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Welcome to Deer Shed Festival 2

Our ethos - we are massive fans of music and the arts in general, and we all have kids. We have over the years got increasingly fed up with paying a small fortune to get our families into various festivals only to be disappointed in the music or in the entertainment, facilities and vibe for the sprogs. The Deer Shed Festival is our long considered response to this. Kids are not second class citizens at DSF.

However, we will not compromise on what's on just because we are 'family friendly'. If you don't have kids to bring along you will still find a lovely chilled atmosphere in which to enjoy a great weekend.

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So what's the plan for 2011?

The Deer Shed Festival is not a long haul, it is super-concentrated, like Fairy Liquid. This year we are building the site to comfortably accommodate 5000 adults and kids - enough for a great atmosphere but not so many that you can't get out of the car park. Like last year we are on course to sell out ahead of the event.

The festival site will open at 3pm on Friday 22nd July, the arena will open at 5pm for food and drink, entertainment will start at 7pm. Friday entertainment is centred around a cabaret performance in our Big Top but we will have one music stage running too. The Friday ticket is optional (though most folks are making a full weekend of it.)

Saturday is our main music and arts day, three music stages, loads going on, the meat in the sandwich.

Sunday is a Long Goodbye. Coffee, newspapers, organised kid's sports, live ambient electronica cafe in the Big Top, crafts market, a birds of prey display, nature trails, with more to be confirmed. The festival site will close on Sunday at 4pm.

Camping in a tent is free and all kids activities are free unless stated otherwise on this site.

Your thoughts on DSF2010 from Facebook

Thanks to everyone who took a chance on our festival in it's first year in 2010 and made it such a great day. We hope that many of you will return in July 2011.

Kim Wilson Amazing weekend, the kids loved it and when Young Rebel Set boys spoke to my teens they were in heaven! lol! See you next year

Angela Lambert Great start to the first deer shed festival had brill time only fault was having to come home maybe something to think about next year having a 2 day event well organised well run cant wait for 2011

Sally Brealey Thanks for such a fantastic weekend of music, fun & art. Big thanks from the children who were overwhelmed with all the activities that you put on for them. Great camping too! Put us down for next year!

Rob Haigh Superb festival. Many many thanks to all involved. Thanks for arranging so much stuff for the kids/big kids & keeping all those activities free, such a relief to not have to keep dipping in and paying out all day. Dont change a thing next year, same price, same number of tickets, same food (except the yorkshire puds)

Fiona Maclachlan Had a lovely time. Campsite was great. Everything ran so smoothly, great atmosphere and great music! Will be back next year.

Lisa Bryce Brilliant time had by all of our group (kids loved it). Thank you! Very well organised, and great entertainment for kids. (Maybe more facepainters and water butts on campsite next year?) Did anyone take pictures of the illustrator's wall at the end? We meant to have a look on the Sunday morning but forgot, and are very ...curious to know what the white egg-shaped things turned out like! Looking forward to next year, and selfishly hope it doesn't get any bigger!

Adam Burgess The Young Knives and The Wedding Present, my two fave bands. Great day, weather, atmosphere, facilities. All good.

Kate Wilson What a fabulous little festival, and such a lovely atmosphere. And how lucky were we with the weather! I'm sure we'll be back next year. Don't go changing!x

Beth Blenkinsopp Thanks for such a wonderful time! The bands were great and the campsite was like no festival i have been to...the facilities were great and the equipment for the kids was an excellent idea. We will def be back next year. Many thanks x x

Kirsty Gardiner We thoroughly enjoyed our first Deershed fest. The Wedding Present were awesome. Great atmosphere, brlliant music and relatively clean fest toilets...what more could we ask for?

Marc Thomas Just want to add to the plaudits. Great choice of bands, extremely well organised and even the weather managed to behave. Just a few more food options next time please!

Paula Lambert Fantastic festival, we didn't get to listen to much music though as our 6 and 5 year old never left the deershed!! Amazing kids crafts. The teachers at school will just love my daughter when she takes in her musical instruments, mosaic tile and clay pots to show them!! We just wish it was on two days we had lots of ...fun.

Andrew Storey Absolutely brilliant day! Roll on next year

Mike Gaffney Thanks for a fabulous day. Will be back next year for more. Ambience was the most chilled of any event I've been to for ages. Special mentions to Young Rebel Set, Young Knives, Lone Wolf and the Wedding Present ( who were as great as ever) but really enjoyed everything we saw. Mike and Val from Thirsk

Imogen Clark My first ever festival. I came with my husband and our four kids and had a fantastic time so thanks to everyone involved. Can I say a special thank you to the lady who told the bedtime stories please? She was brilliant and needs to be booked for next year!

Anne Jolly Loved! Am impressed to say you were right that there were plenty of clean loos, and my kids liked the 'pongcost' toilets. Breakfast was beautifully organised too. Kids poets also a big hit and the music, of course, was great.

Natalie Hampson Our group of families had a ball too but were disappointed that...it wasn't longer!! I second the praise for the Bedtime Storyteller too. Thank you. See you next year.

Paula Lambert Our little group of four adults and 3 kids all loved it, you did an excellent job at organising and left nothing out. Kids entertainment was fantastic we can't give you enough praise. We are hoping next year will be two days (I'll keep my ...fingers crossed for a whole year)!! Well done Kate and Oliver, look forward to deershed 2011!

Elaine Thomas Had brill time deer shed. First festival iv ever been to where there is still toilet roll left at the end of the night. Impressive. Young Rebel Set were amazing as always. See you next year. x

Jess Swarbrick That was my first festival too, and couldn't have wished for a better time - boys loved it too (my two year old particularly liked Young Rebel Set and is still dancing days later...!) We'll be back again! x

Lou Wilcox Fantastic festival and very well organised, I was very impressed with the clean and well maintained toilets. Plenty of food options although shame most of them ran out before the end of the night. We'll definitely be back next year!!!

Rebecca Horner Loved the vibe. friendly, fun, easy ... well done! thank you! see you next year...

Louise Martin Great festival....fab atmosphere and the kids loved ever second of it!!! We will be back! Only comment is that the lack of food stalls (long queues with very hungry children) and beer shortage put a tiny blip on an otherwise perfect festival! Well done to everyone one involved!

Karen Cadman Fantastic day... Kids loved it, we loved it. Shame missed the t-shirts for the kids, will get in quicker next year!

Nick Redshaw Great music and great weather, you can't ask for more than that. We loved it (all 21 of us).

Lee Dickson What a fantastic festival, great music, everything within easy reach, no massive queues, friendly staff, real beer, good food. Thanks and well done to all concerned. See you next year!

Emma Rose What a fab day..looking forward to next year thanks a million x

Paul Staines Superb day- perfect- thanks to all the organisers and staff for making it such a great day.

Fiona Dixon Lovely, lovely, we''ll be back!

Deirdre Bowley A huge thank you to everyone who organised, volunteered and performed at the Deershed. We had a fantastically chilled time with our three under 5's and will be booking for next year!!

Therese Mc Fantastic, well done to everyone. It was just as you promised family and purse friendly. Look forward to next year!

Paul Dunn Well done to all who made this wonderful festival happen. Great family atmosphere and a great addition to an annual calendar.

Jayne Firth Hancock Had an brilliant time & loved the whole experience, it was in a beautiful location & the entertainment was 1st class, so much fun for my 2 year old

Robert Laird What a great day, love every moment. :) campings fun

This year's theme - Sky At Night

Sky At Night is the name of I Am Kloot's Mercury prize nominated album of 2010 and hence the inspiration for this year's theme. As a tribute to their headline performance under North Yorkshire's night skies we will be lining up loads of Sky At Night type things to do.

We'll have after-hours star-glazing, a cosmodome, themed kids workshops and cabaret plus some really ambitous plans which are currently in the hands of the Civil Aviation Authority. We can't afford everyone's favourite TV boyfriend Prof Brian Cox but we will have other experts with less floppy hair. If you want to dress up as the Milky Way you can.

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Camping at the Deer Shed Festival

We have a really spacious and beautiful parkland campsite. We will have specific camping areas for those with kids, those without, those who want quiet and those who aren't bothered who their neighbours are. In the family camping areas we will have loads of stuff to keep kids occupied whilst you argue over which bit of the tent goes up first.

The average distance from the car park to the family camping is only 200m and this year we'll have porters armed with wheelbarrows to help carry all that clobber. If you have a campervan or caravan we have a spot for you too.

Volunteers

Like all festivals we need keen volunteers of all ages to run smoothly. In exchange for working two 3 hour shifts over the weekend you will receive free entry to the festival. We need general volunteers to work parking cars, as campsite wardens, litter picking, welfare team members and helping out with kids workshops. Of course if you have a special skill, let us know.

Do you live in the smoke?

If you live in London like our friend Alex here and his girlfriend Sophie you'll be pleased to hear just how easy it is to get to us on Grand Central trains. They run trains direct to Thirsk (our nearest town) from Kings Cross in about 2 hours. It's then just a 10 minute ride by cab or shuttle bus to the festival. Check out their weekend plans here