Will Hazlerigg, the Coney Woods are home, thoughts from a founder…

For me the woods at Noisily are home, literally and figuratively. I was lucky enough to grow up at Noseley and had the most amazing adventures there. Not much has changed, apart from now we get to share those magic moments and the truly special place that is Coney Woods with 3000+ people.

The woods are my happy place. I’ve made dens, dams and generally messed around for as long as I can remember. One of the first tree houses that I ever built was there (if you can call it that as it was a few pallets nailed to a tree, how things have changed!). It is the most tranquil and beautiful woodland, and we are very lucky to be able to spend time there soaking it all in.

The idea for Noisily started on a dance floor at Glade then quickly snowballed into what it is today. I am very lucky to call all the directors my best friends, and I feel that is why it works so well. When the idea for Noisily was spawned there was only one place in my mind where we could do it… Coney woods.

I take a lot of pride in the way we have turned the wood from one giant mess of brambles, into a grassy woodland habitat where blue bells and daffs now grow in the place of stingers and thorns. With each year that passes, the woods look better and better, and the more we look after it and improve it through forest management and other such techniques, the more it seems to thrive.

When we open the gates to Noisily the excitement is palpable. It brings me so much joy to see how happy such a special place makes people, and the enjoyment that comes from the surroundings, music and general feeling of true escapism.

Noisily is not only about throwing the best party out there (as we are all lovers of festivals ourselves), but also to allow people to escape their hectic lives and just have fun, plain and simple. As one of my favorite sayings goes “if you take life too seriously you will never get out alive!” and I feel that Noisily allows you to truly escape, be free and happy to enjoy yourself with friends and family and be very silly indeed.

This means the world to me.