20/09/2026
To end all speculation - yes, that really was the very last Cogwarts. It hasn’t been cancelled due to clashes with other events as the Isle of Wight and Wrexham are a long way apart. Cogwarts preceded that event anyway and was held on the same weekend it has always been held for years now.
There are many reasons.
The venue seemed perfect and very helpful, initially offering indoor space for stalls and that traders could stay overnight. Once I agreed to hold it there, both these offers were withdrawn which was unfair as I had already started advertising the event.
I was then told outside traders could anchor their stalls on the grassed areas, then this offer was withdrawn too. So we all adapted to hard standing, but one large gazebo blew down over night.
Accessibility is not as good as first seemed either. It was pot luck as to whether people were allowed to exit via a door with ‘no entry’ written on it that led directly to the market area. Some had to go the long way round and one disabled lady complained bitterly that she had been made to walk the perimeter path. If you have a handy door right by the lift, it didn’t make sense not to allow people to use it. The venue explained that they didn’t want people queuing for that door, but a queue would have been preferable to a long walk on big limestone pebbles.
A trader blew up at me for being told off about using that door to carry his equipment through. I was told to use a ‘staff only’ door which I did, but was then faced with a steep, grassy slope - I had a long skirt on and my arms full and naturally I fell on my osteoporosis riddled knee Ouch!
I asked for just two comp tickets for visiting friends (my guest list at the Faery Festival is as long as your arm), but was told ‘they can pay like everyone else.’
Not good.
Sadly the venue didn’t work and I don’t have unlimited resources to make it work.
Coming in next year, we will all also be faced with Martyn’s law (in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombings). It is designed to keep everyone safe from random terrorist attacks which is good - but not everyone thinks it will work - including a few I have spoken with in the security industry.
Martyn’s Law will add around £10,000 to the Faery Festival’s costs, (which by the way is definitely happening in 2027 on the 7th and 8th of August in Llangollen), so probably would have been a further £2,000 - £3,000 on top of the £6,500 it costs to mount Cogwarts. That’s undoable.
Due to Martyn’s Law it is inevitable that an awful lot of smaller festivals, steampunk or not will fold too unfortunately.
