The Somerset & Exmoor Coast Festival

21st to 29th September 2024

The Somerset and Exmoor Coast Festival is a celebration of our unique and diverse coastline bringing together events that offer everything from running, walking and outdoor activities to art, music, and performance alongside the food, flavours and hospitality that make this coast of surprises so welcoming.

In 2024 the Somerset & Exmoor Coast Festival added new events to the line-up, and more activities to choose from. Once again it featured a selection of coastal walks and arts events plus some extra special celebrations.

In total, the Festival notched up 79 events with a record 29 guided walks, and saw the launch of the Watchet Walking Week, which successfully ran walks on history, poetry and the coast as well as a Toddler walk and a Singing Walk.

80 Miles in Eight Days Challenge Walk

Festival to support primary pupils to get outside
whatever the weather

The Outdoor Guide Foundation

The Outdoor Guide joins Festival

We’re pleased to announce that The Outdoor Guide and The Outdoor Guide Foundation have signed up to Partner the Somerset & Exmoor Coast Festival. In the coming weeks we will be working with the Foundation to support their waterproofs and wellies campaign focussing on the Somerset coast.

The Outdoor Guide (TOG) is a free online resource set up by Julia Bradbury and sister Gina that aims to bring together information for walks all around the UK. It is a place for people who love getting outdoors, lacing up a pair of muddy boots and discovering new walking routes in the great outdoors.

Find out more about the campaign

The Outdoor Guide Foundation has a simple aim; to make the outdoors more accessible for all – particularly children. Its goal is to get 10 sets of wellies and waterproofs to every state primary school in the UK (all 20,000 of them!) so every child, no matter their circumstances, has the ability to play outdoors in all weathers.

Donate here

The 2024 Somerset & Exmoor Coast Festival

Porlock Marsh Nightwalk
Where
Porlock Marsh
When
Saturday, 12th October, 6.30pm
Coast – Day 8: County Gate to Porlock
Where
County Gate to Porlock
When
Sunday, 13th October, 9am
Barnacle Buoys Shanty Band
Where
Porlock Village Hall
When
Sunday, 29th September, 5 - 7pm
Quantock Belle Sunday Lunch
Where
West Somerset Railway
When
Sunday 29th September, 13:00
Roadwater Eight Artists
Where
Roadwater Village Hall
When
28th to 29th September, 10am to 5pm
Blackmore Farm Manor House tour
Where
Blackmore Farm Manor House tour
When
2pm Friday 27th September
2pm Sunday 29th September
Fantastic Beasts & How To Find Them
Where
Ramscombe (Great Wood).
When
Saturday 28th September, 7 - 9pm.
Brean Country & Western Music Festival
Where
Brean
When
27th to 29th September
Art Road Trip, Bridgwater
Where
The Cornhill, Bridgwater
When
26th and 28th September, 10am
Arborea at Horner Wood
Where
Horner Wood
When
Throughout the festival
Berrow Makers Market
Where
Berrow Village Hall
When
Saturday, 28th September
10am-3pm
Bridgwater Fair
Where
West Street Bridgwater
When
25th to 28th September

If you are a local accommodation provider, or a business thinking of organising an event or promotion during the Somerset and Exmoor Coast Festival, visit the Festival Partners page to find out how to get the most out of participating in the Festival

Highlights of the 2023 Festival …

All this takes place along the route established by Somerset’s coastal National Trails, the King Charles III England Coast Path and the South West Coast Path.

This 80 mile stretch of coast boasts the Quantock Hills National Landscape, the first in the UK, and the Exmoor National Park, while from Brean to Blue Anchor these shores are protected as Areas of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Areas of Conservation and protected wetland sites.

To the north is one of the longest stretches of sandy beach in Europe, while at the heart of the Somerset coast, geological formations create natural pavements and stratified cliffs, while fossils appear embedded in the cliffs and loose on the shore.

Walking this diverse stretch of coastline is a journey through time and history alongside cutting edge climate change mitigation projects, hidden coves, historic port towns and the gentles slopes of Somerset’s coastal farmlands.

The Quantock Poetry Trail in Watchet
Chris Jelley reads to walkers at the Minehead Parks Storywalk
Local authors read their work in Minehead
Festival walkers ready to set out on the Incline walk from Roadwater
The launch of the Quantock Poetry Trail
Discovering nature with Nigel Phillips at Kilve
Paul Karensa performing A History of (Very) Old Radio
Walkers picnic at St Audries waterfall
Flowers and walkers at the Minehead Parks Storywalk
Bridgwater Bay Nature Reserve
Walkers discovering botanicals with Dryad Gin's Becky Wright
Blue Anchor Beach
Taking a break on the Exmoor Lookouts and villages walk
Local authors read their work in Minehead
Walking the Quantocks & Coast Circular
Watchet Poemscape
Minehead Parks Arboretum Storywalk
Meet your Local Authors
Iron Ore: Brendon Hills to Roadwater
Watchet’s dog friendly beaches
Quantocks Poetry Trail Launch event
Kilve Nature Walk
A History of (Very) Old Radio
Quantocks & Coast Walk
Minehead Parks Arboretum Storywalk
Stert Point part of the Somerset Wetlands National Nature Reserve
Dryad Gin Botanical Walk
Blue Anchor Beach
Exmoor Lookouts and Villages Walk
Meet your Local Authors
Quantocks & Coast Walk
 

For your #SomersetExmoorCoast experience find the right walk in our Festival Walks section, search for one of the many events and promotions in What’s On and find your own Somerset bolt hole in our Where to stay guide, there’s everything from campsites, glamping and luxurious shepherd’s huts to quaint cottages, cosy B&Bs and historic hotels.

To be the first to hear what’s on where and when, sign up to our mailing list or follow us on social media and community networks.

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