Last updated 14th July 2023
Big Love Festival is a small three-day independent music and arts festival showcasing creative talent from South Wales and surrounding areas. It will take place in Cwm Cayo Farm, Gwehelog, on Friday 14th, Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th July 2023 – subject to licence.
On this page you’ll find information for local residents about the event, the progress of our licence application, and how you can have your say.
If you need to contact us during the event please email community@biglovefestival.co.uk or call us on 07476 445 188.
On this page:
- About Big Love Festival
- Construction & Event Schedule 2023
- Noise Management
- Security
- Residents’ Tickets
- Latest Updates
Good Community Relations
We were so delighted by the warm reception we received from the local community for our first year in 2022, and we want to build on that going forward. We continue to be committed to ensuring that Big Love Festival 2023 takes place with minimal disruption to the local community.
We fully appreciate that if not properly managed, traffic and noise from events can cause considerable nuisance in a quiet community such as Gwehelog.
We will again be drawing up detailed traffic and noise management plans with Monmouthshire Council, and through continued consultation with the council, local residents, and the Safety Advisory Group, we will endeavour to deliver the best possible experience for all concerned.
Our aim is to build a long-term relationship with the local community, and the voice of local residents is hugely important to us. We welcome your feedback on the plans for the 2023 event.
About Big Love
This year will be the sixth edition of Big Love Festival (after a two year break because of Covid-19 in 2020 and ’21). Previously the event has been held successfully at a site near Hay-on-Wye, since 2016.
The event will offer a variety of respected musical artists, both live acts and DJs, ranging in style from folk, reggae, dance music, to Welsh language, alternative and jazz, over 5 intimately designed stages.
In addition to music there will be standup comedy and poetry, live circus acts, art and craft workshops, plus a wellbeing area and award-winning street food.
We are aiming to increase the capacity for 2023, but we are still consulting with the council on this with regard to what we feel the site and locale can accommodate. No tickets will be for sale on the gate. Attendees will camp on-site.
Big Love is run on a not-for-profit basis by a small team of experienced professionals, with backgrounds in events production and management, including other festivals and the National Theatre of Wales productions. We have been fortunate enough to receive funding from the Welsh government for supporting emerging talent.
Construction & Event Schedule 2023
There will be some production and contractor traffic on the build-up and break down days (12 days leading up to the event and three after), but we anticipate this being no more than 2–3 lorries large vans per day. Basically the same number of vehicles as 2022, but spaced out over a longer period.
We’ll be on-site from Sat 1st July, with deliveries from Tues 4th July (just accessible toilets).
Any construction noise will be restricted to the hours between 9am and 7pm.
Noise Management
To manage noise from the event we have worked with third party consultants to develop a Noise Management Plan, designed to minimise noise nuisance to local residents. We are in contact with the council’s Environmental Health Department and will be monitoring noise levels throughout the event, both within the site and at agreed offsite locations. We will ensure that the decibel levels agreed with the local authority are not exceeded.
If you experience any nuisance caused by noise during the event please call the community hotline number. This number will be posted here two weeks prior to the event.
Security
Gwent Police are involved in the planning process for Big Love Festival. Qualified and competent SIA Security will be provided by a recognised Welsh security firm and will be on duty within the festival site. The security staff will be supported by a large number of stewards and traffic marshals. Please feel free to approach them with any concerns as they are happy to help.
Community Information
We understand that you may want to contact us about our plans prior to the event. You are welcome to get in touch with the Big Love Community team: community@biglovefestival.co.uk.
This page will be updated when relevant information is confirmed and ready for public announcement.
Residents’ Tickets
If you would like to attend Big Love 2023, the organisers are making discounted tickets available to local residents living within 2km of the site. Residents’ tickets are priced at £25 + booking fee.
To apply please send proof of address showing your full name and address in the same document to: community@biglovefestival.co.uk
Due to the small nature of the event, residents tickets are limited and offered on a first come first served basis to those living locally.
Latest updates
12th July 2023
We are looking forward to welcoming our neighbours to the festival. See above for how to obtain discounted resident tickets.
27th June 2023
We’ve been overwhelmed by the response for tickets for local residents, and there are only a few tickets left at £25. Once they’re gone we will be offering nearby residents tickets at half price.
15th March 2023
Apologies to those of you that have already requested Residents’ tickets. We’ve just finished switching to a new ticketing platform, and these will be available in the next couple of days through Festival Pro.
10th February 2023
We are now inviting local residents to apply for discounted tickets for those living within 2 miles of the site.
12th October 2022
We are hoping to repeat the success of Big Love Festival 2022 again next year. With a move to a new site, this year was a steep learning curve for us; hopefully we got most things right, but we recognise some things could be improved – we sincerely welcome the views of local residents.
12th August 2022
A massive thanks to all the local residents that gave us such a warm welcome to the area. It was gratifying to see so many local faces – of all ages – on site and enjoying the event. If you have any feedback, good or bad, please do let us know community@biglovefestival.co.uk.
7th June 2022
We’re pleased to be able to say that Monmouthshire County Council approved our licence for the festival a couple of weeks ago. As part of the licensing process we met with council officials on-site, and worked with them to agree suitable music times and noise levels.
21st April 2022
We’ve been out and about dropping off leaflets about Big Love to all locals we think might be affected by the event yesterday and today (Weds and Thurs). Thank you so much to everyone in Gwehelog and surrounding areas that took the time to talk to Stuart and the team as they were making their way around – what a lovely warm and friendly community!
The official notice of our application for a temporary Premises Licence was published in the Monmouthshire Beacon newspaper on Wednesday 20th April 2022.
We also spoke to Monmouthshire’s Environmental Health team about today the event, and we’ll be submitting out Noise Management Plan with them shortly.
In the meantime, if you have any concerns about potential sound disturbance, or any other suggestions, do please let us know: community@biglovefestival.co.uk.