Reading & Leeds: check out the newly revamped campsites

NME

New to 2025, Reading & Leeds campsites saw a massive shake-up with new chill-out areas, running clubs, yoga and loads of ways to keep calm and de-stress. Get the lowdown right here.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Clare Armstrong. I'm the event manager for Reading Festival.

00:03So for Reading 2025, we overhauled the campsites.

00:07We've got four new campsites.

00:09The Meadow, which is our eco camp.

00:11The Garden, our cam camp.

00:13The Valley, which was solo camp before.

00:16And we've introduced a new one called the Glitterball Grove,

00:18which is our community campsite, all about inclusivity and respect.

00:22The Garden is an extenuation of what last year was the quiet campsite.

00:26It's sort of calm.

00:28We've got yoga programming, stuff for people to do, get ready with me tents.

00:33And it's just to create a bit of community, really, for the campers

00:36and give people who don't necessarily want to camp or stay up all night long somewhere to be.

00:41So with The Meadow, The Meadow is a reimagined eco campsite

00:46and it's our sustainability campsite.

00:48So in The Garden, community camp, and The Valley, our solo camp,

00:52we have vacuum toilets, whereas in The Meadow, we've got compost toilets

00:56just to put that sustainability touch on that campsite.

01:00We also have art made out of recycled tents.

01:04We've got other bits and pieces of activities,

01:07craft making, etc., in that campsite, which is really nice.

01:10I think it's a really important cause and I think it's coming through the younger generations as well.

01:14I think people really care.

01:15And I think there is a drive for sustainability.

01:17So it's really nice to see, you know, people buying into it.

01:20Especially, you know, fully subscribed to X number of thousand people in a sustainable campsite at Reading.

01:26So the other campsite is the Glitterball Grove.

01:28We want it to be a community space that fosters inclusivity and respect.

01:31It's open to everyone.

01:32It's a very welcoming space.

01:33I've been down there.

01:34The vibes are high.

01:36It's such a nice space to be in.

01:37People are hanging out in the stretch tent.

01:39People are making friends.

01:41Yeah, it's definitely my favourite campsite.

01:42So we've got another campsite called The Valley.

01:45Last year it was our solo camp.

01:46And when we first started it, it was for sort of people that came on their own.

01:50Whereas this year we've introduced it to ones and twos.

01:53People are making friends.

01:54It's so nice.

01:55And people want to come to festivals.

01:56People want to see music and they don't necessarily have, you know,

01:59or their friends are busy or, you know, they just want to come alone.

02:02And it's such a nice vibe.

02:04We've got a link-up lounge.

02:04We've got, you know, an area where people can sit and have coffee in the morning.

02:08And people are making friends.

02:09It's really, really nice.

02:10So The Fields is the main campsite.

02:13We've got purple fields, yellow fields, green fields, brown fields, and white fields.

02:17And that's the main campsite.

02:19So if you didn't register for one of the named ones, the new ones,

02:22then you would be camping in the fields.

02:24But we've still got things in the fields like the Get Ready With Me tents.

02:27We've got the Run Club that happens in the fields.

02:29And we've got football matches that happen in the fields.

02:31I think people are just looking for a little bit more from their festival experience.

02:35I think people want these activities.

02:37I think we've seen it in the surveys.

02:38I think the customers, you know, they reach out to us through the year.

02:42I think, you know, you can see how busy Yoga was this morning in the tent behind us.

02:46The Run Club, I think, had 30 people on it this morning.

02:49And the football pitches have been absolutely rammed all weekend.

02:52So it's really nice to see.

02:54You know, people just, I don't know, they want something else.

02:56Maybe they don't want to sit around the tent all day anymore.

02:58You know, people just don't know.

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