Camping at Donington Park: Download Festival and Race Weekends

Donington Park, on the Leicestershire and Derbyshire border beside East Midlands Airport, does two jobs. It is one of Britain's main racing circuits, hosting major car and motorcycle meetings through the season, and every June it becomes the home of Download Festival, the country's biggest rock and metal weekend. Both bring campers, in different ways. This guide covers festival camping, race-weekend camping and the campsites in the villages around the circuit. The full list is on our Castle Donington camping page.

Camping at Download Festival

Download sells camping as part of the ticket: you choose a weekend ticket with camping, typically for three or five nights, or an arena-only ticket with none. The campsites are a fair walk from the arena, so expect to cover a lot of ground each day. Campervans need a separate pass and park in their own field. The festival also sells pre-pitched tents and more comfortable glamping packages, and there are quieter and accessible camping areas that must be booked in advance.

Camping for race weekends

For the big motorcycle and touring-car meetings, camping near the circuit is the norm. Some events sell camping with the ticket; for others, people use the sites just outside the gates. The airport next door operates through the night, so earplugs are sensible whichever you choose.

The closest campsites to the circuit

Donington Park Farmhouse is the nearest of all, well under a mile from the track. It takes tents, caravans and motorhomes, has electric hook-ups and is rated 4.5 from nearly 900 Google reviews. Barley Fields Holidays at Breedon on the Hill, about two miles away, takes tents and tourers, has glamping and welcomes dogs. Daphne's Orchard at Hemington has a similar mix and allows campfires, rated 4.7, and Top Merrill Views takes tents and motorhomes, rated 4.8.

Within about seven miles

Springwood Fisheries near Melbourne is a fishing-lake site with pitches for tents and tourers, hook-ups and glamping, rated 4.4 from over 300 reviews. Shardlow Marina and Caravan Park is on the Trent and Mersey Canal. Hill Farm Caravan and Camping Site at Barrow upon Trent takes tents, caravans and motorhomes, accepts dogs and is rated 4.7 from over 300 reviews. Near Derby, Four Oaks Camp Site is a spacious site with hook-ups, rated 4.7. For bikers, The Victoria Bikers Pub near Coalville is a pub with its own camping field, and for glamping Broadleaves Glamping at Ticknall is rated 5.0 from 90 reviews.

What to check before booking

Event packages. In Download week and on major race weekends the nearest sites often sell fixed packages for the whole event, not single nights. The walk. Ask which gate the site is nearest and whether the route is lit. Noise. Between the circuit, the festival and the airport this is not a quiet corner; sites further out are calmer. Road closures. Local roads are managed heavily during Download; follow the festival's directions, not the sat nav.

Beyond the circuit

Castle Donington is the village at the gates. Melbourne is a handsome small Georgian town a few miles west, and Derby, Nottingham and Loughborough are all within a short drive for hotels and trains.

We have similar guides to camping for Goodwood, Reading Festival, Leeds Festival and Cheltenham.