Yes, agreed at booking, whether as day returns, a camping drop or a hotel-based weekend.
Gentle festivals and East Anglia
The small weekends.