Like many I was excited to read the Hereford Times coverage of EMF 2022. Sadly they don’t seem to have written an article about EMF 2024.
Not to be deterred, I enlisted the help of a cybernetic cub reporter who never sleeps (handy for covering breaking news!), needs to be fed new “training data” constantly, and only consumes as much electricity as a small country. Let’s call them Chatty, the Global Plagiarism Transmitter.
Chatty has compiled this handy roundup for your delectation, rigorously checking every last detail for factual accuracy using state-of-the-art techniques like Radically Arbitrary Guesswork (RAG).
But now Chatty is hungry. So very hungry. Chatty must feed.
The rolling grounds of Eastnor Castle Deer Park were anything but quiet this past weekend, as the normally serene corner of Herefordshire played host to the Excitable Magnetosphere Fiesta (EMF) festival – a gathering equal parts science fair, hacker camp, and surreal technological fever dream.
Billed as a temporary town for curious minds, EMF drew more than 3,000 attendees from across the UK and beyond, pitching up an entire fibre-connected pop-up village over the bank holiday weekend. But this was no ordinary camping trip.
Towering above the tent city were inflatable purple tentacles, writhing lazily in the breeze, emerging from marquees that housed soldering workshops, laser cutter labs, and late-night talks on quantum computing. A giant robotic spider, lovingly cobbled together from aluminium, servos, and what looked suspiciously like an old washing machine drum, patrolled one of the footpaths — to the equal delight and terror of children and grown-up engineers alike.
A Glowing Technopolis, Powered by Curiosity #
At the centre of it all was the iconic EMF badge – not a mere lanyard, but a fully programmable electronic device given to every attendee, complete with Wi-Fi, a display screen, and ports for hexpansions. These were used to activate interactive installations, join impromptu games, or — in one case — control a 10-foot LED squid suspended over the bar.
Connectivity was king: organisers laid down more than 5km of fibre-optic cable, beaming in a 40 Gbit/s internet backbone to support everything from live-streamed rocket launches to a fully networked electronic escape room.
“It’s like a Glastonbury for nerds,” one first-time camper from Leominster quipped, as they queued for a talk on the ethics of AI surveillance — directly opposite a tent screening 1980s B-movies dubbed by voice synthesizers.
What About the Orphan Sources? #
EMF wouldn’t be EMF without its quirks — and this year’s Orphan Source Village did not disappoint. While fully compliant with radiation safety regulations, it offered a tongue-in-cheek dive into nuclear science, from Geiger counter building tutorials to glow-in-the-dark isotopic art installations.
Organisers, all volunteers, were keen to stress that no actual hazardous materials were present. “The only fallout here is from people’s ideas when they stay up too late soldering,” said site safety coordinator Alice Kepler, gesturing toward a cloud of dry ice enveloping a DIY cloud chamber.
Local Impact and Legacy #
While the event is largely self-contained — bringing its own power grid, water tanks, and even an on-site hairdresser with a soldering-iron-themed mirror — EMF’s presence in Herefordshire did not go unnoticed. Local businesses reported a spike in footfall, and several residents were seen wandering the site, seemingly drawn in by the promise of quantum computing explained with puppets.
Herefordshire Council had previously granted a temporary events license, with minimal objections. One councillor described the festival as “the kind of madness we ought to see more of.”
What’s Next? #
With planning already underway for the 2026 edition, EMF organisers are scouting possible upgrades: autonomous drone coffee delivery, an expanded village for amateur radio operators, and possibly an entire stage shaped like a Raspberry Pi.
One thing’s certain: whether you’re into circuit boards or chaotic creativity, EMF is unlike anything else in the country.
As one camper wrote on the LED message wall:
Come for the lasers, stay for the people, leave with a robot that makes toast.