Church End Farm Hertfordshire reviews by real event-goers

Review of Sign of the Times

Dreadful weather that SOTT obviously were not prepared for, no showers with 20 minute walk of the live in vehicle camping, with only one water point over 10 minutes away, coming back up Cardiac hill. Very poor signage, SOTT you got greedy. We will never attend again.

Review of Sign of the Times

Great festival, horrible weather but that didn't stop us, could do with more varied catering ,

Review of Sign of the Times

Excellent choice of bands, all good. Good food. Only complaint is that the main stage and big top are far too close, you have to be really close to the main stage not to hear the music from the big top. There is plenty of space, maybe you could give this some thought for next year.

Review of Sign of the Times

I went towards the end of Saturday with my 19 year old son, because I specifically wanted to see Travis. We had a great time! I loved the atmosphere and the friendliness of the vibe. I loved little details like the fairy lights lighting the pathway back to the hilltop car park. I loved the speed of ticket and bag checks and the facilities on site. Car parking was easy and the one-way system at the end of the night made it surprisingly easy and quick to depart. Despite the mud and needing my big coat in the evening, I had an absolute ball!

I think the main suggestions I would have for improving the event would be to make the enclosure a little bigger to make sure that there was more distance between the big top and the main stage, as the acoustics weren't great at one point in the Travis set because there was a clash between the sound of the rave/disco and the sound from the main stage. I would also market the event to more traders and encourage a wider range of goods on sale as this adds to the interest and things to do between sets.

Overall, I had a lovely experience and have already recommended it to family and friends.

Review of Sign of the Times

Amazing bands and sound. This was our third year in a row and each year the organisation is poor. Camping, toilets, food, vip provision lacks consistency and value and the site staff vary from excellent to appalling.
This year there was only one camp for all tent campers but accessible campers were also added on slopes with uneven ground. There was not enough space for us all so we were allocated right down by the 'road' area.
We expected a vip /accessible section which we paid for and as we got the last 2 years. Nope. Just some posh loos far away from the camp and some showers. The pamper booth was 2 hairdryers on a wooden table outside. The men's posh toilets arrived broken and so were not available even once.
The ticket descriptions changed after we bought our tickets. Where the vip camp was last year had been allocated to food vendors.

The rain was awful... its the UK so that happens. But the organisers did little to resolve the thick, deep sticky mud in the arena and the camping area. The space was dangerous. No lighting in the attend which is at the bottom of a steep slope. Ankle deep mud. The exits were treacherous. Entry was delayed by 90 minutes on Saturday but nothing had been done to make space safer for us.

Overnight huge tractor machines drove up and down through the camp at 5am and around 12pm for well over an hour. They churned up the ground even more. But minimal straw was placed and only on the bridge. Nothing in the quagmire entrance, arena or campsite.

Campers tents were 4 metres from the one bank of portaloos, these were emptied late at night and at 8 am rather than when event was in the arena and all people were off the camp area.
The stench and noise was awful . Plus people were still moving around in the dark with large vehicles around

We paid for vip area again. It was rubbish. Poor drink options, shoddy service, school style burgers and biscuit served for the advertised 'fresh bbq with options'. Bored bar staff one of whom just did not react at all for the first 4 visits to the bar and then did not understand what e were adding for (2 pints of cider) and prices were higher than in the rest of the venue. Day 2 option was better but service not. The advertised 'entertainment'.... a dj deafened us for a couple of hours then packed up and stormed out shouting this was s**t and he was better than this. There was not space provision for the number of VIP tickets sold seats, or tables and less than half the toilets e had last year. The toilets had no sanitiser and the water on the drinks ran out on day one. Hand cream was there but no way to clean hands. A very poor show.

Parking was chaos with mixed info put out on social media and stewards totally lacking in consistent information. We went for the early arrival option. We were all send through and around a number of fields then down a slope which became a mud slide to the actual car park 200 metres from wedges we first entered the site before being directed on a hike. It took over an hour for our vehicles to go through and we arrived 5 minutes after when we were alloted on site.

In the end we left subah morning unable to cope with the mud. I have a disability and my partner is immunosuppressed. The poor safety, poor organisation and mud meant we did not feel safe. Then we discovered the car park we parked in was the only car park for non live-in campers and day visitors. There was ONE entrance in and out and it was a mid slide. We got stuck as soon as we pulled out of our parking space and had to be pushed out. The staff were super helpful but there were only 2 of them. Again no straw/bark or anything to give a firmer surface.

Overall fabulous music.. the acts were brilliant. . Poor organisation. No action about the mud and dangerously slippery slopes. No reply from organisers when we complained by email and the chaos caused by the social media comment on day 2 telling people not to drive to the site. Dangerous huge vehicles driving back and forth. Those who paid extra for the VIP/posh loos space did not get anything worth what they paid. I do not think it was well run. It felt like not enough had been spent and corners cut by the organisers.

We would like a refund on day 3 and our vip ticket but no one replies to emails

We will not be going back again

Review of Sign of the Times

Great little festival

Review of Sign of the Times

This is my 4th year at sign of the times. The line ups could have been better, as in the past
3 years. But we will be doing a 5th if there is one..well done for all the hard work and organisation that went into the festival

Review of Sign of the Times

Review of Sign of the Times

As a solo festival goer, I found SOTT an extremely friendly, relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable experience. Made many new friends. Music was a great of artists - football game an added bonus! Prices of food & bar were very reasonable. Good choice of vegetarian and vegan food too.
Bit of a faff to get to the water stand and lug it back up the steep hill Festival loos were plentiful and mostly clean with paper - the loos on the live-in vehicle site were less pleasant and there could have been a few more!
Unfortunately I went home early on Sunday, due to the horrendous weather forecast and the fear of getting stuck in the quagmire the field had turned into. Thanks to those who pushed my vehicle off the field - and well done to the stewards who were still smiling and cheerful Sunday afternoon. Hopefully everyone managed to get off and home by Monday morning.
Fabulous event - would definitely recommend and am looking forward to next year.

Review of Sign of the Times

Loved it the past 2 years, so got early bird tickets again for 2024. Line up not quite as great as in past years, but still had a fab time & enjoyed the music, despite some pretty awful weather (at times). toilets were impressive (always had sanitiser & loo roll, AND really clean if you ignore the mud on the floor). Left before the final Sunday headline act to be sure of getting out of the field in daylight given the muddy conditions. Staff all really helpful, food food. Great weekend! Hope to be back next year.

Review of Sign of the Times

Review of Sign of the Times

Review of Sign of the Times

The heavy rain was obviously going to cause problems but I felt that they didn't do anything in the parking field to prevent cars getting stranded in the mud, if it wasn't for the other super campers helping cars out then many would have got stranded. A Lack of marshals around the site, seems like they were more interested in stopping punters bringing a little bit of drink in, more than anything else. Awesome lineup ruined by the position of the Big top tent!

Review of Sign of the Times

Review of Sign of the Times

Everything done on the cheap and without proper planning. Rubbish and won't return or recommend.

Review of Sign of the Times

Smallest festival I've been to but a great line up, worth the 3 day trip to get there! Very wet weekend and very muddy with difficult exit the only downside.

Review of Sign of the Times

Unfortunately we got washed out over the course of Friday/night and had no choice but to leave Saturday morning. Gutted, as the line up for the three days was excellent.
Whilst you can't control the weather, the steeply sloped and hard flint stone ground in the fields used do not lend themselves to a period of heavy rain.
With the rain that had been forecast it was a little disappointing that basic measures to ease ingress/egress to the arena and particularly the car park did not seem to have been considered.

Review of Sign of the Times

A brilliant weekend! What a great festival. Everything is close by once you're on site. Getting in and out was easy too.
The rain tried to dampen things, but the communication about parking and security directing us were so friendly and helpful.
Well done, I'll be back next year

Review of Sign of the Times

Review of Sign of the Times