Caravan Sites at the Fair

Caravans are not allowed on to any of the Appleby Fair sites before 4am on the opening day of the fair. Fair Hill can accommodate horse drawn bowtops from the Wednesday evening, but no motorised vehicles, even those normally accompanying bowtops will be allowed on until the Thursday morning. The early opening for bowtops has been introduced solely for reasons of animal welfare and road safety.

All landowners who allow use of their land for caravans during the Fair have to obtain planning permission and a site licence if that land is located within a 1.5 mile radius of Fair Hill. The following sites have planning consent and a caravan site licence for the period of the Fair:

  • Fair Hill -  planning permission granted in 1972, this site can accommodate 600 caravans
  • Clickham Farm, Croft Ends - permission granted in 2011, this site can accommodate 700 caravans
  • Keld Farm, Croft Ends - permission granted in 2011, this site can accommodate 30 caravans
  • Croft Ends Farm - permission granted in 2011, this site can accommodate 30 caravans - private arrangements in place for use
  • Ivy House Farm, Brampton - permission granted in 2011, this site can accommodate 75 caravans
  • Hangingshaw Farm, Roman Road - permission granted 2009, this site can accommodate 30 caravans, however private arrangements for these are in place
  • Land off Roman Road, adjacent to Fair Hill - this site is privately operated

not all the sites are open to un-booked arrivals, some have private occupancy/ pre-booked pitches. You are advised to speak to the site operator prior to arrival at the site if you are wishing to use the smaller licensed sites listed.

The licensing scheme was introduced to ensure that land owners and site operators conform to minimum welfare and safety standards. Any site operator, who does not have such permission and allows caravans on to their land may be subject to legal action.

The site licence requires land owners of caravan sites to provide adequate toilet provision for the people who are camped on their site. Land owners who fail to comply with their site’s licence conditions risk prosecution.

This approach was agreed by the Multi Agency Strategic Co-ordinating Group (MASCG), which was formed in October 2007, to bring together and co-ordinate the response from the public agencies involved in the Horse Fair. The licensing of caravan sites formed a key part of MASCG's improvement plan for Appleby Horse Fair.

The reasons behind these proposals were:

  • To ensure all sites are treated equitably and provide facilities to the same standard of scale
  • To improve the welfare and safety standards for those staying on the sites and reduce impact on local residential areas.
  • To prevent further uncontrolled spread of the Fair in terms of both location and duration, so preventing ‘mini fairs’ becoming established in other locations
  • To address safety concerns, expressed by the statutory agencies and by those who stay on the caravan sites
  • Land owners / persons in control of caravan sites are themselves vulnerable if not taking reasonable precautions to control safety
  • To comply with legislation e.g. Fire Safety legislation

In addition to the above mentioned sites which are all conveniently located for anyone wishing to stay at the actual Fair, there are a large number of licensed holiday caravan and camping sites in the area.