The Cheshire show season runs from midsummer through to early autumn, and van hire for a country show is a very particular kind of job. Exhibitors and traders are working to a fixed build up window, a marked out plot, ground that may or may not have dried out and a gate time that does not move. Anyone arranging van hire in Warrington for a show weekend is dealing with three separate movements, which are the build up, the show itself and the break down, and each of them asks something different of the vehicle.
Understanding The Build Up Window Before You Book
Almost every show issues a build up schedule with vehicle access times, and almost every first time exhibitor reads it too late. Access to the showground for vehicles is frequently restricted to the day before and to a set window on the morning itself, after which vehicles must be off the field entirely. That single constraint shapes your hire more than the size of your stand does. If vehicles must be clear by half past eight, you need to be unloaded by eight, which means arriving by seven, which means loading the van the previous evening. Working backwards from the gate time is the whole planning exercise.
Choosing Between An Open Bed And A Panel Van
Stand kit divides neatly into things that must stay dry and things that are far easier to load over a side. Gazebo frames, staging, hurdles, timber, straw bales and display fencing all favour an open body, and a flatbed dropside van lets several people load from three sides at once rather than queueing at a rear door. Stock, signage, fabric and anything electrical wants a roof, and a short wheelbase medium roof van is easier to place on a tight plot than something longer. Traders with a lot of both often hire one of each across the weekend.
Ground Conditions And Getting Off The Field
A showground is a field, and a field after a wet week is a completely different proposition to the same field in a dry August. Two rules cover most of it. Keep moving, because a heavy van that stops on soft ground often will not start again, and reverse onto your plot so that you are always pointing towards the exit. Avoid following the ruts left by the vehicle in front, since those are exactly where the surface has already broken. If the ground is genuinely marginal, unload to the plot edge and barrow the last stretch rather than driving on and hoping.
Loading For A Plot Rather Than A Doorway
Unloading at a show is unusual in that you have space around the vehicle but very little time. That favours loading in build order, with the gazebo or marquee frame at the rear doors because nothing else happens until it is up, then flooring and staging, then stock last. Group each section together and label the boxes on the top rather than the side, because they will be stacked on grass and read from above. Keep a small toolkit somewhere you can reach without unloading anything, since something always needs a spanner within the first ten minutes.
Travelling In From Stretton And Hatton
Many of the shows in this part of Cheshire sit on rural sites reached by a single lane with passing places, and the approach becomes a queue on the morning of the build up. Exhibitors coming through Stretton van hire country and out past Hatton van hire territory know how tight those lanes get with a wide vehicle. Fold the mirrors in your head before you set off, allow far more time than the mileage suggests, and remember that meeting a horsebox on a bend in a long wheelbase van is a slow and undignified business for everyone involved.
Getting Out Of Town Centre Traffic Early
The other half of the journey is the built up half. Our depot sits at the main entrance to Cockhedge Shopping Centre next to Asda, which is easy to reach and busy from mid morning onwards. Collecting at 8am when we open, rather than at eleven, gets you out of the town centre before the shopping traffic builds and gives you the whole day to load properly. Our notes on driving a hire van around Cockhedge cover the local detail if you have not driven a larger vehicle through the centre before.
Break Down And The Return Journey
Break down is where tired people damage things, and it is worth agreeing in advance who is loading and in what order. Everything comes back dirtier, wetter and more awkward than it went out, so allow more space on the return than you needed on the way in. Sheet and net anything on an open bed without exception, because straw, banners and empty boxes will leave the vehicle at the first roundabout otherwise. Our depot is open Monday to Saturday from 8am until 4pm and closed on Sunday, so a Sunday show means a Monday return, which is generally welcome after a long weekend. If you want to talk through the fleet first, our about us page explains how we work.
Send us your build up times, your plot size and a rough kit list and we will tell you what will get you on and off the field cleanly. Call us on 01925 396 222 to check the show weekend.
