A 12-acre field off Galley Lane will be the setting next June for what seems likely to be the largest medieval camp and re-enactment site staged by the town since the start of the recent run of events to commemorate the 1471 Battle of Barnet.
More military re-enactors than ever before are expected to attend the 2025 Barnet Medieval Festival on Saturday and Sunday June 7 and 8.
Barnet’s festival is rapidly becoming a highly popular weekend event in the annual calendar of Wars of the Roses commemorations.
Organisers hope next year’s enlarged festival at its new location will make up for the disappointment following the forced cancellation of the event this summer.
Re-locating the festival from its previous site in Byng Road to the fields around the Lewis of London Ice Cream Farm will provide more space for campsites and the re-enactments as well as easier access, as it can be approached by re-enactors and visitors without having to pay the ULEZ charge.
Daniel Lewis, whose grandfather took over Fold Farm in Galley Lane in 1968, showed the 12-acre field to the festival’s director, Dr Susan Skedd (left) seen above with Daniel and Fiona Lewis and their dogs Star and Molly.
Dr Skedd said the move from the Byng Road playing fields to the farmland off Galley Lane has given the organising committee an ideal opportunity to grow the festival and widen its appeal.
Next summer for the first time the festival will be held in partnership with the Wars of the Roses Federation, which is the main umbrella group for 15th century re-enactments, and which organises the annual festival to commemorate the Battle of Bosworth.
“Working with the federation has already had a tremendous impact. More re-enactment groups than ever before have expressed interest in taking part.”
Mike Powley, speaking on behalf of the federation, said that by working together they hoped to make the Barnet festival one of the most anticipated events of the year offering the chance to engage with a wider audience to showcase the impact of the Wars of the Roses on British history.
“What is so encouraging is that we could be welcoming re-enactors from much further afield, especially from the North of England, who are attracted to taking part in a festival so close to London,” said Dr Skedd.
“We now have a fabulous new site with masses of room for living history tents and stalls, space for separate camps for the Yorkist and Lancastrian armies and lots of room as well for re-enactments of the Battle of Barnet and the Battle of St Albans.
“Looking across the fields at uninterrupted countryside is perhaps how it might have been when Warwick surveyed the scene before the Battle of Barnet.”
Along the boundary of the main field, there are mature oak trees, some perhaps anything from 100 to 200 years old, and open countryside of fields and hedges all around.
A couple of electricity pylons in the distance are just visible in winter but come the summer and full leaf on the trees they will be even harder to pick out.
Dr Skedd said the importance of re-enactors and visitors being able to access the site without vehicles having to enter the London ULEZ restrictions was of enormous importance.
Vehicles can approach the site along Galley Lane, direct from the first exit from the A1 south after junction 23 with the M25, or from St Albans Road roundabout via Trotters Bottom and then Galley Lane.
Daniel Lewis who developed the Lewis of London ice cream business at Fold Farm with his wife Fiona, said they were delighted to have the chance to host the medieval festival.
“We have been selling our ice creams at the festival for several years, so we know what a fantastic event it is.
Daniel said that in addition to the 12-acre field for the medieval camp and re-enactment site there was another large field set aside for re-enactors and exhibitors for their own private campsite and unlimited space for a car park (see above).
Mr Lewis said his grandfather moved into Fold Farm in 1968, taking on the tenancy of 60 acres of Green Belt farmland owned by Hertsmere Borough Council.
Initially the family had a herd of 400 cows. Currently the farm supports 30 cattle producing 500 litres of milk a day which is split between a halloumi cheese maker and their ice cream business.
Lewis of London offers 36 flavours of home-made ice cream, and the farm is a favourite destination at weekends for families with children.
Currently they are featuring their Christmas display and attractions, which round off the year after a Halloween and pumpkins event and chicks and lamb at Easter.
Mr Lewis said a further possible diversification for the farm is to start bottling their own milk which could be sold in glass bottles through a vending machine.
