FAQs

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Magical is a micro festival - small and beautifully formed with 600 to 1000 attendees. Expect space to dance, the friendliest festival folks ever, fancy dress, glitter, randomness, inspiration and plenty of smiles. No sponsors or corporate gimmicks - just us; a bunch of Magical volunteers who are running this community event for the love of it and for no monetary gain! It’s only our second year of operation, so it’s a special time to join us in the early years of Magical’s life.

Magical is a festival for all ages! Most of the entertainment is targeted at adults, however the whole family can come along too.  It’s family friendly and great for kids too – we want to inspire the little nippers to be social, creative and celebrate life – why should just the adults have the fun? Check out the FAMILIES page for more info about what to expect.

A) Life Is Magical Stage - our beautiful main stage in the Woods, with a lineup of amazing multi-genre uplifting live music & DJs. Expect a legendary after dark Woodland Rave!
B) The Bermuda Chai-angle - with chai tea (obvs), cake and acoustic vibes
C) Cosmic Disco Dome - DJs that will make you dance your socks off!
D) Mash 101 - a pop up stage hosting DJS and an after dark light show
E) Fully Blown Dome - talks, workshops and activities that will blow your mind
F) Kids Dome - inspiring activities primarily targeted at kids aged 12 and under
G) Healing Area - a place of zen to recharge your batteries and get connected

Performances start around 4pm on the Friday. On Saturday and Sunday there are activities from early in the morning, but the main schedule of performers on the stages starts around 11am. Live music stops at 11pm each night, but the DJs carry on until 2am for night-time dancing Friday and Saturday and a bit earlier on Sunday. No amplified music or entertainment will be on past 2am.

For the best festival experience, we recommend camping or GLAMPING on-site. However, if you really can’t bear the thought of sleeping under canvas, there are a number of hotels, B&Bs and AirBnB properties nearby. Your wristband will be checked on re-entry to the festival site.

Most people bring their own tents for the weekend, but for the best festival experience, we recommend GLAMPING in one of our lovely bell tents, which come with real beds, rugs, bedding and fairy lights! If you have a campervan, we have a limited number of campervan spots available (see below). We have a designated family camping area which is located furthest away from the late-night music.

Yes and yes! A limited number of CAMPERVAN TICKETS are on sale for only £45.

No. All cars must be parked in the car park, which is located only a very short walk from the general camping field.

No. The campervan area is located just outside of the festival entrance (about 50 metres away). Tents need to be located within the camping areas inside the festival arena.

Yes! There's plenty of space for camping.

The site opens at 2pm Friday. The ticketing office is open from 2pm - 10pm (Friday), 9am - 10pm (Saturday), and 9am - 6pm (Sunday). If you're arriving outside of these hours please email [email protected]. We need everyone to be off-site by 2pm on Monday afternoon. Food and drink vendors will close after breakfast on Monday morning.

Yes, apart from alcohol. You can only bring in alcohol to the site the first time you enter. Your wristband will be checked on re-entry to the site.

Yes. Please be mindful of local residents when leaving the site and also bear in mind that you may not be able to park in the same spot when you return.

Definitely possible! Head to the ACTIVITY APPLICATION and fill in the form. We’re also holding a ‘skills swap’ session at the festival, for anyone that might want to run an activity on the weekend.

Check out the LINEUP page to see who will be playing. Also, have a good read through the programme when you arrive (which will contain the full timetable) so you know exactly where you want to be and when!

No, soz. As it has been so hot and the ground is very dry, the powers-that-be have banned customer fires onsite, including BBQs, Boo! Small gas stoves are permitted, but must be raised off the ground and used OUTSIDE of your tent. We are hoping that the powers that be let us run our own camp fire, fingers crossed that the ground isn't too dry.

Yes, we will have some strobe lighting at the Woodland Stage and Cosmic Disco, after 9pm.

The site has electricity to power the stages, lights, food vendors etc, but there will be no provision for plugging in your mobile phones or other electric devices. The Magical Team recommend ditching your phone and going completely off-grid for 72 hours. What could be a better excuse for some technology downtime, than having festival fun all weekend? However, if you do wish to stay connected to the outside world, make sure you bring sufficient battery packs to keep your phone topped up. To squeeze as much juice as you can from your phone’s battery life, try turning your phone to ‘Low Power’ mode.

We will have great quality composting loos. A limited amount of showers are available at an extra cost. Shower passes can be purchased from the Info Tent upon arrival. If you want to ‘go Glasto’ and spend less time washing and more time dancing, that’s entirely up to you!

All lost property will be kept at the Info Tent during the festival, so speak with one of the Magical crew there who will be able to help you. If you realise you’ve lost something after the festival has ended, please contact us. For each item returned we will charge a fee of £10 to cover the postage, using the remainder to make a contribution to charity. Unclaimed lost property will be kept for one month. Any remaining items will either be destroyed or donated to a charity shop. If you find an item of lost property, please take this to the info tent. Thanks!

The festival site is comprised mainly of grass fields, mixed woodland with a stoney gravel path going through the middle. The site is generally sloped and mostly accessible over grass. This can be especially difficult to get around if the ground is wet due to heavy rain. An accessible toilet is located onsite, which shall be close to general camping. We offer a free ticket scheme for carers and personal assistants.

We want to give a magical welcome to our deaf and disabled customers. If you have any queries or requests relating to accessibility, please contact the Event Manager, Zoë Nattress. We aim to respond to all queries within 5 working days. Please do contact us in advance to ensure we can make any necessary arrangements.

E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 07736 035533

We’re committed to running an ethical, sustainable event that minimises any negative impact on the environment. See our ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY page for the initiative we’ve got in place, and how you can help too!

A variety of delicious vegetarian and vegan food will be available at reasonable prices, from a range of festival FOOD VENDORS. Gluten free options will also be available. Note: there’s no meat or fish on the Magical menu.

You can bring your own food… but why would you spend valuable fun-time opening packets & tins, when you could be eating freshly-prepared food from our fantastic (and very reasonably priced) FOOD VENDORS? Less time pfaffing, more time dancing!

Yes! We have requested that every FOOD VENDOR has veggie and vegan options only. There’s no meat or fish available on the Magical menu!

Yes, for the first time you enter the site only (not on re-entry). The maximum amount of alcohol each ticketholder over the age of 18 can bring into the festival is: (a) 5.5cl (12 cans) of cider OR beer OR similar strength alcohol; OR (b) 1.5l of wine. No spirits are allowed to be brought onto site due to licensing rules, but we'll have these available to buy, nice and cold from the bars.

No, soz. As it has been so hot and the ground is very dry, the powers-that-be have banned ALL customer fires onsite, including BBQs! Boo! Small gas stoves are permitted, but must be raised off the ground and used OUTSIDE of your tent.

Yes - we encourage payments to be made via card-payment. All food/drink vendors and non-food traders can accept card or paypall payments. The less cash we have on-site, the better and safer for everyone 🙂

No. You will instead receive an eTicket from the lovely bods at NU TICKETS, and will need to be shown on entry to the festival. Save the trees and display these on a mobile device instead of printing the ticket!

All tickets (and other rewards and products) are non-refundable.

Yes! Both day and weekend tickets are available.

Magical is held at Borde Hill Parkland, Haywards Heath, West Sussex. The postcode for your satnav is RH17 5HP. Check out the TRAVEL page for deets.

Visit the TRAVEL page, which has all the info you need.

The nearest train station is Haywards Heath, just a short 5 minute car trip away. Please DON'T walk from the train station to the festival, as there is no pavement on the road and the cars drive dead fast like!

Yes! VOLUNTEERS get a free ticket to the festival! Most roles require 3 x 6 hour shifts over the course of the festival. For some roles, shifts can be completed before and after the festival, leaving the whole weekend free!

There are a number of ways to get involved in Magical 2019. Volunteer roles include: check-in/info desk, litter picking, car park patrol, steward, artist liaison, stage management and bar staff. Interested? For more information, head to the PARTICIPATE page.

A very good question! Luckily, we’ve got lots of experience about this! Check out the WHAT TO BRING page.

Yes. If it rains and you do not have your wellies (or good quality, waterproof walking shoes), you will get very soggy feet and feel miserable! If you do have your wonderful wellies, your toes will be toasty, your legs will be dancing, your heart will be light and your face will have a beaming smile as you strut-your-stuff at the main stage. In your face, rain!

Unfortunately, dogs are not invited to the party unless they are official assistance dogs. Please find a friendly buddy or neighbour to pamper your pooch while you’re away. We do get this question often and are currently considering a CanineFaceTime tent, so you can stay in touch with your dogs from the festival!

Join us in wearing whatever makes YOU feel the most amazing. Whether this means head to toe in sparkle, bright colours that you simply cannot wear in the office, or an amazing fancy dress outfit that looks ridiculous and gets lots of attention – anything goes. This year’s parade theme for Sunday is Cosmic Circus, so feel free to get creative, unleash your inner galactic lion tamer, alien cosmic dancer or anything else your mind conjures up. We love up-cycling fancy dress outfits that we already have in the wardrobe.