Bus map for Sidmouth valid 2011/2012. Travelling to Sidmouth festival FolkWeek by bus/train.

BY RAIL: Closest Intercity train stations are Exeter St David's or Honiton.

At Honiton you can sometimes (if you are lucky) align train and bus times. Some buses (Stagecoach 52B) call direct at Honiton rail station generally at 28 minutes past each hour (during weekday normal daylight hours). It is an easy walk from Honiton Rail Station to Honiton High St where you can pick up the same bus at the Lace Walk stop. Lace Walk is a shopping precinct. The 52B will go direct into Sidmouth via Sidbury and Sidford (not past the festival main campsite).

Walking from Exeter St David's (main rail) to Exeter bus station is a pain (2 miles at a guess and hilly) but you could likely get a local train or a bus from Exeter St David's to Exeter High St (rail) which is much closer to the bus station and walkable. Inter-city trains use (always) Exeter St David's and (sometimes) Exeter High St as well.

If you can get reservations, www.megatrain.com can be very cheap between Exeter or Honiton and London. Same trains as everyone else travels on but they block-buy tickets and sell them cheap for advance travel plans. Just don't miss the appointed train!!

There is no bus from either Exeter or Honiton that takes you directly past the official festival campsite. Service 157 is from Exmouth and 382 from Ottery St Mary (and not very often!)

Referring to the map below: the best bus from either Exeter or Honiton is the 52 (52A, B).

From Exeter you come along the A3052 (top of map, travelling west to east). The bus will turn down Stowford Rise by a large Waitrose store. There is a fast bus from Exeter (X53/X54) but it is a two hourly service and goes directly along the A3052 to Seaton, not into the centre of Sidmouth.

Using the 52 service, you can go into central Sidmouth (the terminus is The Triangle near the seafront) and walk 1.5 miles up to the campsite or get the special festival bus (or a lift!). The walk up can be dangerous - see this link.  Alternatively, to avoid going into central Sidmouth and back out again, you can do a short-cut walk to the campsite using the 52 bus from Exeter by getting off in Woolbrook Road at the Core Hill Road stop and walking up Ice House Lane (about 0.3 miles, narrow but OK except during very wet weather when it can be flooded). You then have only a short distance to walk along the Bulverton Road.

From Honiton you will arrive in Sidford down School St (top of map). Travelling from Honiton on the 52B you can get off at the junction of Arcot Road and Woolbrook Road and walk past LIDL and then up Ice House Lane, but it's a trek.

The only petrol station in Sidmouth is on the Woolbrook Road, near the junction with Manstone Lane. The LIDL store is next door and parking is free for up to 2 hours.

For lots of info about the campsite etc, work forwards and backwards from this page.