Family Friendly Winter Walks
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Autumn Harvest Festivals Across the South Coast
There’s something magical about seeing the transition into autumn across southern England, when the leaves start to change to autumnal colours and there’s a chill in the air. Many communities across Hampshire, Dorset and Sussex come together to celebrate the UK harvest season. It’s a tradition that goes back centuries, but things have changed quite a bit in modern years.
The Harvest Festival is traditionally celebrated on the Sunday closest to the harvest moon (the full moon that appears nearest to the autumn equinox). This year, the UK Harvest Festival will fall on Sunday, 5th October 2025, although many harvest festivals won’t take place on this exact date; some will be earlier or later, or last a few weeks at a time.
For many families, it’s the perfect excuse to get out and celebrate what the English countryside has to offer. Along the south coast, you can expect traditional church services, as well as more modern food festivals that incorporate a range of festive activities and entertainment for families.
A Bit of History
Before we started giving thanks in village churches, Celtic traditions involved communities gathering for the autumn equinox, making offerings of their best crops to the gods that were “in charge” of the weather that year. They’d feast, dance, and make corn dollies from the last sheaves of wheat, which resemble the corn spirits.
When Christianity became big in Britain, the church turned these celebrations into thanksgiving services. The modern Harvest Festival as we know it started in 1843 when Reverend Robert Hawker in Cornwall invited his congregation for a special harvest service. The idea caught on, and soon every parish was hosting similar services.
These days, you’ll find harvest celebrations everywhere throughout September and October. Churches still do their special services, school assemblies feature renditions of common hymns such as “All Things Bright and Beautiful”, and local food banks benefit from generous donations around this time of year. It’s evolved into something that works for everyone, not just those who are religious.
Scarecrow Festivals
Scarecrow festivals have also become a thing in recent years. Scarecrows have been around for thousands of years, used as a way of protecting crops from birds and pests. The idea of using scarecrows in a festival setting is thought to have started in the UK in the late 20th century, with the first being Wray Scarecrow Festival in Lancashire in 1994. What began as a small village fundraiser quickly inspired a larger audience, with other towns and villages starting to create their own festivals. Today, there are many scarecrow festivals held around the UK.
Scarecrow Festivals in today’s society have evolved into family-friendly community events that mix tradition with creativity and fun. Local groups make scarecrows based off a theme, often recreating characters from TV, film, or book, or being inspired by current events. Scarecrow trails are a big part of these festivals, where visitors are guided through streets and fields to see the displays. They are often linked with summer fêtes, harvest celebrations, or local fairs, designed to raise money for schools, churches or charities.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is an important initiative in helping farms stay afloat. Local members of the community can buy “shares” in a farm’s harvest at the start of the season. In return, they receive regular boxes of fresh, seasonal produce such as fruits and vegetables, eggs, and even meat, directly from the farmers. This model creates a closer connection between consumers and the people who grow their food, as they share the rewards and risks of farming.
At harvest festivals, you often see stalls of fresh, locally grown food, many of which come from CSA farms. These events give CSA members and farmers a chance to sell their crops, meet the community, and educate visitors about sustainable farming.
Harvest Celebrations Along the South Coast
Hampshire
In Hampshire, British harvest celebrations range from traditional harvest village fetes to larger countryside events. Many rural villages and churches host Harvest Suppers, with religious services and displays of fresh produce. However, these are slowly becoming a thing of the past.
Many larger towns and cities have created something much more vibrant and family-friendly, with country shows, food festivals, and farm-based harvest events featuring live music, craft stalls, and activities like pumpkin picking and tractor rides. These events are often ticketed.
Winchester Cathedral is known for hosting fantastic harvest events. Being one of Europe’s largest medieval cathedrals, their impressive autumn displays feature produce from the Test Valley. The Test Valley has been feeding people for centuries, thanks to its famous chalk streams – known for offering some of the best trout fishing in the country, as well as growing grains, fruit (including vineyards for wine), and oilseed rape.
Right on the coast, Portsmouth’s historic dockyard area comes alive with their annual autumn food markets. The fishing communities around the Solent celebrate the end of summer fishing season – a little different from celebrating the land’s crops, but for them, it’s equally important.
Hampshire Events 2025
Green Harvest Festival Weekend
Location: Winchester Cathedral
Dates: 20th-21st September 2025
Free family fun that’s part of Winchester Green Week. Families can look forward to farm animals, falconry displays, vintage tractors, and the Hampshire Fare market selling a range of local, fresh produce. There’s a big focus on sustainability, so visitors can learn about environmental awareness alongside traditional celebrations.
Hinton Ampner Harvest Celebration
Location: Alresford
Dates: 20th September – 2nd November 2025
The National Trust does harvest season right at this Georgian estate. Their walled garden has a gorgeous display in autumn, and you can partake in apple picking and pear picking from their orchards. Visitors pay normal admission and National Trust members get free entry.
Bursledon Brickworks Harvest Festival and Dog Show
Location: Bursledon
Dates: Sunday 21st September 2025
An event combining Victorian Brickworks Museum with a dog show makes it a unique harvest festival. There’s a £5 fee to enter your dog into two classes, plus museum admission. If you’d rather visit as a spectator, you can be thoroughly entertained at the dog show, and explore the history of brickmaking.
Spookesbury: Harvest & Haunt
Location: Rookesbury Park, Wickham
Dates: 29th October – 2nd November 2025
Halloween meets harvest festival in this new event at Rookesbury Park. It’s a family-friendly event during the day with pumpkin patches and autumn-themed craft activities, then it turns spooky for teenagers and adults in the evenings.
Sussex
The South Downs have been farmed for thousands of years. Village churches within the downs, many dating back to Norman times, host harvest festivals that haven’t changed much in recent years. However, Sussex has embraced modern harvest traditions too, particularly around British wine. The chalk soil that makes the downs so distinctive creates perfect conditions for vineyards, and grape harvest season in September and October is becoming as important as the traditional wheat and barley harvest.
Brighton brings its own energy to harvest season with its farmers’ markets. The city’s restaurants go mad for local ingredients, and you’ll find special menus celebrating what Sussex farms have to offer.
In Hastings, harvest time is celebrated alongside the town’s history. The apple orchards are at their best in October, with events like wassailing and cider-making demonstrations that let you experience old English traditions firsthand.
Sussex Events 2025
Rye Harvest Wine & Food Fair
Location: Rye, East Sussex
Dates:13th-14th September 2025
This two-day festival in one of England’s prettiest medieval towns, will showcase award-winning winemakers and food producers. Sussex wine tastings, food stalls, cooking demonstrations, and live music, plus poetry readings and children’s theatre. Alongside the main fair, there are ticketed fringe events such as a comedy night on Friday, a Harvest Hoedown barn dance with BBQ and live folk music on Saturday, and a Jazz Breakfast on Sunday morning.
Harvest Festival and Barn Dance
Location: Chailey, East Sussex
Dates: 13th September 2025
Free community event at the Five Bells with everything you’d want from a proper village harvest celebration. They’ll be the Horticultural Society’s Autumn Harvest Show in the village hall, where you can see the best local produce, flowers, and crafts on display. Outside, visitors can enjoy a vintage tractor and vehicle exhibition with demonstrations.
Plenty of food and drink options with a real ale bar, tea, coffee and homemade cakes, and hearty options from the burger bar and food stalls. Families can look forward to a kids’ inflatable, plus a range of craft stalls to browse. There’s live music on stage, followed by a lively barn dance. Finished by a traditional Blessing of the Harvest led by Paul Mundy.
Tulley’s Pumpkin Festival
Location: Crawley, West Sussex
Dates: 20th September – 31st October 2025
The UK’s biggest pumpkin celebration, with over a million pumpkins across 100 acres as well as other gourds such as squashes. Beyond picking pumpkins, the festival is packed with themed photo opportunities, live roaming characters, street food and an observation wheel.
From late September onwards, the festival comes alive in the evenings with a spectacular light trail, where the fields and displays are illuminated in different colours, transforming the site into a glowing autumn wonderland. The perfect place for autumn lovers and family days out.
Dorset
The Jurassic Coast provides beautiful coastal backdrops for harvest festivals. Bridport and Lyme Regis combine their ropemaking and fossil-hunting heritage with celebrations of local seafood and traditional farming.
Weymouth’s Georgian architecture provides an ideal setting for autumn markets, while the Isle of Purbeck feels like stepping back in time during harvest season, with the stone villages and ancient field patterns created from centuries of farming.
Dorchester, known as Thomas Hardy’s County town, does literary harvest celebrations brilliantly. Local events often feature readings from Hardy’s agricultural novels alongside other poets such as John Keats, with demonstrations of the farming practices that were often written in their literature.
Dorset Events 2025
Dorset County Show
Location: Dorchester
Dates: 6th – 7th September 2025
Traditional agricultural show with livestock competitions, craft demonstrations, and enough local food and drink to keep you going all day. The Paul Hannam Stunt Show adds some excitement to the traditional format.
Harvest Festival at Sherborne Abbey
Location: Sherborne
Dates: 28th September 2025
This special service marks the 30th anniversary of the Farming Community Network. More significant for farming families, but the setting – Sherborne Abbey – is absolutely magnificent and worth experiencing regardless.
This autumn, why not take your family to a harvest festival near you? It’s a great day out where you can have fun and learn, with a range of activities, entertainment, and plenty of food and drink to cater to all ages.
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