What is Camp Bestival's capacity?
Camp Bestival Dorset has a capacity of around 30,000 people, held in the grounds of Lulworth Castle on the Jurassic Coast each July. That makes it one of the biggest family festivals in the UK - bigger than most boutique festivals, smaller than its Reading-and-Leeds-scale cousins - and an event that size takes hundreds of paid crew to build, run and strike. The 2025 edition sold out, making it the 17th consecutive year at Lulworth and one of the most reliably attended family festivals in the country. Camp Bestival has won Best Family Festival at the UK Festival Awards multiple times. There is a sister event, Camp Bestival Shropshire, at Weston Park in August; this page covers the original Dorset weekend.
Crew needed at Camp Bestival
A 30,000-capacity family festival has a different crew shape to a standard music event. The build is longer - bell-tent villages and glamping structures go up several days before the public arrive, so build crew are on site earlier than at a comparable-sized general festival. Children's areas require dedicated stewarding with enhanced DBS-checked staff ratios. Alcohol licensing at a family event runs tighter - bar staff need specific briefing on Challenge 25 and family-zone restrictions that don't apply at adult-only events. The break is often stretched too: campsite clearance on a family weekend is slower than a one-nighter. The main crew categories that Camp Bestival's contractors and the festival itself recruit:
- Build and break crew - site infrastructure, fencing, power, marquee frames; starts 5-7 days pre-festival
- Bell-tent and glamping crew - erect, dress and strike the glamping village; specialist but trainable
- Bar staff - Challenge 25 compliant; family-zone licensing restrictions apply
- Children's area stewards - DBS-checked, safeguarding-trained; higher ratio requirement than general event stewards
- Gate and general stewards - entry management, wristbanding, campsite marshalling across the 30,000-capacity site
- Catering crew - food trader support, waste, back-of-house kitchen crew
- Campsite crew - overnight patrols, welfare, campsite management through a family weekend
- Drivers - crew and equipment shuttles across the Lulworth Castle estate
If you crew festivals and want to work Camp Bestival, add your name to CrewPool and tick the role types you're available for. Contractors staffing the 2026 and 2027 editions search the list when their build dates are confirmed.
Working Camp Bestival Dorset
Camp Bestival Dorset (Lulworth Castle, Dorset, South West) takes a small army to build, run and strike. Crew are hired by the festival and by the contractors who supply the bars, stages, marquees, fencing, power and toilets - usually in the weeks before July. Pick the work you do:
Add your name to CrewPool, say you'll travel to Lulworth Castle, Dorset, and you go on the list companies search when they're staffing Camp Bestival Dorset. Free, two minutes, and you keep every penny of your rate.
Going as a punter, not to work? Dates, lineup and everything else about Camp Bestival Dorset is on Fezzy, our festival guide.
Hiring crew for Camp Bestival Dorset?
If you're a contractor or organiser staffing Camp Bestival Dorset, CrewPool is a live list of event crew you can filter by distance from Lulworth Castle, Dorset and by availability for your exact build dates. Search the list free, then unlock the people you want and ring them direct - no agency in the middle.