Explore Britain’s heritage with Heritage Open Days

Image: Credit - Chris Lacey, via Heritage Open Days

This year marks the 30^th anniversary of Heritage Open Days, England’s biggest heritage festival, spanning across nine days and giving the public access to usually closed spaces and free entry to a host of others. This year’s event takes place between 6^th and 15^th September.

This year’s event has a theme of Routes, Network and Connections, with hundreds of activities covering those very things.

Speaking about this year’s event, Liam Montgomery, the Marketing and Projects Officer for Heritage Open Days, said: “The scale and diversity of Heritage Open Days is just incredible, every year thousands of passionate people help visitors to make doorstep discoveries and connect with history and heritage in every part of England. This year though, it will be extra special as we celebrate three decades worth of stories and all the brilliant people and places that have made it, and continue to make it, all possible!”

Heritage Open Days are brought to you by the National Trust, supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and run by thousands of local organisations and volunteers. Covering everything from historic houses to factories, museums to music halls, formal gardens to graveyards, across the country, there will be a host of events and new experiences to enjoy.

Over the three decades since Heritage Open Days began, it has grown in scope and scale. What began as a weekend dedicated to revealing buildings not normally open to the general public has exploded into a ten-day festival, celebrating a myriad of different aspects of heritage and culture. With more than 100,000 events and over 39 million visits across 30 years, growing from just 700 events in its first year to over 5000 last year.

You can find a host of events at heritage attractions across England here. https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/