Field of Dreams is an independently owned and organised aircooled VW show held at Escrick Park Estate, just outside York. I started it in 2013 because I wanted to create the sort of VW weekend I loved: relaxed, friendly, full of character and centred on the vehicles and people that make the aircooled scene so special.
Aircooled through and through
When I created Field of Dreams, I made the decision that it would be an aircooled-only show. At the time, that was unusual. Most VW events brought aircooled and watercooled vehicles together, but I wanted to give the older Volkswagens a show where they were not pushed to the edges or treated as one part of something much broader.
The reaction was fierce. I received angry—and at times downright nasty—messages from some watercooled owners, and the decision was attacked on VW forums. But I was not going to give in. Aircooled Volkswagens were where my heart was then, just as they are today.
That does not mean people with watercooled or non-VW vehicles are unwelcome. Everyone is welcome at Field of Dreams, and general camping allows friends, families and clubs with a mixture of vehicles to enjoy the weekend together. The show arena and aircooled camping remain dedicated to aircooled Volkswagens because that identity is at the heart of the event.
Field of Dreams is about celebrating where the VW scene began and keeping the old-school show atmosphere alive.
More than rows of vehicles
The Volkswagens are the reason we are there, but the people create the atmosphere. Field of Dreams has grown into its own little village for the weekend. Friends catch up, new friendships begin, children ride their bikes around the site and people settle in rather than rushing from one attraction to another.
I want it to feel like the VW shows many of us remember: camping beside your vehicle, chatting to the person in the next pitch, rummaging through autojumble and finding something you did not know you needed. There are VW specialists, independent traders, makers and various autojumblers, with familiar faces such as Big T’s Dubshack becoming part of the wider Field of Dreams community over the years.
There is live music and evening entertainment, but Field of Dreams is not trying to become a music festival with a few Volkswagens added around the edges. The cars, the people and the aircooled community always come first.
A weekend for the whole family
Field of Dreams is deliberately family-friendly. Children need to enjoy the weekend too, so there are activities for them as well as the freedom to play, explore and make friends. If the children are happy, their parents can relax and enjoy the show—and those children may become the next generation keeping these vehicles on the road.
Saturday includes aircooled club displays, the commercial vehicle line-up, daytime entertainment and our fancy-dress evening. It is fun, deliberately a little silly and one of those parts of the weekend that brings everyone together.
Sunday Show & Shine
The Sunday Show & Shine is the most important part of Field of Dreams for me. It is not simply about the most expensive restoration or the shiniest paint. It is a celebration of aircooled Volkswagens in all their forms: beautifully restored cars, modified builds, campers that have travelled thousands of miles, daily drivers and vehicles whose owners have poured years of work and personality into them.
Judging has involved people from within the aircooled community, including Classic Volks, JLC Autos and Magpie Aircooled. They understand the vehicles, the work involved and the stories behind them. Those stories matter just as much as the trophies.
People travel a long way to join us
Visitors come from across the UK and Europe. In 2024, two visitors from the United States told me they had travelled to the UK specifically for Field of Dreams. That was quite difficult to take in. What began as my idea for a proper aircooled weekend in a field near York had become somewhere people were willing to cross the Atlantic to experience.
I never want growth for the sake of it. Staying independent allows me to protect what makes the show special. I want Field of Dreams to remain small enough to feel personal, while still bringing together an incredible variety of vehicles and people.
Independently owned and organised
Field of Dreams is my event. I created it in 2013 and I organise it independently throughout the year. A brilliant crew, volunteers, traders, entertainers and friends help make the weekend happen, and I could not physically run the show without them, but its direction and identity remain mine.
Organising an event like this is an enormous amount of work. Much of it happens quietly for months before anyone drives through the gate: licences, contractors, toilets, security, first aid, entertainment, traders, camping layouts, paperwork and hundreds of small decisions. Then the gates open, the field fills with aircooled Volkswagens and familiar faces, and it becomes worth it.
So, what is Field of Dreams?
It is an aircooled VW show, but it is also a weekend community. It is old friends, first-time visitors, children riding their bikes, music from the marquee, the smell of breakfast drifting across the campsite and people swapping stories beside vehicles they have built, restored, driven and loved.
It is not trying to be the biggest, loudest or most polished VW event. It is proudly independent, proudly aircooled and determined to keep the friendly, old-school atmosphere that inspired it in the first place.
Most of all, it is a field full of the vehicles and people I love—and I hope that when you arrive, it feels a little bit like coming home.