Great Dorset Steam Fair Reviews

Brilliant but you need several day's to see it all!

Go every year great holiday made for families good help around if you need it had so much fun concert in the evening great bands toilets near so you don't have to go far places to order food and drinks

Great event, but the sanitation fell short by a very long way

It is a great day out for all the family, my only concern is that there was no place to fill water bottle so you had to buy plastic bottles to have water

Very good place. Highly recommend to any one. Heritage and modern fair. Lots to see and do. Worth the entrance fee.

It was good but it took us three hours to get to the car park so it wasted half a day as left home at 7.30.

BIGGEST in Europe you can visit for 5 days and see some thing new on the last day. 1st world war displays must havr at least 10 stars

Traffic dreadful nearly 5 hours to get from poole to event gave up ruined our day

If you are interested in things mechanical and crafts this is the show to visit. Great location, wide range of food and beverage.

Very expensive. Organisers getting greedy. Poor standard of facilities.

Fab event, stay for a couple of days to see it all. Book tickets in advance for best prices.

Absolutely superb event, really turned it back around from last year, well done!

Very wet n muddy... but great atmosphere.. I'm sure drier days are much more entertaining!

Luxury camping was a joke the toilets were overflowing the water in the showers was either cold or not working the field was stubble and full of rocks ,the show itself was great but I feel sorry for the people who qued for an hour and a half just to get a ticket ,staff seemed to be to busy talking to each other or starring into space rather than trying to get people in to the show ,

such an amazing day, so much to do and see for all ages

There is do much to see and do .plus great cider bars .and if your lucky some good bargains in the old bits stalls .to many market place tents now .

Everyone should visit this at least once in their life. Yes it has steam stuff, but tons more besides and look out for the steam engine Quo Vadis, taking pride of place. This year was the 50th anniversary and it may have grown too big at 650 acres. However, it was an experience not to be missed despite the appalling toilet arrangements for the main site and friends on outlying camping fields. Martin Oliver and his late father Michael, still deserve canonisation for their work to keep this event going. A must for any bucket list.

If you're into stream and the old way of life must go

Great to go and stay the whole 5 days only trouble a bit expensive.

Toilets disgusting by Thursday lunch time not cleaned regularly, not enough toilets for such a large event, no toilet paper most times, no night time elumination,
Arrived pre booked electric in white 1 no power supply, power came on at about 7 pm.then went off, second distribution box installed close behind me so plugged in all good for one hour then off. Had to pull power lead over aces road NOT GOOD.had to switch to has it was a shambles. Lack of lighting people wandering around in the dark.Rows badly marked at ends soggy hard is not good enough.We have enjoyed in the past but am doubtful as to another year would not pay for hook up again.Staff vague about what was happening.

Something for everyone you will not see anything of its size anywhere else in the world

Just Returned from DSF Go every year
Dont rate the outside stage events too cold later on .Preferred Music
Marques.
They underestimated the toilets.Couldent cope with the numbers.
Cleaning/emptying etc in the evenings.
A lot of those toilets where not working from Day one the flushes not flushing broken when they were installed.Normally on the ball with toilet cleaning.Have they changed contractors?

We couldn't even get there this year due to roadworks on the same weekend. From what I've heard though I didn't miss much which is a shame as it's normally excellent.

After a very long wait at the entrance on our first day Wednesday because the scanner broke down and then on to our pitch,with three young grand children who wanted the toilet we found that for the amount of tents and caravans that was there, not enough toilets were provided.we have been coming to the Steam Fair for the last ten years and this year being the 50 Anniversary to be the worst,we then had to que for almost 2hours to get into the fair ground after paying pre paid as the ticket situation was crazy.We found that the catering stalls had put up their prices up and some meals for a family was costing up to 30 pounds plus for a single meal.I hope that next year is going to get better with the toilet and show facility's, mourn over,here's to next year

A fantastic show with something that everyone will want to see. Keeps growing and getting better every year. I have gone every year since 2006 in all weather and have stayed at a variety of Bed and Breakfasts, a Snoozebox on site and also travelled for the day from South Wales. My advice would be to book a B&B early- March time will see a decent B&B close, or you could book in somewhere like Weymouth and let those that don't want to visit the show do something else.

Not just for Steam nuts, there's diesel haulage, classic vehicles, cars and bikes, vintage cycles, displays, foods and crafts.

Well worth a visit, but you'll want more than 1 day to see it all!

Lots of steam engines of all sorts.vintage vehicles.monster trucks.tractor pulling and muchmore

Just returned from GDSF, (2 days), All I can say is The organisation for transporting people from the car parking via bus to the site was very poorly thought out !! You are queuing in traffic approaching the site, then sent Right towards the parking field, Where you then board a bus which REJOINS the traffic, to queue again before going to the disembarking area!, Only to find that you then have to trek for ages to the queue for the entrance ! I know you must expect to be walking around the show ground, BUT to have to do that BEFORE you even get into the site, Is not acceptable !! The disembarking area could easily be nearer an entrance point, seeing that ALL of the people parking cars are expected to take the bus !! Added to that, you are expected to do the same walk in reverse to get back to the bus, It was only due to the concern of one of the security team (Thank you very much sir!!) allowing my brother and I through from the "Artists" area to the bus,That allowed us to get the return bus, avoiding the very long walk back! This whole debarcle has really put a dampener on our trip!! This along with the joke of the so called "Shuttle service" Which wasn't signed at all well!, (Even their Drivers were confused as to where they should be picking people up!!) Along with the poor toilet arrangements, I think this will be my last visit for a while ,, I will wait to see what future Shows Reviews are like before deciding.!!!
"So Disappointed!!!"

One of the best shows in the world for steam rallys

What can you say more about Europe's biggest Steam Fair that hasn't already been said? Great family day out and a unique experience.

Great to see steam engines being used..
Highly recommend it to anyone as a day out or longer stay..

We took grandson and we all had a great day everything going on was brilliant.

So wonderful to see so much has been preserved thanks to the dedication of many. A fantastic event as always.

Steam fair great only negative was disabled parking not like before had to park and get shuttle bus on way back no signs to lndecate where to go so had to walk back took over 20 mins uphill which gave me a negative thorght about the day and may not return next year

Went to the show twice this year and it just gets better and better so sad when walking away to the carpark knowing ive got to wait another year before i can go again it rearly is the greatest show on earth.

Oh dear....! It s 10 years since last visit which was great, but I fear it s been completely ruined ....it s such a shame.
Now it s a culture clash; with massive tacky fun fair and shabby tat market with over 1,000 stalls with all the lively, tracksuit-wearing clientele that attracts, especially when you offer get monster trucks and donuts....Alongside the lovely steam engines and it s army of gentle dedicated oily rag, real-ale, loving enthusiasts and the beautiful vintage vehicles. It just doesn t mix well. It s either a wonderful vintage and steam rally or Europe s largest tat fest, it will be interesting to see how it evolves.
Add the 3hours to get in with poor traffic management, the cheeky hour and half to get out with no visible staff between 8-9.30pm operating the exit of gate 10( the blandford car park) so it turned feral, threatening and unpleasant.
The few security on gates weren t local and from different companies and didn t know shuttle bus routes etc.
Toilets are absolutely disgusting and no visible staff on site for service/maintenance

Pay for Marshall s, Security and facilities services.
Food is good though, lots of choice in the food court
Away from the chips and donuts. Reasonably priced for an event. Coffee 2.50. Teas 1.50. Burger 6.00.
Shame ....lovely day out, ruined by amateur event management.

Wow just wow what a day loved every minute of it as did my 7 year old daughter only bad bits was how long it takes to get in to the parking and out at the end think you need to look at this more but still had a great day oh and you didn't give us back our tickets as a keepsake so a bit gutted

Super fun, this year for the 6 times and it never gets boring. I always take 4 days to go there otherwise you have not seen it all.

Would have given 10/10 but this year the entry system was a fiasco and let the show down badly but once we were in it was amazing with so much to do.

Brilliant show loved it. Lots to see good food and drink. The down side being very poor traffic management. I should have thought after 50 years they could have got it right by now.

A really fun & interesting day out, definitely more then you can see in one day.

Great place for steam traction engines
And other vintage and veteran vehicles. Even some you grew up with

Love everything about this a must go for all lots to do n see n child n pet friendly

It was a lot bigger than I thought........ Absolutely fantastic.

Such a disappointing experience this year! I'm usually such a fan. Unfortunately this year, we first visited on Wednesday evening to hear the live music advertised, but we're refused admittance. Turned away and drove the 1 1/2hr return More

Absolutely amazing I've been going every other year & I still think it's absolutely amazing

The largest steam fair in the world. Memories are made here. Visit in the day time with children. Go in the evening with the grown ups.

Amazing show, so much to see and do that you really need a couple of days to appreciate it all

Fabulous event, lovely place, great for all the family

Was my first time going so didn't know what to expect was set our well and had lots to offer definitely worth going but extremely busy and crowded

Awesome. Spectacular. Highly recommend a visit to the show for everyone. You cannot fail to be amazed.

Great fair to go and visit, lots of things to see and do!!

Brilliant show wouldn't miss it for anything I've been coming for 19 years now

Absolutely brilliant event with lots of fun for the whole family. We will be back next year for the whole weekend. This year we could only stay for one night but the kids loved it there did so much to do. I love the variety of stuff including the monster car trucks and the world war one tanks. I really wanted to visit the trenches but we were too late so bear this in mind. Lots of good food and entertainment in the evening but I totally love all the steamers lit up at night what a picture !

We had a great time, shame it had to rain so hard (but that's the GDSF for you). We're be back.

Just a brillent day out ... but hectic and super busy but worth it as it's only once a year... take your own food and drink though as food on site is very expensive... so much to see and do,great entertainment all day and long into the night

A great place to visit for the day but it is tough on the feet at the end of the day !

Fantastic show, can't praise it enough, only thing is I think it is loosing the original essence of Micheal Oliver's dream/vision, but it's still the best around, although as with everything else these days everything on site is pricey

Best show in Britain
Regular visitors now
Something for everyone
Real old fashioned family fun