Events in
The Cotswolds.

Two Bavarian evenings at Dunkertons' cider taproom east of Cheltenham — Thursday 1 and Friday 2 October. 18+ with ID.

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A beer festival inside Cirencester's parish church, run by the Round Table across a Friday evening and all day Saturday.

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A tractor jumble and spares day on a farm between Burford and Witney — vintage machinery parts, tools and agricultural salvage.

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Chamber music in Tetbury's parish church and barn venues — one opening concert on Saturday 26 September, then Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 October, drawing leading international players to a small-town setting.

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Three days of 100+ artisan food and craft stalls along Milsom Street — Bath's free autumn street-food and independent-market weekend, with live music and street theatre.

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The autumn edition of the farm park's sponsored fun rides — two mornings of jumps and open ground for riders bringing their own horses.

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A large dog festival in Blenheim's parkland — fun dog show, agility, have-a-go rings, expert talks and a big trade village.

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Two days at Prescott Hill Climb celebrating engineering — a joint Bugatti Owners' Club and Bugatti Trust festival.

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One of the oldest hiring fairs in the country returns to Cirencester's Market Place — a full day of rides, sideshows and lights running from noon until 10pm.

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A day in FarmED's heritage orchard for its tenth year — more than a hundred apple varieties, identification talks and cider-making.

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One of the oldest and largest street fairs in the west of England fills Tewkesbury's streets for two days each October.

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Cogges' historic barns turned into a Bavarian bierkeller for an afternoon and evening — steins, bratwurst, giant pretzels, Morris dancers and German bands.

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New artwork shown alongside archaeology from Salmonsbury Camp, the Iron Age site on the edge of Bourton-on-the-Water.

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Nine days of Cotswold makers showing and selling in Westonbirt's Great Oak Hall, as the arboretum turns.

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Harvest weekend at England's oldest Dutch water garden, among historic orchard varieties you won't find anywhere else.

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A brand-new three-day theatre festival at Lansdown Hall and the Cotswold Playhouse — a Beckett, a Sherlock, a Pinocchio and Niamh Cusack in conversation.

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An intensive timetable of steam and diesel, passenger and freight, over the full length of the escarpment line.

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A two-morning sponsored fun ride across the Bathurst Estate — riders bring their own horses.

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Yarn makers, spinners and dyers fill Tetbury's old goods shed, with a talk on the Cotswold Lion — the sheep that built the town.

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The second of Cirencester's two charter fairs, a week after the main Mop — historically the day to change your mind about your hiring.

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The autumn edition of the centuries-old gypsy and traveller horse fair at Stow-on-the-Wold — a week earlier than usual in 2026, on Thursday 15 October.

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A costumed medieval banquet in Evesham's historic church, tied to the town's Simon de Montfort heritage — the 2026 sitting is sold out.

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A significant English folk name at Tetbury Goods Shed — Kirkpatrick with Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, one Saturday night.

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Ten days of authors, ideas and conversation in the centre of Cheltenham — the world's longest-running literature festival, since 1949.

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Malmesbury's Athelstan festival — a week of talks, walks and suppers on the first king of all England, who chose to be buried here.

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A free selling exhibition of Charlbury Art Society members' work in the Memorial Hall.

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A weekend market fills Cirencester's Market Place with groceries, crafts and street food, under the tower of St John Baptist.

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Live Albion Press demonstrations at Kelmscott Manor — William Morris's own kind of printing, on the kind of press he used.

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Two mornings at Kelmscott Manor on the tapestries William Morris loved — how they were made, and what they meant.

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The two-day Showcase opens the jump-racing season at Cheltenham — Grade 2 and 3 chases and hurdles across Friday and Saturday, and the racecourse coming out of hibernation.

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A community fireworks and bonfire on the old Aston Down airfield above Chalford — one of the larger displays in the Stroud valleys.

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A charity craft beer festival raising funds for Cheltenham Samaritans, with an international edition too.

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Denise Van Outen and Johnny Vaughan bring their live show to Dunkertons' taproom for one Saturday night east of Cheltenham. £35.

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The 36th Bath Film Festival — ten days of 50+ films, immersive experiences and industry events across venues in the Georgian centre of Bath.

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The morning-after companion to the Van Outen / Vaughan Saturday show — a Sunday-morning session at Dunkertons' cider taproom. £15.

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Free hourly guided tours of Chedworth every Monday through the autumn — a good way to make sense of the mosaics. The tour is free, normal admission still applies.

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Stroud's biggest bonfire night, run by the Rotary Club at Marling School — advance booking saves up to 25%.

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Tudor witch encounters, cellar storytelling and a Halloween quiz through the oldest continuously inhabited castle in England.

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Dunkertons' Halloween party with live music from Tux Fizz — dress-up encouraged, £15.

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A free weekend live-music series at Dunkertons' cider taproom east of Cheltenham — a rolling programme of local acts running through October to Halloween.

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Pick your own pumpkins on flat, buggy-friendly ground at Adam Henson's farm park, with carving kits and weekend face painting.

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The Bathurst Estate's autumn pick-your-own pumpkin field at The Old Kennels, with a scarecrow trail and tractor rides through October.

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Half-hour trailer rides through Cirencester Park's autumn woodland — departs at 10.30, 11.30, 1 and 2 each day.

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William Morris's Thames-side manor opened by candlelight over Halloween — the daytime experience across three days.

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A costumed murder-mystery evening at Sudeley — Halloween night in a Tudor castle. £75.

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The thirtieth edition of Hook Norton's craft fair, with stalls filling the nave of St Peter's for the whole of a Saturday.

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Halloween-weekend fireworks at South Cerney Airfield — the nearest big display to Cirencester, with a main show at 7.40pm.

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A themed Halloween production across the whole of half-term at Cogges Manor Farm — a ticketed drop-in that doubles as the farm's closing event of the year.

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An after-dark illuminated Halloween trail through Blenheim's park — a spider's lair, a pirate wreck, vampires and catacombs.

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The third edition of the Cirencester History Festival — 10 days of talks by leading historians and broadcasters across 17 venues in the Roman capital of the Cotswolds.

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The daytime half-term programme at Blenheim, included with the Annual Pass — the daylight counterpart to the evening trail.

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A half-term ghost-investigator challenge at Chedworth Roman Villa — trails and activities across the site over the October break.

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A week-long pumpkin trail through Sudeley's Queen's Garden, Tithe Barn ruins and Mulberry Lawn, culminating in a Tudor Halloween event on 31 October inside the castle itself.

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Around a hundred dealers in the Victorian Great Hall at Westonbirt School — decorative antiques, art, textiles and garden pieces.

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A full day of banger and stock car racing near Witney, finishing with a bonfire, a firework display and a children's guy competition.

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A 13.1-mile road race through the Bathurst Estate at Cirencester Park — one of the Cotswolds' most scenic autumn running events, on the first Sunday of November.

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Five local sculptors show new work through the estate's grounds, above one of the best valley views in the county.

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A big club bonfire and fireworks at Stratford's rugby ground, with food stalls, mulled wine and fairground rides.

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A charity display in the parkland of a Victorian mansion below the escarpment, with a funfair and a ten-minute show set to music.

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A Monday-night school fireworks display at Thomas Kemble School, Eastcombe — unusual timing but organiser-confirmed.

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A fireworks night on the actual 5th of… well, actual 3rd of November — at Dunkertons' cider taproom east of Cheltenham. From £0.

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Two separate displays in one evening on the Chipping Sodbury Ridings, with a funfair, food stalls and mascots.

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The rugby club's bonfire night in Gloucester — actual 5 November, not a moved weekend.

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Cheltenham Cricket Club's annual bonfire party, with two displays — one of them deliberately quieter for younger children.

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Bonfire night 780 feet up on Lansdown, with balloon ascents before the display and fireworks choreographed to music after dark.

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Bisley's village bonfire and fireworks on the King George V Rec — early-evening timing built for families.

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Girlguiding Dursley District's annual fireworks night — pay on the gate, no advance booking.

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Fairford Primary's PTA fireworks at the cricket club — bonfire, funfair, hog roast and a display that draws the whole town.

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Cheltenham Racecourse's family fireworks night — a display set to film soundtracks in front of the Prestbury Park grandstands, in aid of Cheltenham Round Table. Not a race day.

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A village fireworks night in a Cotswold estate hamlet — early gates and an early display so it stays workable with small children.

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Rally cars up the Prescott hill, running from daylight into darkness — one of the region's few after-dark motorsport days.

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A steam-hauled evening train from Broadway and Toddington that runs you straight into the Cheltenham Racecourse fireworks.

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Tetbury Town FC's bonfire night on the Sir William Romney playing fields.

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Wotton-under-Edge's community display at the Community PARC — a quiet display, then bonfire, then the main.

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Stroud's eleventh book festival — five days across the Sub Rooms and Lansdown Hall, with a properly serious line-up.

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Independent textile artists selling embroidery, knitwear and feltwork in a Robert Adam mansion, with work shown in the chapel.

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One of the biggest Oxfordshire fireworks displays — sold out every year in living memory, so book on early-release day.

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Lesley Davies' watercolour and pen-and-ink illustration exhibition at the Corinium — imagined past adventures of her ex-stray cat. Free.

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Three days of top-tier jump racing at Cheltenham, headlined by Saturday's Paddy Power Gold Cup — the winter season's first major.

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Nine days of international chamber music across Bath — the Assembly Rooms, the Abbey and other city venues.

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A drone light show set to the Rudolph story on the hill above Bath — the same racecourse slot as the November fireworks but without the noise.

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An afternoon of festive stalls along Tewkesbury's medieval High Street, ending with the town lights switch-on outside the Abbey.

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Bourton switches on its Christmas lights on the Village Green, the curtain-raiser to the tree that stands in the river all winter.

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Witney Rotary's Christmas lights switch-on in the market place — the town's opening evening of the festive season.

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A two-day weekend of live music and family entertainment at the Pump Room, ending with Cheltenham's Christmas lights switch-on.

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A Georgian-costumed festive fayre — procession from Pershore Abbey at 5.30pm Friday, lights at 6pm, then two days of market and fairground.

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A free-entry Christmas craft fair in Fairford — handmade gifts, festive food and the charity's annual raffle.

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Moreton's High Street fills with stalls from nine in the morning, and the day closes with carols and the Christmas lights going on.

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The Christmas edition of Nailsworth's monthly artisan market, in Mortimer Gardens on the last Saturday of November.

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The National Trust's Stranger Folk app-based folklore trail runs through the Snowshill garden alongside the Threads of Identity costume exhibition and, in November, Charles Wade's Final Act tours.

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Guided tours of Charles Wade's theatrical costume collection, running after the main house season has closed for the year.

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Cirencester's Christmas season opens with a weekend Advent Market of 100+ stalls on the Market Place, plus the town Christmas lights switch-on on the Saturday evening.

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Broadway's shops open until 8.30pm on two Fridays — 27 November and 4 December — with street entertainment, pony sleigh rides and mulled wine.

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Evening trains from Toddington and Cheltenham into Broadway for the village's late-night Christmas shopping — and back after.

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Winchcombe's medieval town centre turns on the lights, hosts a Christmas market and adds a new pop-up shopping trail across two days.

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Corsham's High Street becomes a Christmas market for an afternoon, with fairground rides, live music and a 6pm switch-on.

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Stroud's late-night Christmas street market on the Cornhill — the town's biggest festive evening of the year.

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A Christmas makers' fair in the Georgian mansion; combined ticket with the Textile Fair £10.

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The Cotswolds' quintessential small-town Christmas market — 40 stalls on the closed High Street, Father Christmas, and the town lights switched on at dusk.

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The main Cirencester Christmas Market — 100+ stalls of local food, drink and gifts across the Market Place on the first weekend of December.

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A candlelit Bach recital from the Lloyd Webber cellists in Thyme's tithe barn — the headline event of their Christmas.

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Ten weeks of music, dance, poetry, theatre and visual art across Stroud, marking the festival's eightieth anniversary.

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The Gloucestershire singer-songwriter's long-running Christmas show of traditional carols and new songs, in Tetbury's goods shed.

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Two days of top-flight jump racing to see the year out at Cheltenham, headlined by the December Gold Cup — the winter's second major after November's Paddy Power Gold Cup.

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One of the country's biggest and best-known Christmas markets — nearly three weeks of chalets around Bath Abbey and through the Georgian streets, free to browse.

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Three extra market days on the Cornhill in the last week before Christmas, now in their thirteenth year.

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Reindeer, a grotto, a Christmas market and a musical firework display in the grounds of a country-house hotel below Cleeve Hill.

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Stratford Theatre Company's family panto for three nights at Stroud's independent playhouse, with an X-rated late show.

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The same festive formula as Ellenborough — grotto, reindeer, market stalls and a reduced-noise firework display.

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Ten days of rotating gift markets on the run-up to Christmas — makers, growers and local independents selling in Cirencester's Market Place through December.

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A Christmas fireworks pair in the parkland of the Victorian mansion — the December sibling of the November charity display.

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The GWSR runs its steam-hauled Santa trains from Toddington through December — a proper visit-with-Father-Christmas outing by rail.

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Two performances of a touring traditional Cinderella in Tetbury's converted railway goods shed, in the lull after Christmas.

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An after-dark illuminated trail through the Tudor castle gardens at Sudeley — light tunnels, lasers, projected scenes on the castle walls and a Christmas market at the entrance.

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The Roses Theatre's late-night adults-only pantomime — a bawdier retelling of Sleeping Beauty for grown-ups, running most nights across December.

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Six weeks of festive experiences at Malvern's Three Counties Showground — illuminated trail, ice rink, grotto and UV crazy golf.

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After-dark illuminated walking trail through the National Arboretum at Westonbirt — light installations, a fire garden and a Christmas-cathedral finale among the autumn trees.

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Cheltenham's traditional New Year's Day meeting — seven quality jump races including two Grade 2s, in what the racecourse calls its 'Big Day Out'. Tickets from £13.50.

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An after-dark winter lights trail through the rococo garden, with illuminated woodland animals and light installations.

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The Roses' in-house family panto — a pricked finger, a sleeping kingdom, pop bangers and a Toby Hulse script directed by Derek Bond.

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An original take on Barrie's story from the Playhouse's own company — Cheltenham's community-theatre answer to the Everyman.

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A million-light Christmas trail through Blenheim's gardens — themed 2026 as Cinderella, with a Christmas market in the Great Court.

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Upton dresses the whole house for Christmas — the only National Trust Christmas scheme in the region published this far ahead.

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PJD Productions' traditional family panto in Stroud's Regency assembly rooms, with an adults-only strand over New Year.

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Steam-hauled specials on the GWSR through the week between Christmas and New Year, when almost nothing else in the Cotswolds is open.

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Outdoor ice-skating on the edge of Royal Victoria Park — a 700 sqm rink open from mid-November into the new year, plus a Christmas tree maze.

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One of the country's most-photographed Christmas sights — Bourton's illuminated tree standing in the middle of the River Windrush.

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Cheltenham's flagship pantomime — Cinderella at the Everyman, with Tweedy the Clown returning for the winter run from late November through mid-January.

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Bath's large-scale main-house panto, written by Jon Monie — the biggest and most lavish production in the region.

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The Chippy's in-house Christmas pantomime — Toby Hulse's Snow Queen at the intimate 195-seat converted Salvation Army citadel, running from mid-November into January.

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Colesbourne Park — the private garden of the country's leading snowdrop collection — opens weekend-only through late January and February for the annual snowdrop bloom.

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Five million snowdrops carpeting Painswick's Rococo Garden — the country's most theatrical private garden opens daily through winter for a six-week bloom.

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A fast, flat 13.1-mile loop through Bath's Georgian centre and along the Avon — one of Britain's biggest half marathons, with 12,000 runners and 45,000 spectators.

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Four days of the highest-class National Hunt racing on the planet — 28 races culminating in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday.

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Easter Sunday falls on 28 March 2027 — Sudeley Castle, Blenheim Palace and Cotswold Farm Park all run family Easter egg trails through the school holidays either side.

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One of the Cotswolds' most singular village traditions — the Mayor of Randwick chaired through the village on a wooden throne.

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Six days of jazz across a festival village in Montpellier Gardens plus venues across Cheltenham — Big Top headliners, a Jazz Arena, and a free stage that runs throughout.

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Three days of full-contact medieval jousting in the palace grounds over the early-May bank holiday — armoured combat, longbow displays and a Tudor encampment.

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Five days of world-class five-star eventing across the Duke of Beaufort's estate — dressage, cross-country, showjumping and shopping.

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The country's oldest continuous horse fair — twice-yearly gathering of Romani, Traveller and horse-trading communities on the field above Stow-on-the-Wold since 1476.

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Britain's most famously reckless village tradition — competitors hurl themselves down a near-vertical hill chasing an 8lb Double Gloucester.

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Runners haul 60lb woolsacks up the 1-in-4 Gumstool Hill in Tetbury — a bank-holiday tradition from the medieval wool trade.

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The original Olympics — Robert Dover's 400-year-old country games on Dover's Hill, still featuring shin-kicking and a torch-lit finish.

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Chipping Campden's day-long carnival — May Queen crowning, morris dancing, a fair on the High Street and a costumed parade.

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Six days of talks, hands-on experiments, live science shows and family activities in a Festival Village in Imperial Gardens, plus dozens of ticketed events across Cheltenham.

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Nine days of classical music at Cheltenham Town Hall, Pittville Pump Room and venues across town — one of Britain's oldest classical festivals, running annually since 1945.

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The 53-acre lavender farm at Snowshill opens daily from mid-June to early August — a wash of purple rows on the Cotswold escarpment.

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