What's on across Cirencester and the Cotswolds: Tue 1st Sep to Tue 15th Sep 2026
This round-up was written on Tue 1st Sep 2026, and these events have now finished. September always feels like the town letting its breath out. The schools have gone back, the summer crowds have thinned, and Cirencester quietly gets on with being itself again. Plenty is still on though, and there is one weekend in the middle of this fortnight that is worth clearing the diary for.
First up, Gifford Circus is on the meadows at Stratton until Mon 7th Sep and then it is gone. Around it, the first weekend is a gentle one. Arts and Craft Market in the Market Place all day Sat 5th Sep, Cotswold Farm open for the National Garden Scheme across the Saturday and Sunday, and on Sun 6th Sep you can choose between the antiques fair over at Bibury or the Cricklade Band playing free in the Abbey Grounds. Or both, if the traffic is kind.
The week itself is quieter. There is an organ recital at the Parish Church at ten past one on Wed 2nd Sep, drag bingo at the Golden Cross on the Thursday evening, and a talk at the Royal Agricultural University on Wed 9th Sep about mammoths in the Cotswolds. I went in assuming that was a stretch and came out having read about Cerney Wick for an hour, so make of that what you will.
Then the second weekend, which is the reason to pay attention. Heritage Open Cirencester runs Fri 11th, Sat 12th and Sun 13th Sep, with twenty venues and activities around town all free to walk into. Guided walks round the amphitheatre, restoration tours in Cirencester Park, a curator tour of the new Salmonsbury exhibition at the Corinium. Out at Chedworth, the Roman villa drops its admission charge for the whole weekend. If you have lived here for years and never actually been in half these places, this is the weekend to fix that.
Sat 12th Sep in particular is stacked. Farmers' Market from nine, the Repair Cafe at the Baptist Church from ten, the hospital family fun day at two, and then the Twilight Market takes over the Market Place from six until ten. That is a full day without leaving town, and you can walk all of it.
Sun 13th Sep closes the fortnight out with the last charity car boot of the year at the skate park from eight, and the Cirencester Band in the Abbey Grounds at half two. Running underneath all of it, the Woodland Ball Run and the Fairy Trail are both still on in Cirencester Park until the end of the month, and Yes, Prime Minister is at the Barn Theatre into October.
If I have missed something obvious, send it over and it will go in the next one. And if the change in the weather has you noticing a gutter that did not cope with the last downpour, well, you know where I am.
This fortnight's highlights
Gifford Circus, final week
It has been on the meadows since the end of August and this is the last week of it. If you have been saying all summer that you would take the kids, this is the point where saying it stops being an option.
More info →Arts and Craft Market
A full day of stalls in the Market Place. Good for a wander and dangerous if you have a birthday coming up and no idea what to buy.
More info →Cotswold Farm, open garden for the NGS
An Arts and Crafts garden on descending levels looking over a quiet valley, with terraces laid out by Norman Jewson in the 1930s. Open for the National Garden Scheme, so expect tea and cake on a trestle table somewhere near the entrance.
More info →Bands in the Park, Cricklade Band
Free brass on a Sunday afternoon, and one of the last few of the season. Take a rug. It is outdoors, so it does get called off if the weather turns nasty.
More info →Bibury Antiques and Vintage Fair
A small, well run fair in a village hall, in one of the prettiest villages in the country. The drive over is half the day out on its own.
More info →Drag Bingo at the Golden Cross
Beach party themed, traditional bingo with a twist of camp, then musical bingo after. Not a quiet night in Black Jack Street.
More info →Talk: Mammoths in the Cotswolds
The story of Cerney Wick, told properly. I had no idea there were mammoths down the road either, and now I cannot stop thinking about it.
More info →Heritage Open Cirencester
The big one this fortnight. Twenty venues and activities around town, all free to walk into, as part of England's largest festival of history and culture. Guided walks round the amphitheatre, restoration tours in Cirencester Park, curator tours at the Corinium. Some of it needs booking, so have a look before the Friday.
More info →Meet the Romans, free entry all weekend
Chedworth throws the gates open with no admission charge for the whole weekend, gladiators and all. It is normally a paid site, so this is genuinely worth the drive.
More info →Cirencester Comedy Club by Funhouse
The monthly stand up night at the Barn. A proper line up and a room that fills up, so it is worth booking rather than turning up hopeful.
More info →Farmers' Market
Second and fourth Saturday of the month. Local beer, pies, game, fruit and veg. Go early if you want the brownies, because I never do and I always regret it.
More info →Repair Cafe
Toys, clothes, small electricals, household bits and bikes, mended by volunteers for nothing. People occasionally ask whether this bothers me. It does not. Anything that keeps a decent lamp out of a skip is fine by me, and nobody there is going to hang your door.
More info →Cirencester Hospital Family Fun Day
Games, face painting, a jumble sale and a tombola. Two hours, small money, good cause.
More info →Twilight Market
The Market Place after dark, which is a different thing entirely to the Market Place at nine in the morning. Worth staying in town for.
More info →Cirencester Charity Car Boot, last of the year
The final one of 2026. If the loft clearing you started in the spring is still sat in bin bags on the landing, this is your last chance to turn it into somebody else's problem and a bit of cash.
More info →Charter Market
The award winning one that has been running for centuries. Easy to walk straight past when you see it twice a week, and still one of the better reasons to be in town on a Friday morning.
More info →Autumn has a habit of showing up the jobs summer let you ignore
The gutter you meant to clear in July. The back gate that swells every time it rains. The draught you forgot about the minute the weather turned warm. None of it gets easier in November. Give me a shout and I'll get it sorted while the evenings are still light.
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