Category Archives: Imber bus

Imberbus service

The date is set for Imberbus 2024 !

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We are pleased to announce that this year, we are planning to run the Imberbus service on

Saturday 17th August 2024

when several vintage former London Transport Routemaster buses (plus a few newer ones) will again provide a bus service from Warminster Station to Imber and other isolated locations on the Salisbury Plain between 10am and 6pm.

Once again our event will be a Car Free Day, with the only access to Imber on 17th August being on the buses operating the Imberbus service. These special arrangements successfully eliminated the severe traffic congestion that we experienced around Imber in 2019, but they do mean that there are some restrictions on what you can and cannot do when you get there, details of which will be confirmed during the summer.

IMG_1116-001 (1568 x 1045)The timetable for this year’s service will also be published during the summer and is expected to be very similar to the one used in 2023. Buses will run from Warminster Station to Imber every 15 minutes, with the first bus departing at approximately 9.45am and the last bus returning at around 6pm. Please note that you cannot book in advance to travel on the Imberbus service – just turn up on the day and pay the conductor on the bus, or purchase a ticket from our ticket booth outside Warminster Station on the day.

If you have not travelled on the Imberbus service before and would like to know more about it, please visit our website at www.imberbus.org which contains details about the history of Imber and the background to the service. We have also retained on there, details of the arrangements that applied for Imberbus 2023 plus our popular Frequently Asked Questions page, to give you an idea of what to expect and we will update this information during July and then email you again, once the final arrangements for this year have been confirmed.

Last year the Imberbus service raised more than £35,000, which was donated to various charities including St. Giles Church, the Royal British Legion, The General Artillery Volunteers, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Macmillan Cancer support, Salisbury Hospital Stars Appeal. Wiltshire Air Ambulance, Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust, The Bristol Omnibus Vehicle Collection, The London Transport Museum and various community groups in and around Salisbury Plain. We would obviously like to be able to improve on this figure in 2024 and so we do hope that you will be able to join us in August.

However if you cannot wait until the summer to visit Imber, we understand that St. Giles Church and the road through Imber will be open to everyone over part of the Easter weekend in April (although you will obviously need your own transport to get there on those dates). Further details of those openings are available on the Imber Church website events page , but please remember to check this again shortly before you travel as there is always the chance that access to the road through Imber may have to change at short notice if required for military training.

All Aboard for Imberbus on Saturday !

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Since sending out our last Imberbus email earlier this week, we have had several new subscribers to our mailing list, partly due to some advance press coverage yesterday. We therefore thought that we would send the email out again for their benefit and also share with you the answers to a few of the questions that we have been asked recently (these are highlighted in red).

If this is your first trip to Imber, we also strongly recommend that you read the Imberbus Frequently Asked Questions page on our website, as Imber is probably unlike any other visitor attraction you will have been to before and has very few facilities. In particular, please remember that toilets are in short supply at Imber and there is no internet coverage there, so please bring some cash with you if you intend to board the bus at Sack Hill or in one of the villages, or wish to purchase refreshments or souvenirs at Imber Church.

This year’s Imberbus service will be running this coming Saturday – 19th August 2023 – and there should be more than 30 vehicles in operation, providing departures at least every 15 minutes from Warminster Rail Station, starting at 9.45am. Many journeys will be operated by more than one bus, some of which will be wheelchair accessible, so if you have mobility problems, please email us so that we can tell you what journeys we are planning to use them on.

In addition to the regular service between Warminster and Imber, buses will be serving Chitterne, Tilshead, West Lavington, Market Lavington, Brazen Bottom and New Zealand Farm Camp every 30 minutes during most of the day, and you can board the bus at Tilshead and the Lavingtons instead of Warminster if you wish – just signal clearly to the driver by putting your hand out as the bus approaches.

Full details of what we have planned this year can be found on the “Imber 2023” page of our website (www.imberbus.org), but we would particularly draw your attention to the following arrangements, some of which are different to previous years:

  • August 19th will be a car free day at Imber, so the only vehicles that will allowed on to the military roads will be the Imberbuses themselves.  The original Imber Park & Ride site that we used in 2019 will therefore not be in operation this year, but instead there will be a small amount of additional parking available at Sack Hill which is on the Warminster to Imber Road. Please see the “How to get to Warminster” page of our website for more details of its location. but remember that there are no toilets or other facilities at this site and you will have to pay your bus fare in cash if you park there!
  • If you are able to travel to Warminster by public transport we would ask you to do so as the car parks can get extremely busy. Direct train services to Warminster are available from Cardiff, Newport, Bristol, Bath, Salisbury, Southampton and Portsmouth, plus various town in between, and local buses run from Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge, Westbury, Frome and Salisbury – for further details of these, please see the “How to get to Warminster” page on our website.
  • Imber bus runs like an ordinary bus service. It is not a tour so you cannot book in advance. We usually have 2-3 buses on each departure and so you should not have to wait too long to get on a bus to Imber.
  • This year we have simplified our fare structure so this year there will be just two ticket prices – £10 for adults and £2 for children.  These tickets will allow unlimited travel on service 23A for the whole day.  Please note that you will need to pay for your tickets in cash unless you are boarding at Warminster Station where we will have a booth that can also accept payment by contactless card.
  • If you would like to visit Chitterne before heading to Imber, there will be buses running from the coach layby in Warminster Central Car Park direct to Chitterne at 1035. If you are not sure where that is, click on this link to see the walking route from the train station
  • Our event attracts a lot of people, so if travelling in a crowd concerns you, you may want to delay your visit until after lunch as the buses from Warminster to Imber tend to be less busy in the afternoon.
  • Our buses return from Imber every 15 minutes until 5.45pm. After that there is one last departure at 6.35pm, but that trip can sometimes get delayed so please do not wait for that last journey if you need to catch a train or bus in Warminster before 7.15pm.
Danger2

As Imber is in a military area that is normally closed to the public, facilities there are extremely limited and there are restrictions on where you can wander when you arrive. If you have not attended our event before we would therefore recommend that you read the Imberbus FAQ page on our website which provides important information on where you can and cannot go, where you can get something to eat and also the location of public toilets (which are few and far between on the Salisbury Plain!). 

Please also bear in mind that the Imber plain is a very exposed location with very little shelter or shade except in Imber Church! We therefore strongly advise you to wear sensible footwear, bring plenty of drinks and an umbrella with you, and slap on lots of sunscreen!

IMG_1116-002 (1393 x 1349)

We hope that you will be able to join us on Saturday and if you would like further information about our event, please check out the other pages on our website – www.imberbus.org. We would also be keen to see any photographs that you take on the day – particularly if they would be suitable to replace those currently in use on our publicity or website. Please feel free to get in touch if you think you have any that might fit the bill.

Imberbus is running this Saturday !

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Following on from last month’s email, this is a final reminder that year’s Imberbus service will be running this coming Saturday – 19th August 2023.

This year there should be more than 30 vehicles in operation, providing departures at least every 15 minutes from Warminster Rail Station, starting at 9.45am. Many journeys will be operated by more than one bus, some of which will be wheelchair accessible, so if you have mobility problems, please email us so that we can tell you what journeys we are planning to use them on.

In addition to the regular service between Warminster and Imber, buses will be serving Chitterne, Tilshead, West Lavington, Market Lavington, Brazen Bottom and New Zealand Farm Camp every 30 minutes during most of the day, and you can board the bus at Tilshead and the Lavingtons instead of Warminster if you wish – just signal clearly to the driver by putting your hand out as the bus approaches.

Full details of what we have planned this year can be found on the “Imber 2023” page of our website (www.imberbus.org), but we would particularly draw your attention to the following arrangements, some of which are different to previous years:

  • August 19th will be a car free day at Imber, so the only vehicles that will allowed on to the military roads will be the Imberbuses themselves.  The Imber Park & Ride site that we used in 2019 will therefore not be in operation this year, but instead there will be a small amount of additional parking available at Sack Hill which is on the Warminster to Imber Road. Please see the “How to get to Warminster” page of our website for more details of its location. but remember that there are no toilets or other facilities at this site and you will have to pay your bus fare in cash if you park there!
  • National Express is running a coach direct to Imber from London and Basingstoke for pre-booked passengers, so if you wish to travel on it we would urge you to book now to guarantee a seat (please input your destination as “Imber”).  Direct train services to Warminster are also available from Cardiff, Newport, Bristol, Bath, Salisbury, Southampton and Portsmouth, plus various town in between – for further details, please see the “How to get to Warminster” page on our website.
  • This year we have simplified our fare structure so on Saturday there will be just two ticket prices – £10 for adults and £2 for children.  These tickets will allow unlimited travel on service 23A for the whole day.  Please note that you will need to pay for your tickets in cash unless you are boarding at Warminster Station where we will have a booth that can also accept payment by contactless card.
  • If you would like to visit Chitterne before heading to Imber, there will be buses running from the coach layby in Warminster Central Car Park direct to Chitterne at 1035. If you are not sure where that is, click on this link to see the walking route from the train station
  • Our event attracts a lot of people, so if travelling in a crowd concerns you, you may want to delay your visit until after lunch as the buses from Warminster to Imber tend to be less busy in the afternoon.
Danger2

As Imber is in a military area that is normally closed to the public, facilities there are extremely limited and there are restrictions on where you can wander when you arrive. If you have not attended our event before we would therefore recommend that you read the Imberbus FAQ page on our website which provides important information on where you can and cannot go, where you can get something to eat and also the location of public toilets (which are few and far between on the Salisbury Plain!). 

Please also bear in mind that the Imber plain is a very exposed location with very little shelter or shade except in Imber Church! We therefore strongly advise you to wear sensible footwear, bring plenty of drinks and an umbrella with you, and slap on lots of sunscreen!

IMG_1116-002 (1393 x 1349)

We hope that you will be able to join us on Saturday and if you would like further information about our event, please check out the other pages on our website – www.imberbus.org. We would also be keen to see any photographs that you take on the day – particularly if they would be suitable to replace those currently in use on our publicity or website. Please feel free to get in touch if you think you have any that might fit the bill.

Imberbus is running next month !

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This year, the Imberbus service to the lost village of Imber will be running on Saturday 19th August and it is already promising to be a popular event with the only access to Imber being on one of our buses.

We have approximately 30 old and new Routemaster buses lined up to provide this year’s service which will run every 15 minutes from Warminster Station to Imber from 9.45am onwards. However, to add a bit of variety, this year there will also be a few “guest” vehicles that have probably never operated anywhere near the Capital! 

As in previous years, when the buses arrive at Imber, some buses will then carry on to our interchange point at Gore Cross, from where they will continue twice an hour throughout the day either to Tilshead and Chitterne, New Zealand Farm Camp or Brazen Bottom and Market Lavington.

In addition to the 16th century St.Giles’ Church at Imber that will be open that weekend, there will again be the opportunity for our passengers to visit the Market Lavington Museum, which is located in the Old School House along side Market Lavington Church and is opening specially for our event.  In addition to exhibiting local artefacts, the museum will also be serving cream teas which have proved to be a popular attraction in previous years. Light refreshments will also be available at Imber Church, at Casper’s Cafe at Warminster Station and in the village halls in both Tilshead and Chitterne.

Further details about this year’s Imberbus event can now be found on our website at www.imberbus.org, including maps, timetables, fares and details of how to get to Warminster Station and where to park if travelling by car. If this is your first visit to Imber, we strongly recommend that you take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions page, which provides important information on where you can and cannot go, where you can get something to eat and also the location of public toilets (which are few and far between on the Salisbury Plain!).

IMPORTANT – If you are planning on bringing a group of people to Warminster in a bus or coach, please contact us immediately as there are very few coach parking facilities available in Warminster and we may be able to help you publicise your trip!

We look forward to seeing you all on 19th August.

The date is set for Imberbus 2023 !

Posted on by

We are pleased to announce that this year, we are planning to run the Imberbus service on

Saturday 19th August 2023

when several vintage former London Transport Routemaster buses (plus a few newer ones) will again provide a bus service from Warminster Station to Imber and other isolated locations on the Salisbury Plain between 10am and 6pm.

Once again our event will be a Car Free Day, with the only access to Imber on 19th August being on the buses operating the Imberbus service. These special arrangements successfully eliminated the severe traffic congestion that we experienced around Imber in 2019, but they do mean that there are some restrictions on what you can and cannot do when you get there, details of which will be confirmed during the summer.

IMG_1116-001 (1568 x 1045)The timetable for this year’s service will also be published during the summer and is expected to be very similar to the one used in 2022. Buses will run from Warminster Station to Imber every 15 minutes, with the first bus departing at approximately 9.45am and the last bus returning at around 6pm. Please note that you cannot book in advance to travel on the Imberbus service – just turn up and pay the conductor on the bus, or purchase a ticket from our ticket booth outside Warminster Station on the day.

If you have not travelled on the Imberbus service before and would like to know more about it, please visit our website at www.imberbus.org which contains details about the history of Imber and the background to the service. We have also retained on there, details of the arrangements that applied for Imberbus 2022 plus our popular Frequently Asked Questions page, to give you an idea of what to expect and we will update this information during July, once the final arrangements for this year have been confirmed.

Last year the Imberbus service raised more than £16,000, which was donated to St. Giles Church, the Royal British Legion, Guide Dogs for the Blind, The Garrison Artillery Volunteers, Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust, The London Transport Museum and the Wiltshire Centre for Independent Living. We would obviously like to be able to improve on this figure in 2023 and so we do hope that you will be able to join us in August.

However if you cannot wait until the summer to visit Imber, we understand that St. Giles Church and the road through Imber may be open to everyone over part of the Easter weekend in April (although you will obviously need your own transport to get there on those dates). Further details of those openings are expected to be published on the Imber Church website events page in a few weeks time, but please remember to check this again shortly before you travel as there is always the chance that access to the road through Imber may have to change at short notice if required for military training.