The Village Screen – pop up cinema less than an hour away from Manchester
If you’ve been following my Instagram stories and posts recently, you may have seen that I was recently invited to a pop up cinema event in a rather unique venue.
The Village Screen, promises a pop up movie event that brings more than just a big screen, and with the chance to see a movie inside a cave, I can’t deny that I was more than a little intrigued to see what it was all about.
So, we made our way over to the beautiful Peak district National Park, which is just an hour’s drive from Manchester, to catch a Sunday night showing. We chose to see the recent Oscar-winning movie Dune, firstly because I’ve only seen it once and really enjoyed it, and secondly because I though it would be pretty atmospheric inside a cave (I was hedging my bets on some amazing acoustics!).
Disclaimer: Although I visited The Village Screen at Peak Cavern as part of a PR trip, all opinions expressed in this blog are unbiased and 100% my own.
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Where is Peak Cavern?
Peak Cavern, also known playfully as ‘The Devil’s Arse’ by the locals, can be found in the picturesque Peak District town of Castleton. Fun fact – you can actually book a tour of The Devil’s Arse, I actually went on that a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it!
Castleton is best reached by car (or bicycle if you’ve got the legs to cope with the hills), as it’s not especially well connected by public transport. It’s about an hour’s drive from Manchester, and there is plenty of parking available.
In fact if you’re planning a trip to The Village Screen, it’s well worth extending your time in Castelton and enjoying the town. I’d definitely recommend camping nearby if you have the time and exploring more of the Peak District, as it really is a great place for a staycation. In fact, Castleton is included in my North West mini break guide here.
What is The Village Screen?
Before I get into my own experience of watching Dune at Peak Cavern, I should probably tell you a little bit more about exactly what The Village Screen is!
If you’ve ever been to an outdoor cinema screening or maybe even a drive in movie, that’s part of what The Village Screen is all about. However, what makes The Village Screen’s pop up cinema experience stand out, is their unique combination of classic movies, totally unique venues and some extra entertainment and street food thrown in for good measure. The Village Screen turns movie night into a whole event!
What movies are on at the Village Screen’s pop up cinema at Peak Cavern this summer?
The Village Screen regularly adds new pop up cinema showings for Peak Cavern and a number of other unique venues throughout the year. You can always find out what’s on here.
There are a few final dates upcoming for June 2022 at the Peak Cavern pop up cinema. Showings include real classic movies such as Jurassic Park, West Side Story, and one of my personal favourites, Indiana Jones.
After that, The Village Screen will be taking a break from Peak Cavern until Halloween, but it’s well worth following @thevillagescreen over in Instagram too to keep an eye out for extra dates, venues and events that are being added.
What is it like to go and see a movie at Peak Cavern in the Peak District?
From start to finish, I have to say that The Village Screen’s pop up cinema night at Peak Carvern was really well organised. There were plenty of team members on hand, and they were all super friendly and explained how everything worked, which was really helpful.
We drove to Castleton and parked at the Castleton Visitor Centre car park, which has plenty of spaces, and then walked over to Peak Cavern. The Cavern was well signposted with some very on-brand handmade signs, featuring Dune movie quotes, which definitely added to the fun theming of the night!
When we reached the bottom of the path leading up to Peak Cavern, there was a little sign-in tent/gazebo set up where you show your pre-booked tickets. One you’ve been checked in you get a wristband that allows you to move freely between the Cavern, where the film is shown, and the nearby car park where the additional entertainment, and most importantly, the street food, awaits.
You also have the option to add extras to your booking either beforehand, or on the day, such as blankets, pillows, hot water bottles and cinema snacks. We were kindly gifted a ‘Super Sunggle Package’, which included all of the above. I’d definitely recommend adding one to your ticket as, unsurprisingly, the cave got a little chilly once the sun had set! You could, of course, bring your own blankets too.
After we’d shown our tickets and bundled together all our blankets and snacks, we headed over to the Cavern to pitch up on some chairs. There isn’t assigned seating at The Village Screen, so I’d recommend getting there early to get first pick. The event opened at 6pm, with the movie beginning at 8pm, and I think it’s well worth arriving at the opening time to make the most of the pre-event food and entertainment too.
Street food at The Village Screen’s pop up cinema events at Peak Cavern
As you can probably tell from the smile on my face, as I hold my pot of Bhaji Shop goodness close, the street food on offer at The Village Screen at Peak Cavern definitely delivered.
We were given two tokens that could be exchanged for an item from any of the vendors on site (this is another option you can choose to pre-book), so we decided to sample one thing from each of the hot food stands.
First up was The Bhaji Shop, who have perfected the art of good Indian street food. The menu only had a few options, but still offered plenty of flavour. We shared a kebab pot, which is a flatbread filled with masala rice, cucumber salad, raita and mango chutney. You get a choice of toppings to go on top of that; tomato and coconut chicken, veggie samosas or onion bhajis. We got a mixture of the three to try and it all went together beautifully.
My only warning would be that this is not a food that is easy to share! Be prepared with napkins…
Round two of pre-cinema fuel came from New York’shire Pizza Co. This was simple stonebaked pizza done well, and made fresh to order. There was a short wait (about 10-15 mins) for the pizza to be made, but it was totally worth it.
We went for an ‘Ay Up Mega Meaty’, but there was about 10 different toppings on offer including veggie, vegan and gluten free options.
This was much easier to share in case you were wondering.
Last, but not least, if you’d managed to save room for dessert (it’s a different stomach, right?!), The Little Fuji Bakery was on site providing the sweet treats.
The Little Fuji Bakery offers homemade Asian Fusion baked goodness, and had a great variety of cakes, cookies and more on offer. I was really impressed with the range of vegan and gluten free options here too!
Watching a film inside a cave – Dune in the Devil’s Arse!
So, onto the main event, watching Dune inside Peak Cavern!
As I mentioned earlier, I was really interested to see how the atmosphere of the cave would complement the movie. Dune has a fantastic musical score, and some breathtaking cinematography, and I have to say that both elements were really well enhanced in the setting of Peak Cavern.
I loved the way that some of the deep, dark and echoing sounds carried through the cave opening – truly epic viewing!
The Village Screen also had us covered when it came to ordering drinks and additional snacks (Dune is a long movie, ok!). On the back of the seats in front of us were some printed QR codes which allowed us to order drinks directly from the bar, which would then be brought to our seats. This meant that we didn’t need to get up during the movie or miss anything on-screen.
In fact the only slight negative I can think of from watching the movie was that after a while the seats did start to get a little uncomfortable. This is to be expected though, as you can hardly expect sofas to have been set up inside a cave! With this in mind, cushions are a must!
Final thoughts on The Village Screen pop up cinema at Peak Cavern
As you can probably tell by now, we really enjoyed out trip to The Village Screen showing of Dune at Peak Cavern. This was my first experience of a pop up cinema screening that felt so much like a mini event or film festival in itself, and I have to say I’d definitely do it again.
I was really impressed with how well organised the event was. Everything went off without a hitch, and all of the team members I interacted with were super helpful and enthusiastic – even down to refilling my hot water bottle right before the start of the movie.
The screenings would make for a perfect date night, catch up with a mate night, or just a general get together!
How to book tickets for The Village Screen pop up cinema
Booking a pop up cinema night with The Village Screen is easy, simply head over to their website and pick from their upcoming events here.
You can follow The Village Screen on Instagram to be the first to hear about new dates and events too!
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