Saturday's £10 early bird has gone, Sunday's has not. The dog festival runs 10am to 4pm both days, and drivers must use a gate other than the advertised one.
Towcester Racecourse gives itself over to dogs this weekend. The Big Bark runs from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September, and the two days are now priced differently. The organiser’s own ticket page showed the Saturday early bird adult ticket as expired when we read it on Tuesday 2 September. The Sunday one, at £10 plus a 40p booking fee, was still on sale.
That is a £2 gap on the £12 standard adult ticket, and it only applies to the Sunday.
The festival is run by Canine Events Ltd and sells through Fixr, the agent linked from the organiser’s own venue page. Towcester Racecourse is about nine miles south west of Northampton.
What a ticket costs
Prices below are the advance prices listed by the organiser’s ticket agent on 2 September. The booking fee is charged on top of each one.
| Ticket | Price | Booking fee |
|---|---|---|
| Adult, 17 and over | £12.00 | £0.50 |
| Early bird adult, Sunday only | £10.00 | £0.40 |
| Child, 6 to 16 | £4.00 | £0.30 |
| Child, 5 and under | Free | None |
| Family, 2 adults and 2 children | £26.00 | £1.10 |
| Adult with disabilities plus carer | £10.00 | £0.40 |
| Activity tokens, 3 goes | £4.00 | £0.30 |
| Activity tokens, 5 goes | £6.50 | £0.30 |
Under-fives go free but still need a ticket issued in their name. A family ticket covers two adults and two children aged 6 to 16, so it saves £6 against buying the four separately.
The entry ticket covers parking, the main arena displays, the entertainment and the obstacle course. The have-a-go activities are not included. Those are paid for with tokens, either bought online in advance or on the gate, and the agent’s own description lists agility, hoopers, flyball and scurry among them.
Drivers need a different gate
This is the detail worth reading twice. The event address published almost everywhere is Towcester Racecourse, London Road, NN12 6LB. The organiser’s how to get there page says something else for anyone arriving by car.
- By car: use the rear Heathencote entrance on Shutlanger Road, NN12 7LD
- On foot or by bike: use the front gate on London Road, NN12 6LB
- Parking: free on site, with priority spaces for accessible visitors
- By bus: the nearest stop is Towcester Race Course, about a five minute walk, served by the 88 and X91
- By train: there is no station at Towcester, and the organiser suggests a taxi from Northampton or Milton Keynes Central
We could not confirm Sunday running on the 88 or the X91 from Stagecoach’s own timetable pages today, because they do not render their day headings to a plain request. Check the operator before relying on a bus on the Sunday.
The rules on dogs
The organiser’s general information page sets the conditions for bringing a dog:
- every dog on a lead at all times, and no retractable leads
- no female dogs in season
- vaccinations up to date
- a collar with the owner’s name and address, which the page notes is a legal requirement
- XL Bully dogs are welcome only with a Certificate of Exemption, muzzled and on a lead throughout
- nervous or fearful dogs should be left at home
Canine first aiders are on site at every show. The separate FAQ page recommends a maximum of four dogs per adult, and says dogs must not be left in vehicles under any circumstances.
One warning about the organiser’s own FAQ
The FAQ page has not been updated for this venue. Asked “where is the event”, it answers “Lydiard Park, Swindon”, and it gives driving directions to junction 16 of the M4, Swindon bus routes and Lydiard Park’s pay and display car parks. It also prices have-a-go activities at £1.50 a go, where the current ticket page sells them in bundles of three and five.
Read the Towcester pages and the ticket page, not the FAQ. The one FAQ answer worth knowing is the refund rule, which says tickets are refundable up to seven days before the event. For this weekend that window closed on 29 August.
What it means for you
If you are going on the Sunday, buy now rather than at the gate: the £10 early bird was still listed on Tuesday and the equivalent Saturday ticket has already gone. If you are going on the Saturday, the adult price is £12.
Set the satnav to NN12 7LD, not NN12 6LB, unless you are walking in. Take cash as well as a card for the token stalls, keep the lead short and non-retractable, and expect to be on grass all day.
Towcester’s own recycling centre, on Norton Road, is one of six in the district now collecting baby items for charity if you are already making the trip. For everything else going on locally, see our things to do in Northampton page, and check Northampton roadworks and travel before you set off on the A43.
Have your say