Tandem 2025 - UK National Rally

Saturday 24th May to Saturday 31st May 2025

Tanner Farm Touring Caravan and Camping Park
Goudhurst Road
Marden
Kent
TN12 9ND
Peter Weeks2025-04-29 10:38:35tcn2025

The family try-a-tandem will be at Paddock Wood Community Centre, Maidstone Road, Paddock Wood, TN12 6EB on Thursday 29 May, 10:00 - 12:00. Free, just turn up. There will be tandems to borrow and try out and experienced tandem riders on hand to help and give advice.

Phil Harmer2025-05-01 23:06:12tcn2025

The Attendees Event Information webpage is now ready for you all to use.

Neil Wheadon2025-05-11 21:50:02tcn2025

Every route is featured in Rides. The following is an introduction as to what this is truly capable of. To make it easier, I'll split it up. TOP PART. Most is self explanatory, it is from here that you can download the GPX and or TCX files as well as a PDF Route Sheet

Neil Wheadon2025-05-11 22:03:08tcn2025

The second part is the map (and elevation) There is a lot of potential information here. The route is shown in pink. The start point is the Green Tandem Icon. On the map you will see various icons, there are over 50 different catagories. Orange is places to ear, pink is places of interest, purple places to stay, green, cycle related (bike shops) Brown is travel information. If you click on any of these you will get lots of information, a description, URL about it, a picture etc. Therefore the night before you can look at where you are passing close to. On the left are various buttons. +/- zoom in and out. A - This gives an photographic aerial view G - The default mapping is Open Street View, you can look at it on a google map. P - This takes away all the icons, so you can look at the map . S - This is clever. If pressed it brings up all the icon catagories and you can select the ones you are interested in, so if you want a castle, you can select for just this, try it. THE TARGET/DOT. This is really useful whilst on the rally. If you activate this and have Rides on the phone, this dot will show you where you are on the route (and how close you are to that cafe) All these icons have been hand done, there are over 10.000 country wide

Neil Wheadon2025-05-11 22:11:09tcn2025

The bottom part is even cleverer. You can select the places of interest/icons to 4 levels. Within 0.5km is pretty close or on the route. The others are should you be interested in what else is nearby. Personally I select within 2km, the reason is this is a calculation by the website where it takes the co-ordinates of the place of interest and the route and calculates, occasionally it's not quite bang on, so 2km catches everything close to the route. These are tabulated in the order that you pass them on the route (clever isn't it) The blue hyperlinks again tell you all about it. Now below this is a hyperlink Download Place PDF. If you do this, all the places you have selected and the information therein and the map will be available as a PDF. Finally at the bottom is News and Updates. I get alerts for these, so anything you wish to add or amend please tell me here and it will also inform others on the route.

Neil Wheadon2025-05-11 22:15:28tcn2025

Finally Rides has been 4 years in the making. I have added all the events from the past 10 years, as well as over 1000 other rides. These are not 'lines in the sand' but detailed and in many cases published routes. Many council websites have them but are difficult to find. 4 reions now use this to record routes (thankyou) and gradually a huge historical archive is being built up. I spend about 30 minutes every day adding and checking, there is a URL checker, so if a cafe closes and the website closes, I get alerted. Contrbutions/help are always appreciated, it's an amazing resource for Tandem Club members, please use it


Entrance to Tanner Farm Park

Tanner Farm Park pitches

Leeds Castle by Colin Smith

Ightham Mote by Brian Snelson

Approach to Sissinghurst Castle by Len Williams

Scotney Castle and Garden by Calluna51

Kent and East Sussex Railway by BWard 1997

Bewl Water

 

IMPORTANT
Bookings are now CLOSED - the rally team is busy doing final preparations for the rally.
T-shirts can no longer be ordered - we have now placed the order with our suppliers.

Please note that the campsite may make a small charge for off-site people visiting the campsite - we are in discussion about that.

 

The Rally

The National Rally will be based at Tanner Farm Park, around 9 miles east of Tunbridge Wells, midway between the lovely Kent villages of Marden and Goudhurst.

Around Tanners Park Farm

The Weald is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. The name "Weald" is derived from the Old English weald, meaning "forest". Tanner Park Farm sits right in the middle of the Kent Weald.

The area is characterised by woodland, rolling hills, quaint villages, orchards, hop fields and latterly vineyards. Kent is home to a large number of sights and attractions, many of which are within cycling distance of the rally site. There is more than enough to see and do and rally members will have the difficult choice of cycling through the lovely countryside or lingering to take in the sights. You could, of course, stay longer or return in the future. It is such a lovely site. The major ones are listed below:

- Leeds Castle (Activities for children)
- Scotney Castle
- Sissinghurst Castle
- Igtham Mote
- Bedgebury Pinetum (Activities for children)
- Bewl Water (Activities for children)
- Tunbridge Wells
- Rye
- Tenterden
- The Big Cat Sanctuary
- Aylesford Priory
- Pilgrims way
- Belmont House

Rally Site

Tanner Farm Touring Caravan and Camping Park is a peaceful and picturesque 5 star, award winning caravan and camping park set in the glorious Kent countryside. The caravan park is surrounded by woodland, farmland and apple orchards, with many beautiful countryside walks, woodland walks and wonderful dog walks direct from the park. The park layout ensures that you are not crammed in as the 120 pitches are spaciously set within 15 acres of the 36 acre park; even when the site is full it does not feel crowded. The spacious pitches are large enough to accommodate caravans with awnings, motorhomes and all modern style tents while the wide, open green spaces in the middle away from the caravan and tent pitches, allow children of all ages to play safely and have lots of fun without impacting on the haven of peace and quiet.

The Site are block booking the whole site (less the seasonal pitches) for the tandem club so there is more than enough room for all the normal rally attendees and more. On the booking form you will have the opportunity to book the Friday before the rally and the Saturday and Sunday night after the rally if you wish. If you want to spend more time in this beautiful area, you can book nights outside of these 10 days direct with the campsite.  Note that the prices are significantly cheaper outside of the core 10 days.

There are two glamping pods available as an alternative to a tent, you will need to bring your normal camping bedding and cooking equipment but will have some very snug accommodation, see site website for details. They are each intended for 2 people.  2 people are included in the price.

Families Are Especially Welcome

The site is especially suitable for families. It has:

- Under 10’s playground - A spotless enclosed play area which includes a sandpit, slide, swing and baby swing.
- Wooden Adventure Play area

For older children:

- There is a large field for ball games, football , flying kites & throwing frisbees.
- Recreation room -A small room housing a television and football table for the occasional wet day becomes a teenage hub in the evening. Children are encouraged to be responsible for keeping the room tidy and litter free. The room is locked in the evenings around 10pm.

Off Site Accommodation

The site is located deep in the country side so there is little accommodation nearby. If you are happy to travel in from Tunbridge Wells (approximately 12 miles) there is plenty of accommodation:

- Hunny Lodge Bed and Breakfast – 1 mile from site, (3 double rooms)
- Star & Eagle Hotel, Goudhurst
- Goudhurst Inn
- Mercure Tonbridge Wells Hotel

Rides

We are preparing rides for every day of the rally with some extra ones for those who wish to arrive early or leave later. As space in cafes can be limited we offer rides in opposite directions each day in the hope we get an even split of people on the routes but you should still meet other tandemists en-route. On one of the days there will be a Velocio competition.

The rides will be in the usual format of short (roughly 30 miles), medium (roughly 45 miles) and long (anything up to 70 miles).

The rides are generally not led and groups/individuals typically leave between 08:30 and 10:00. We are expecting to have a board in the Marquee so that those who are new to rallies or don’t really know anyone can post their names such that they can ride with established groups or others.

Entertainment

The evening entertainment will follow the normal format with talks, a barbecue, quiz, tandem games and a barn dance,  We will run a bar in the marquee with local ales to enjoy.  We will have a free coffee and cake stop on one of the day's rides.

Wednesday is designated as a rest day but you may take the opportunity to cycle to one of the attractions or sights.  We intend to provide direct or indirect but pleasant cycling routes to some of these.

Rally T-Shirts

T-shirts can no longer be ordered - we have now placed the order with our suppliers. 

 

Mens' T-shirts

Size XXS XS S M L XL XXL 3XL 4XL 5XL
inches 32/34 34/36 36/38 38/40 41/43 43/45 46/47 48/50 51/54 55/58

Ladies' T-shirts

Size XS S M L XL XXL
UK ladies 8 10 12 14 16 18

 

Booking

You need to be members of the Tandem Club or certain overseas organisations to book. See the Terms and Conditions below.

Please use the button below to book for this event.

Preferred payment for UK residents is by on-line credit/debit card payment but the form will present you with other options. 

For people based abroad, you can pay using a card, in pounds or you may pay by bank transfer in euros to our euro denominated account - details will be provided.

If you have a website login account, then please login before using this form as most fields will be filled in for you automatically.

The campsite is a Caravan and Motorhome Club affiliated site, and charges in the same way as the CAMC i.e.there is a charge for the pitch and charges for each person staying on the pitch. We have secured a discount so all people attending benefit from the a CAMC member price reduction.

All pitches have an electric hook-up, except for cycle camping pitches.

We have negotiated a special reduced pitch rate for people who are cycle camping.  These pitches do not include electric hook-ups, but there will be a distribution board in the marquee that will enable charging of gadgets and e-bike batteries.  People who book this pitch type will be located in an area near the marquee; they are not individual marked pitches.

Please only book a cycle camping pitch if you are cycle camping i.e. arriving by bicycle or tandem and camping in a lightweight tent.

Note that we ask that you book at least 7 nights.  We may relax this rule later, but we wish to ensure that people who want to stay the whole rally week can do so.

Need further information?

 

Map

Below is a screenshot of the campsite's location. You can follow this link to the campsite on Google Maps.

 

Event Information

Attendees Event information

Terms and Conditions.
Booking confirmation:
Your booking is not confirmed until payment has been received in full and cleared which should be before the closing date for bookings. Dishonoured cheques will result in the cancellation of your booking.
Members Only:
This event is open to UK or overseas Tandem Club Members or, in the case of overseas people, members of the following organisations: "Tandem Club of America", "Tandem Club de France", "Tandem Club NL (Netherlands)", "Tandem ClubVlaanderen (Belgium)" and "Tandem-fahren.de (Germany)". You can join the Tandem Club using the forms on the TC website. Joining the TC (About 15 UKP per year).

Disclaimer:
If you participate in any ride or event organised by the Tandem Club you do so entirely at your own risk. The Club, its officers and ride organisers accept no responsibility for loss, damage to property, accident, injury or death, that may occur, however caused, whether by negligence, deliberate act or otherwise.

Cancellations and refunds.
The rally fee will not be refunded after the closing date. Refund of other components will depend on what the Club can recover from the campsite and/or other suppliers. Members may wish to consider taking out Holiday Insurance to cover losses the Club cannot refund.

Photographs taken at the event may be published on the Tandem Club Website, The Tandem Club Facebook pages and The Tandem Club Journal