To Our Wonderful Community,
Menhirs Fate Event 3 is just a few weeks away, and we can’t wait to see you all again!
Our crew, fuelled by your enthusiasm, has worked tirelessly to bring you the best Menhirs Fate yet. We’re so excited for you to see the stories, innovations and downright hilarious props the teams have been working on 😀
Menhirs Fate is a story we’ve built together: a growing community of dedication, passion, and imagination. Today, we’re sharing some important news about the future of our beloved game – and how we intend to keep creating amazing experiences together.
Our upcoming MF3 at Bygrave Woods is fast approaching, and unfortunately, it will be the last event we run at this site for the foreseeable future.
With the current size of our event and the ballooning costs associated with maintaining this relatively high-maintenance site, our beginnings have presented a significant financial challenge.
Despite our best efforts, we’ve yet to reach a size that comes close to breaking even. The actual costs of running Menhirs Fate at Bygrave Woods have exceeded our initial forecasts. We’ve done our best to see out the year at Bygrave – giving the event, our crew, and our players the time and space to grow – but those rising costs are now putting the long-term future of Menhirs’ Fate at risk.
To continue running, we must change sites – more on that below.
Despite the cost, we’ve chosen to press ahead with MF3 at Bygrave, once again incurring a significant loss. Why? Because your stories, our crew and the incredible hard work of our community mean too much to us to cancel or compromise the experience. We truly believe in honouring your commitment with our own – even when it’s tough.
We’re doing everything we can to increase ticket numbers and are working on additional promotional and supporter options. If you have friends that are on the fence – kindly help them down and bring them to MF3!
Supporter Pack
We have released a Supporter Pack where you can help the future of Menhirs Fate. As a thank you – the pack contains an Official digital art wallpaper pack, a physical Menhirs Fate thank you token (which you can collect at MF3), and an entry into a Menhirs “Fete” Raffle with prizes to be drawn at MF3.
MF4 at Beautiful Weston Park
We’re thrilled to announce that MF4 will move to the beautiful Weston Park, near Telford.
The grounds of this stately home are vast – it may be hard to believe, but thousands of LARPers can be sequestered far away from both the public and the house itself. Among great trees and open meadows, we believe you’ll feel more immersed than ever before. The site features forests, an ancient quarry, and many other exciting elements for storytelling – with excellent accessibility too. We genuinely love it and believe it offers many improvements over Bygrave Woods.
This location was recommended, tested, and approved by our friends at Curious Pastimes. Thanks to CuPa running events at this site, the Weston Park team understands what LARP is and what to expect. Everything we do at Bygrave, we can do at Weston Park – and likely more, due to fewer licensing and agricultural restrictions.
The layout, licensing, and security at Weston also result in significant cost savings. Based on current attendance, this move will make us far more financially sustainable – reducing cost pressures and protecting your stories and investment in the game long-term.
If we are happy with our first event there, Weston Park has already offered us the opportunity to use the site for all our events next year. We will communicate our intention to stay at the site with you as soon as we can following MF4.
While Weston Park is arguably better connected than our current site, we recognise that it’s about two hours from Bygrave. We know many of you have invested time, effort and cash based on our current location, and we’re truly sorry that we can’t afford to finish the year there.
As a young and developing LARP, it’s possible we may move again in the coming years – but if so, we’ll do our best to provide much more notice.
Your Continued Support
Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Your support at MF3 not only helps continue the story we’ve created together, but also helps secure the future of Menhirs Fate.
Let’s make Bygrave Woods’ final chapter truly unforgettable – and together, open an exciting new page at Weston Park.
With love,
Alex, Chris, Ross, Kitty, Nick and Johnny
Frequently Asked Questions
A: Despite our best efforts, we’ve yet to reach a size that comes close to breaking even. The actual costs of running Menhirs Fate at Bygrave Woods have exceeded our initial forecasts. We’ve done our best to see out the year at Bygrave – giving the event, our crew, and our players the time and space to grow – but those rising costs are now putting the long-term future of Menhirs’ Fate at risk. To continue running, we must change sites
If you bought an MF4 ticket and can no longer make it due to venue change – we offer a full refund – please get in touch.
A: Yes! The site is LARP-tested, and our activities are fully approved. We’ll share a full breakdown soon, but most things you’re used to – including IC/OC vehicle access and the ability to leave site and return, fire use in suitable containers, and overnight camping will continue. This site also allows more general use of glass so “Meads back on the menu!”.
A: Yes – it’s actually an improvement on Bygrave in this regard. With fewer steep hills and more variety in landscape whilst remaining more gentle on incline. There is a tarmac road right up to the entrance of our parking area. Our parking, camping and bathroom area can be right next to our IC area while maintaining immersion for all.
A: We’ve been offered future events at Weston Park already, but if we or the community feel it’s not right, we’ll explore other options with more notice than this move.
A: We’ve had to make tough calls to stay sustainable. Changing site now gives us the best shot at protecting Menhirs Fate long-term. The entire team is behind making this event happen – it’s our shared future – quite literally running out of the capital to run this game is the only way it ends.
That means finding a balance between our player numbers and site costs to find a “Break Even” point. Unlike Bygrave Woods – Weston Park’s reduced cost should bring us much closer to that point with our current numbers but we still need to grow!
A: No, we’re doing everything we can to avoid that. Any changes will be small, if needed, and we’ll communicate them with transparency. As the slightly more expensive larp already – we feel we are asking all we can from our loyal player base at this time.
A: Yes we will continue with our partners Woodville Project to provide amazing giant structures like our guilds Tipis and individual furnished rental tents for players!
A: A significant amount – we are covering around 60% of the costs of running at Bygrave woods with current ticket sales and other revenue. We are investing more into the game not just because we believe in its long term success – but to honour our commitment to you, our players and crew.
A: Right here!. The pack is “pay what you want,” with digital art wallpapers, physical token items, and raffle entries as a thank-you. The raffle tickets will be issued and drawn on site to avoid the need for a gambling license. You can claim your physical item at customer service by showing your supporter pack email.
If you are a crafter and wish to donate raffle prizes or services please get in touch at contact@menhirsfate.com
All proceeds will be reinvested into the game.
A: About two hours by car. It’s near Telford, with good transport links, especially by
Rail. Telford Central is the closest train station at 15 mins drive.
A: Yes we will operate a shuttle from Telford central. £5 return.
A: We’ll do our best to keep nation identities intact while using the new site’s layout to everyone’s advantage. Expect some changes, but nothing drastic. The general hub and spoke layout will be preserved where we have guilds in the centre.
A: Yes – and in many cases, improved ones. We’re in close communication with our volunteers and suppliers to ensure smooth transitions. Toilets, Showers, Water supply and power will be available in much the same way as at Bygrave Woods.
A: Not at all – the people and the story are what make Menhirs Fate. The new site enhances immersion and opens more possibilities, but the tone, spirit and play culture you love will remain.
A: Yes, 100%. The move of location is not an in-character reset. Your stories continue.