Following a festival celebrating plant-based foods, which chose this 400-year old stately home that is known for hosting hunting and fish parties as its location, there has been a vegan row.
The seventh Annual Vegan Camp Out Organisers have been charged with being hypocrites and not real vegans over the choice of their hosts. They are taking legal action against ‘lies’ spread by anti-vegan trolls.
Famous vegans will make appearances at this year’s event, including JME (stylist), Heather Mills (model), Bimini Bonboulash (drag queen) and Simon Amstell (comedian). There will also be yoga and exercise areas, along with dozens of vegan food stalls.
But fury was sparked when the venue for the £70-a-head fest, expected to attract 15,000 revellers, was announced as the Grade I listed Stanford Hall in Leicestershire.
Until very recently, the historic site allowed hunting on its ground and in 2020 was home to a shoot organised for the Rungapore syndicate, and previously hosted meets of the local Pytchley fox hounds.
Stanford Fisheries also calls it home, which aims at supplying English-bred high quality carp.
The ban on hunting in the area’s beauty spot was recently lifted, but the organization has faced backlash from religious puritans for the “non-vegan” activities which were previously held at the location.
Fury was sparked when this year’s venue for the £70-a-head Vegan Camp Out, expected to attract 15,000 revellers, was announced as the Grade I listed Stanford Hall in Leicestershire (pictured)
The event will be held over four days and feature celebrity vegans like JME, Heather Mills, Bimini Bon Boulash, comedian Simon Amstell and grime artist JME. There will also be yoga, fitness, and a variety of food vendors.
The seventh Vegan Camp Out organizers (last year’s edition is pictured) have taken legal action against ‘anti-vegan trolling’ who they called ‘hypocrites and not real vegans.
Stanford Hall has been banned from hunting, but organizers are facing backlash by puritans for the non-vegan activities which were held previously at Stanford Hall. (Photo: Revellers from a past Camp Out.
Tim Bonner is the Chief of Countryside Alliance and branded the organisers “staggeringly Hypocritical” for profiting off the event, which was being held at a site that he described as’steeped in hunting/shooting history.
No evidence suggests that Bonner may be the target of legal action.
The reason the organizers were suing critics was unclear. MailOnline reached out to them for clarification.
This follows a call on social media for a boycott of four-day festival for supporting murder.
On Twitter, one said that Stanford Hall is a shooting property and therefore vegans should not support it.
Another stated that Veganism which turns a blind eye towards bloodsports was not veganism. A third simply said, ‘Why would vegans back murder?’
The organizers stated that they don’t believe there’s a “large vegan venue” and that almost all the events will be held in venues that are home to activities that harm animals.
“We all know this isn’t ideal, but we accept it’s the reality in the world that we live in,” they wrote ‘… the vast majority vegans would agree that it would be absurd to suggest someone wasn’t vegan just for going to these events – including weddings, concert, festivals of music, cinemas and other such things.
According to the statement, “It’s only in the past few weeks that people took and distorted the fact that our venue isn’t Vegan and used it against us to discredit Vegan Camp Out. They made up all sorts of lies about us and conspiracies about us…
Organisers stated in a statement (pictured), that there is no large vegan venue and almost all events take place at places that are prone to animal cruelty.
“Including anti-vegan trolling groups that have been pushing this (attempt to) try to cause division within the vegan movement. Unfortunately, some people have fallen for it.”
This group stated that it would be taking legal action against people who had made “these terrible allegations”, and added that “no one should believe lies against themselves.”
Stanford Hall can be found in 700-acres of wooded and manicured parks.
Crops are grown on the grounds by Lucy Stanford and Nick Fothergill (ex-Royal marine)
Vegan Camp Out is sponsored by Viva!, a vegan charity which opposes factory farming. It describes it as an intensive form of animal cultivation that prioritizes profit over all else.
After it emerged that the Newark and Nottinghamshire Agricultural Society had signed a 3-year contract in order to host the Vegan Bash at Newark Showground, Nottingham, the Society was subject to backlash.
Users on social media criticized Vegan Camp Out for choosing the wrong venue and called them hypocrites for their past associations with hunting.
Both the society and the showground serve to support British agriculture. Some vegans took offense at the fact that their tickets money went directly into the meat and dairy industry.
A festival which was opposed to slaughter and agriculture was also being held by the society, complained farmers.
In 2018 one of the speakers was Ronnie Lee, the founder of the Animal Liberation Front, who previously spent 10 years in prison after being convicted of conspiracy to damage property in 1986.
According to the Vegan Camp Out statement, “Some people were unhappy when we visited Newark Showground because it was owned by an agriculture society.”
“We told people there were three types of outdoor spaces that could be used for festivals: 1. Farmland 2. 2. Agricultural land and 3. Estates, which allow non-vegan activities such as shooting or fishing.
“The overwhelming feedback that we received voted to us move to the final option because unlike the other two, it did not put any money in the hands of animal farmers. Animal agriculture could also no longer fund animal abuse.