Bookings are now open for what is billed as the ‘UK’s friendliest outdoor festival’, returning to the heart of the Lake District next summer from 4-7 July. BASE CAMP FESTIVAL 2025 will be held at the eastern end of Buttermere, surrounded by famous fells including High Stile, Robinson, Buttermere Fell and Fleetwith Pike.
Offering a mix of outdoor activities, talks, films, workshops, music, food and drink and more; the event has a capacity of only 400. Tickets are available now, with special offers for those who book early, including a Black Friday deal.
The festival aims to be the friendliest event around with inclusivity the single most important consideration of the organisers. It ran for five years before Covid and will return for the first time since the pandemic with new owners – Amanda Travis and Chris Kempster, publishers of TREK & MOUNTAIN magazine.
The festival is for those aged 18 and over and will be hosted at Gatesgarth Farm, Buttermere, away from villages and towns, reached by the famous Honister Pass. The location is designed ‘to give everyone who attends a genuine opportunity to be in nature with like-minded people’; the capacity of 400 means that the event will never grow too large.
Activities lined up include guided climbing, via ferrata, scrambling, hiking, trail running and navigation sessions plus creative workshops on needle-fettling, outdoor photography and adventure film-making. There will be plenty to do on-site, much of which is free, with a climbing wall, yoga, wild swimming, stand up paddle boarding and a games area.
Other activities will include talks and films, music each evening, meet and greets and competitions. Speakers who have been confirmed so far are climber Neil Gresham; adventurer, runner and Minds Over Mountains founder Alex Staniforth; Base Camp Festival founder Belinda Kirk; ‘Fell Foodie’ Harrison Ward and photographer Alun Richardson.
Each festival ticket includes free tent camping with a fee for those who want to bring a campervan or car with roof tent; there is also the option of hiring a luxury bell tent. The event will have accessible toilets and showers as well as designated parking spaces for blue badge holders.
With food available from Love Pizza and KatVandu food truck (Himalayan food), with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options available, Cumbria’s Fell Brewery will be bringing its real ales to the festival.
Major outdoor retailers and brands will be at Base Camp Festival, including Ellis Brigham, Montane, La Sportiva and EXPED. The event will also be supporting the work of the charity COMMUNITY ACTION NEPAL (CAN).
Founded by legendary British mountaineer Doug Scott, CAN works with remote communities in the Nepalese Himalaya, delivering education, health and livelihood programmes to help these communities to improve their quality of life, reduce donor dependency and increase their resilience in the face of natural disasters, volatile weather conditions and global health emergencies.
CAN is running a major fundraising campaign during the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of the expedition to climb the south west face of Everest that saw Scott and Dougal Haston become the first Brits to stand on the summit of the world’s highest mountain.
Festival director Chris Kempster said, “Base Camp Festival is in a very special location, which allows us to deliver an authentic outdoor experience and a wonderful atmosphere for 400 like-minded folk. Buttermere is the perfect spot for exploring the lake and the surrounding fells, but there will also be so much to enjoy on the site itself. We can’t wait to welcome everyone next July.”
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