The Valhalla Feast
One of the biggest things to experience at the Valhalla Viking Festival will be the Valhalla Feast in our Great Mead Hall.
Set in a wooden pole canvas marquee, with a bar at one end and a stage at the other end, it's all about the atmosphere of sitting at long rows of tables with hundreds of others. The vibe that is created, carries with you long after the festival ends.
I'm sure you're familiar with the scene from Medieval and Viking movies and TV shows. Rows and rows of long tables in a mead hall celebrating, eating, drinking and singing together. Well that's what we're aiming for at the Valhalla Viking Feast.
After a day of axe throwing, activtities, battles and blacksmithing, as the evening draws in, the Mead Hall will open its doors to the hundreds of Heathens, Vikings and Pagans attending the festival.
The feast will last ~3 hours, during this time sharing platters of food will be coming out to the tables, as well as ale, mead and other drinks. We'll do our best to make sure your horns don't empty. The feast will be slightly different each night and the performances vary each night. Check out the stage schedule to findo out who is playing and when.
You will be seated alongside hundreds of other vikings in the Mead Hall and the experience is all about the atmosphere, the sense of community within the Horde while sharing food and drinks with your fellow Vikings. They've been known to burst out into popular songs and chants or an infectious spontaneous Valhalla call with everyone raising their drinks at the same time and enjoying the music and performances from the main stage located inside the Mead hall.
We haven't settled on exactly what the food will be, but we're planning to work together with local butchers (Don't worry, there'll be Vegetarian/Vegetarian friendly food as well) to put together a great feast. Think German style platters and you're probably not far off. We'll publish a rought menu mid July so you know what to expect.
For the drinks we'll be providing delicious mead, real ale, cider, larger and some other tasty beverages . Please note there will be terms to the serving such as not being allowed to stack alcoholic drinks or receive top ups when your glass/horn is not empty. If you are deemed as being too inhibited or rude to any of the volunteers, you will not be served and may be removed from the hall. Please drink responsibly and don't be an ass about it. It's about enjoying food and drink and the atmosphere created.
After the dinner the main stage located in the feast hall will feature live performances each of hte 3 nights.
We'll drink and eat and all be very merry together as we celebrate this great Heathen gathering and drink to the Gods.
Once outside of the Feast times, the Mead Hall will remain open to all with the music continuing to play and a paid bar will be open, so you can carry on the festivities with your fellow Vikings. Last call on the bar is at 23:30, you must vacate the festival site at midnight.
And in true Valhalla style you can get to wake up the next day and start all over again! Assuming that the following day doesn't start off like this...
We look forward to feasting with you all at Valhalla Viking Festival!
What does the feast fee cover? We get asked this a lot. The amount you pay for the feast covers either a part of or entirely the following: Basically if it is a cost directly for and only for the feast, it is covered by the cost of your feast ticket. If something is only partly associated with the feast, your ticket covers a portion of the cost. (i.e. feast tickets cover the bands that play during the feast in full, stage costs are shared with day tickets as well)
- feast hall hire
- hiring the tables
- hiring the benches
- hiring the 3 fridge trailers
- generator costs and fuel to run kitchen, stage and feast hall
- buying the plates and cutlery
- cost of feast only wristbands
- kitchen equipment rental
- kitchen consumables
- staff costs both in kitchen and serving
- waste disposal dirctly associated with the feast
- bands playing during the feast, 2 per feast, are directly tied to the cost of your feast ticket (so for a band that chargfes £1000 per perfornamce, £20 of your feast ticket, goes directly towards covering the performance you're enjoying)
- Drinks ALE, MEAD, CIDER, SELECTION FO SOFT DRINKS
- THE FOOD: cold sharing platter of meats/meats alternatives with cheeses and vegetables, platter of breads, hot main platter meat version/veggie version/vegan version/gluten free version), platter of sides, top ups of each of these
*PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY*
We reserve the right to refuse top-ups to anyone who does not have an empty glass/horn, is rude, deemed to be heavily inebriated or too rowdy. Please be respectful to your servers, we're all volunteering. Aggressive behaviour will result in removal from the feast hall and possibly the festival.
Enjoy the atmosphere with your fellow Vikings, that's what this experience is all about.
Let's all just have a good time with our old and new Viking friends :)
For further questions, please check the FAQ page but here are some of the most common questions
How does the feast work?
Around 6PM form a cue outside the feast hall, signage will be posted but it's pretty obvious where the entrance it. After providing proof of being a feast ticket holder, you will be seated alongside hundreds of other vikings in the Mead Hall and the experience is all about the atmosphere, the sense of community within the Horde while sharing food and drinks with your fellow Vikings. They've been known to burst out into popular songs and chants or an infectious spontaneous Valhalla call with everyone raising their drinks at the same time and enjoying the music and performances from the main stage located inside the Mead hall. A platter of mains and a platter of sides will come to every table to share when you sit down. Then, a server in full Viking kit will go around with platters for topping up of each kind of dish on the initial platter. For example so you can better understand if a meat platter contains meat A, meat B, meat C, meat D, meat E, meat F, shortly after the mixed initial platter comes out, someone will come out with each of these in turn. A fullt platter of meat A will be paraded around by a server asking who would like some more of A and when that is empty the same will be repeated for meat B etc until the need for food has stopped or the time runs out for the feast. Platters of sides will be replenished as they first came out per table. When the side platter is empty, another one will come out. It's not how a wedding meal goes, it's not how you get served at a restaurant, it's how you get served as a Horde at a Feast and it's an experience in it's own right. Enjoy the atmosphere and take in the vibe, it's something to be remembered!
Can I just buy a day feast ticket?
Yes! There may be some day tickets available to purchase on the 31st of January from 18:00 and they are split by age only as over 18 and under 18. The feast access ticket does not include festival access, only feast access. You must get a festival access ticket separately that is valid for the day you booked on. The feast passes are non-transferable for names or dates. If you book a pass for a Friday, you cannot change it over to a different day later on so please decide on the day before placing your order. If you are lucky enough to look under 25, you will be asked for ID before entry. If you are unable to provide proof of age as required by law, you will be denied entry for the feast hall without a refund.
Your payment confirmation will be sent to you immediately (CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER before contacting us). No eticket will be issued for day feast access. Your name and order number will be on a system at the entrance to the feast. You'll need to present the order number and ID to be issued your access to the feast hall on the day purchased. Please ensure your email is correct when checking out. The person on the order must be the one checking in or a part of the group checking in, if purchasing the tickets as a group of 2 or more, you'll all have to show up for checking into the feast hall together. No exceptions. Feast access pass is NOT a festival pass. You will have to purchase a festival entry ticket to be able to partake in the feast.
What if I have a dietary requirement?
If your group has a person with a dietary requirement such as allergies, vegetarian, vegan etc you will be located on a particular row so the kitchen and volunteers serving the feast are able to remember where you are and see to your needs well. Remember there are hundreds of people and only about 10 serving volunteers with no waiter experience bringing out these so it is important that you and your group sit in the appropriate area to make your experience and the volunteers' experience as enjoyable as possible because it's impossible for them to remember where people are in all that craziness if there's one person astray in hundreds in over 80 tables. Meat dishes will go out everywhere, but dietary requirement dishes will only be served on the designated row purely for logistics reasons. Don't bring anything else into it.
Did I hear something about FREE booze?
Yup, provided you've purchased the right ticket! Included in your full weekend ticket price of £235 is access to the Valhalla Feast on all three nights of the festival. This will be a 3 hour feast and the food, mead and ale will come out regularly all included in the cost of this ticket! T&Cs apply as we follow a Drink Responsibly policy so please read the T&Cs. Day tickets are available with and without feast access, but don't worry, if you don't have the feast ticket or we've sold out of those, there are amazing food vendors on site and the mead bar will be open for purchases. There will be plenty of entertainment to enjoy in the evening with or without the feast, inside and outside of the hall.
During the day the Mead Hall will be a paid bar with a great selection of drinks so a wide selection of food and drink will be available all day long. Live music will be playing throughout each day and night in the Mead Hall. Outside of the feast times, the hall is open to any ticket holders. Its feast ticket holders between 6-9PM and the rest of the time anyone can come in!
How do the free drinks work during the feast?
Service from the bar kindly provided by The More Mead Company and The Stagger Inn will be wondering about and topping up drinks during the feast. Mead, session mead, ale, cider, larger, non-alcoholic beer. Jugs of water and fruit juices will be brought out by the kitchen. If you do not like any of these and alcohol is what you value most, then this experience is not for you as we operate a Drink Responsibly policy and there are no other alcoholic drinks on offer during the feast. You are not allowed to stack drinks. You cannot down drinks in order to get a top up. If you are rude to any of the serving volunteers you will be removed from the hall without a refund. It's about the experience and the atmosphere, not a sprint to getting plastered. To sum it up: there will be a generous amount of alcohol to those not taking the piss.
Will there be vegan/vegetarian food?
Yes. We are planning on there being vegetarian and vegan food as part of the feast. There will be a lot of meat around, but we will be doing our best to cater for everyone and making it a feast to remember! There will be a selection of meat-free main dishes on the relevant platters such as meat free sausages, meat free schnitzels and other meat-free alternatives. All side platters are suitable for carnivores, vegans and vegetarians alike.
Can I see the menu?
We're aiming to publish menu early to mid July this year
What if I have allergies?
Please get in touch. We want everyone to enjoy themselves safely so if you have any allergies to anything it's best to get in touch and make us aware of this so we can see if we can cater to you.
The feast is sold out!?
Please check at the entrance tent if there were any no-shows. You may be able to purchase a spot on the day to the feast if there are any but you can't buy someone else's ticket for it. Please see the scam warning
Can I buy tickets from someone else?
SCAM ALERT. If someone is offering to sell you their tickets directly from them they won't be valid. You can only buy tickets from the Valhalla website. You'll need to present ID to prove you are the correct person. Don't be fooled. Don't pass your money onto a 3rd party. We accept no responsibility for buying your tickets from someone else claiming to have valid tickets and will not allow you on site without a ticket bought through the festival website with your name on it.