Travel to Nozstock!
How are you getting to The Hidden Valley?: The Green Edition
Why not get creative with your journey to The Hidden Valley this year? Help reduce your carbon footprint and costs by sharing the price of the petrol, or by opting for another type of shared or public transport.
Travelling Green is the perfect excuse to start your Nozstock adventure a little early, score some eco-points, and perhaps form a spontaneous new festi-crew along the way.
Step One:
Get your bearings
By typing in “Rowden Paddocks, Bromyard, Herefordshire HR7 4LS” on Google Maps.
Nozstock is located on the B4214 Tenbury Road north out of Bromyard. You can find our exact location here: http://bit.ly/whereisnozstock
We’re 30 minutes from the M5 Junction 7, via the Worcester ring road, and from the M50 Junction 2, via Ledbury.
For those of you who prefer What3words, you’ll find us at: steroids.squad.refrained
Step Two:
Select your mode of transport
By Car (Share) –
Whether you’re driving or looking for a lift, you can match with someone going the same way. Check out Nozstock’s Liftshare page to log your journey. It’s a great fun, green and cost effective way to travel.
To encourage car sharing and sustainable travel to the festival, there will be a charge for car parking. Fill your car to split the cost, and book your car parking pass here. All funds go towards further green initiatives at the festival.
By Train –
The closest train stations to Nozstock are in Hereford and Worcester; check National Rail Enquiries for train times.
By Shuttle Bus –
As is tradition, our FREE shuttle bus service will be available on Thursday night, ferrying the Noz community to site. It’ll then run every 20 minutes throughout the arena opening hours of the festival, from the centre of Bromyard (Pump Steet bus stop) to The Conquest Theatre car park on Tenbury Road, to the drop-off point at Bromyard Rugby Club, and then on to Nozstock.
If you’re getting dropped off, head for Bromyard Rugby Club.
By Bus –
There will be a limited service running from Hereford and Worcester to Bromyard Pump Street bus stop on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday. Once there, the Nozstock shuttle bus will collect you from the Pump Street bus stop. You can find local bus timetables here or visit www.travelinemidlands.co.uk to plan your journey.
By Coach (from Hereford) –
For just £7.50 each way, you can take a Nozstock coach from the front of Hereford Train Station (leaving at 7pm) to the festival site on Thursday, and back again on Monday morning (leaving at 11am). The coach will be displaying a Nozstock sign in the window.
Availability is limited so you must book in advance. (To enter the festival site on Thursday night you must have a Thursday night ticket. Top-up tickets, allowing you to arrive on Friday, are available to buy online).
By Coach (from London or Bristol) –
Calling all Londoners and Bristolians, we’ve arranged coaches just for you. You lucky things!
For £26.74 each way, the London Coach will pick up from Kings Cross St Pancras Coach Stop at 12pm. (The coach station is situated off Pancras Road (A5202), underneath St Pancras train station. The coach station is accessed from the road, so you must come out of the train station onto St Pancras Road to reach it. This map shows the location of the entrance).
For £24.07 each way, the Bristol Coach will pick up from in front of Bristol Temple Meads at 2pm. Both services leave Nozstock at 10am on Monday morning.
The Bristol and London coaches can be booked here. Again, availability is limited so you must book in advance.
Please be on time as stopping slots at the coach station will be brief, and we wouldn’t want you to miss your lift! Both coaches will display a Nozstock sign in the window.
By… Cycle! –
If you intend to take the scenic route and cycle to the festival, we suggest planning your journey with CycleStreets. Cyclists will find a warm welcome and secure bicycle parking by the wristband exchange.
Top tip: If you’re feeling adventurous, but wondering how on earth you’re going to squeeze your family-size tent, camping stove, several changes of 2000 Acres Under The Water costume, and trusty bubble gun in to the basket of your old bicycle, look no further than our partners in accommodation, Camplight. Camplight provide pre-pitched tents, left behind after festivals and salvaged by their industrious elves, spruced up and assembled ready for y our arrival.
If you’d like to Carbon Offset your travel to the festival, you can do so here.
One thing’s for certain, however you get here, we promise it’ll be worth the journey!
(written by Becky March)
Below is our festival travel report by our sustainability manager, Emma Hubberstey
In 2022, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it was the sixth-warmest year on record. The Earth’s temperature has been gradually rising over the years, with a total increase of around 2 degrees Fahrenheit (or 1 degree Celsius) since 1880. This translates to an average rise of 0.14 degrees Fahrenheit (0.08 degrees Celsius) per decade. However, since 1981, the rate of warming has accelerated significantly, with the temperature increasing at a rate of 0.32 degrees Fahrenheit (0.18 degrees Celsius) per decade. This means that the Earth is getting warmer more than twice as fast as it did in the past, which might explain why you enjoyed the sunshine a little bit more than usual at Noz ‘22!
Unfortunately, travel to festivals contributes significantly to carbon emissions. For example, within the EU, leisure travel alone generates an estimated average of 139 million tons of CO2e per year, split almost equally between domestic and international travel. While Nozstock’s impact may seem small in comparison, just 2000 people (less than half our overall attendance) driving diesel cars from the center of London releases 122 tonnes of carbon dioxide (equivalent) into the atmosphere. Astonishingly, few festivals currently report on travel-related emissions, yet approximately 70% of festival-related carbon dioxide can be attributed to audience, artist, and crew travel.
In our efforts to reduce carbon emissions, we encourage festival-goers to leave their gas-guzzling vehicles at home. As a result, we have implemented a car parking charge. However, we invite you to consider the environmentally friendly option of car sharing, which not only helps save on petrol but also enhances the overall festival experience at the Farm.
For those who choose private transport, we provide an opportunity to offset the emissions generated by your journey. By donating to Ecolibrium when purchasing your ticket, you can contribute to projects that work towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. While offsetting emissions is not a perfect solution and should not replace opting for greener travel, we believe in taking every possible step to promote carbon literacy and make a positive impact.
Additionally, we acknowledge and appreciate artists who prioritize the environment. That’s why we award our “Green Artist Award” to the most environmentally friendly artist, which often includes considering their travel choices.
Starting in 2023, we will report on emissions from travel for the first time. We will digitally collect data on the number of emissions we offset through ticket purchases, and we will also station ourselves at the Main Gate on Sunday evening and Monday morning to ask attendees about their “POSTCODE, MODE, PARTY.” This information will help us better understand how our attendees reach us and assist.
Articles referred to: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517722001431#:~:text=Carbon%20footprints%20per%20holiday%20style,travel%20(69%20million%20tons).
