What’s on in
The Cotswolds.

Two summer outdoor-theatre nights in the woodland amphitheatre at Cotswold Sculpture Park — Sherlock Holmes on 1 August, followed by The Comedy of Errors on 20 August.

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The Sun Records jukebox musical returns to Cirencester's Barn Theatre for a summer run — Presley, Cash, Perkins and Lewis on stage for a Grade-A cast including Darren Day as Sam Phillips.

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Two weeks of first-class county cricket on the College Ground at Cheltenham — Gloucestershire host Notts, Northants and Worcestershire alongside two Women's Sharks fixtures.

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The award-winning private garden at Bourton House opens for one Sunday in aid of the National Garden Scheme — nine additional Bourton-on-the-Hill village gardens open the same day, teas in the Old School Hall.

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A free Friday-night Balearic-house set from Tyjay & Morier in the cidery taproom at Dunkertons just east of Cheltenham — end-of-summer club sounds on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment.

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Three days of free, town-wide music, theatre and street performance across Stroud — the closing weekend of summer.

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Alex James's annual food and music festival at his Kingham farm — chefs, headline bands and the Big Kids Field.

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A free, volunteer-run community music and arts festival in Cirencester's Abbey Grounds over the August bank holiday weekend — two days of live music, dance and family entertainment that draws around 20,000 people each year.

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A two-day family fair and fun dog show at Fromebridge Mill, run over the August bank-holiday weekend by Teckels Animal Sanctuary — stalls, refreshments, kids' games and all proceeds to the sanctuary.

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A scenic bank-holiday-Sunday sportive starting from Westonbirt School — three routes of approximately 30, 47 and 75 miles through the Cotswolds, with feed stations, support and a charity option for Macaroni Wood.

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A summer-long family trail through Painswick Rococo Garden — find Gnome Bert's friends hidden across the follies and mazes, celebrate garden gnomes' return to RHS Chelsea.

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Bourton Rovers play their annual six-a-side match in the shallow River Windrush running through the village centre — a quirky August Bank Holiday tradition dating back over a century.

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The biggest one-day agricultural show in the Cotswolds — livestock and horse classes, the Cotswold Lion Showground, 350+ trade stands and a food hall, on the showground at Moreton-in-Marsh.

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Snooker's British Open comes back to the Centaur at Cheltenham Racecourse for a seven-day World Snooker Tour ranking event — best-of-the-world professionals, live coverage on Channel 5.

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Five days of pre-war classics, grand tourers and hypercars on the South Lawn at Blenheim — the 21st edition of Britain's most exclusive concours, with judging on Wednesday and Thursday.

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A long-running bluegrass and Americana weekend at Kemble Airfield — workshops, picking sessions, dances and the original Didmarton tradition continued.

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Bake Off judge and restaurateur Prue Leith in conversation with podcaster Jo Durrant in Sudeley's Orangery — talking about her book on ageing, with welcome drinks, a signed copy and audience Q&A.

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Five days of top-level young-horse eventing in the Deer Park at Cornbury — international CCI3-S and CCI2-S classes plus the Howden Way Youth & Young Horse Championships, a mile from Charlbury.

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A two-day historic motor-racing weekend at the Castle Combe circuit — vintage and classic cars on the original 1950s track layout.

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A free, single-day artisan food market along Broadway's lime-lined high street — around 35 producers from within an hour's drive.

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A traditional one-day country fair in the parkland of Frampton Court Estate — over 400 trade stands, three display rings, gun-dog scurries, a fun fair and country-sports demonstrations.

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The longer autumn edition of Gloucester's twice-yearly history festival — over two weeks of talks at Blackfriars Priory and the cathedral.

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England's biggest free heritage festival opens hundreds of usually-closed buildings and puts on free walks, talks and tours over ten days. 2026 theme: Everyday Histories.

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Ten days of Regency Bath — talks, balls, walking tours and the famous Regency Parade of more than 1,000 costumed participants.

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Four days of world-class eventing on the Blenheim parkland — dressage, cross-country and showjumping at the peak of the international season, with 200+ trade stands and a country-fair atmosphere.

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The ancient Clypping ceremony — parishioners join hands in a ring around St Mary's Church — plus the famous Puppy Dog Pie and an all-day village feast in the churchyard.

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Nine days of chamber music in Tetbury's parish church and barn venues — drawing leading international players to a small-town setting.

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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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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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The autumn edition of the centuries-old gypsy and traveller horse fair at Stow-on-the-Wold — held on the Thursday nearest 24 October on Maugersbury Road.

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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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Five full-scale dinosaur sculptures by Future Fossils artist Jay Jay Burridge — including a never-before-displayed Megalosaurus skeleton — set against the Palace gardens through late summer and autumn.

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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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Three days of top-tier jump racing at Cheltenham — Saturday's Paddy Power Gold Cup is the winter season's first major and one of the racecourse's biggest crowd days outside the Festival itself.

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An afternoon and evening of festive market stalls along Tewkesbury's medieval high street, finishing with the town Christmas-lights switch-on outside the Abbey — 70+ stalls, fairground rides and Father Christmas.

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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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Winchcombe's medieval town centre turns on the lights, hosts a Christmas market and closes the high street for an evening of late-night shopping, carols and mulled wine.

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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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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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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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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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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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Six weeks of festive experiences at Malvern's Three Counties Showground — a large illuminated trail, ice rink, Father Christmas grotto and UV crazy golf, running through November and December.

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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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A million-light Christmas trail through Blenheim's gardens and grounds, themed for 2026 as Cinderella — plus a Christmas market in the Great Court running through late November and December.

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Outdoor ice-skating on the edge of Royal Victoria Park — 700 sqm rink, 50-day season from mid-November into the New Year, plus a Christmas tree maze, Moguls alpine bar and glow golf.

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One of the most-photographed Christmas sights in the country — Bourton's illuminated tree standing in the middle of the River Windrush, from the late-November switch-on until early January.

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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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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 19 March. British and Irish jump racing's showpiece.

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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, followed by a giant cheese being rolled around the churchyard.

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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 — dressage, cross-country and showjumping — across the Duke of Beaufort's Badminton estate, plus a country-fair village of shopping stands.

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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 above Brockworth chasing an 8lb Double Gloucester cheese. Bank holiday Monday.

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Runners haul 60lb woolsacks up and down the 1-in-4 Gumstool Hill in Tetbury — a bank-holiday tradition dating from the medieval wool trade, backed by a full afternoon of stalls and street food.

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The original Olympics — Robert Dover's 400-year-old country games held on Dover's Hill above Chipping Campden, still featuring shin-kicking, tug of war and a torch-lit bonfire 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 — the traditional Saturday finale of the Cotswold Olimpick Games weekend.

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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 above Broadway, with a tea room and gift shop on site.

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