What's on across Cirencester and the Cotswolds: Mon 14th Sep to Mon 28th Sep 2026
The heritage weekend has been and gone, the visitors have thinned out, and Cirencester has gone back to being a town rather than an attraction. That is usually when the better small stuff turns up, and this fortnight is a good example of it.
The first week is a quiet one on purpose. There is jazz at the Corinium on Wed 16th Sep, a photography, woodcut and weaving exhibition at the Gardens Gallery running Wed 16th to Tue 22nd Sep, and a talk on Thu 17th Sep about the Barnsley brothers, who had more to do with how the buildings round here look than most people realise. On Fri 18th Sep there is an autumn sound bath at the museum, which I would have walked straight past a few years ago and now know better than to be sniffy about.
Over in Tetbury that same Friday and Saturday, the old Victorian police station and court on Long Street is open to walk round, with the stories of the officers who lived and worked in it. Worth the drive if you like that sort of thing, and it is only on the two days.
The weekend of Sat 19th and Sun 20th Sep is a gentle one. A full day general market on the Saturday, the vegan market on the Sunday, and the Oasis documentary at the Barn on Sunday morning with a second showing on the Monday afternoon if you sleep in.
Then the second week builds properly. Mon 21st Sep has a three and a half hour walk round Roman Cirencester led by the museum's former head of collections, and the Civic Society marking sixty years that evening at the Baptist Church. Wed 23rd Sep brings a talk on Brize Norton, and Thu 24th Sep an hour on Salmonsbury Camp at the Corinium.
Fri 25th Sep is when it turns. The horse trials open in Cirencester Park and run right through to the Sunday, free to watch from the ropes. There is a town walk that morning on the storming of Cirencester in 1643, and a Frozen sing along at St Peter's Parish Hall in the evening, which is either excellent news or a warning, depending entirely on your household.
Sat 26th Sep is the busiest day of the fortnight by some distance. Farmers' Market from nine, a free family fun day at Kingshill School with inflatables and an assault course from ten, Roman Crafts Weekend out at Chedworth from eleven, and the Twilight Market taking over the Market Place from six until ten. Tetbury Music Festival opens the same evening and runs into October. You cannot do all of it, and it is worth picking rather than trying.
Sun 27th Sep closes things out with the car boot at the Organic Farm Shop from half seven and the Vintage and Artisan Fair at the Corn Hall from ten. Running underneath the whole fortnight, the Woodland Ball Run and the Fairy Trail are both in Cirencester Park until Wed 30th Sep, Yes, Prime Minister is at the Barn Theatre into October, and the Salmonsbury exhibition is at the Corinium until Sun 11th Oct.
If I have missed something you are running, send it over and it will go in the next one. And if the change in the weather has started showing up a door that sticks or a gutter that did not cope with the last downpour, you know where I am.
This fortnight's highlights
Film: The Furious
A father takes on a gang of kidnappers, which tells you everything you need to know about how the evening goes. Straightforward Monday night cinema and none the worse for it.
More info →Exhibition of Photographs: Wings, Wood, Weave
Three Cotswold artists and friends showing photography, woodcuts and weaving together in one room. Free to walk into and it only runs a week, so do not leave it until the Tuesday.
More info →The Jazz Club: Katya Gorrie and band
Katya Gorrie with Dan Newbury, Andy Bowen and Paul Jefferies. Jazz in a room full of Roman mosaics is a strange combination on paper and works far better than it has any right to.
More info →Talk: From Birmingham to Byzantium to the Cotswolds
This year is the centenary of the deaths of Ernest and Sidney Barnsley, two of the Arts and Crafts architects who shaped how a lot of this area looks. If you have ever wondered why certain buildings round here feel deliberate, this is the answer.
More info →Stories Behind the Uniforms
The Victorian police station and court at Tetbury, open to walk round, with the stories of the constables who worked and lived there. A Heritage Open Day event and worth the run over to Tetbury.
More info →Abundance: An Autumn Sound Bath
An hour of lying still while somebody plays bowls and gongs at you, pitched at the turn of the season. I would not have gone near this a few years ago. I am told by people I trust that it is the best hour of their month.
More info →General Market
A full day of stalls rather than the usual half. Worth timing a coffee around.
More info →Vegan Market
Runs a few times a year and always busier than people expect. Good food whether or not you are the target audience.
More info →Film: Don't Look Back in Anger
Rare footage and untold stories from the rise of Oasis, tied to the reunion. Two showings, so no excuse if you miss the Sunday.
More info →Walking Roman Cirencester
Led by Dr Alison Grierson-Brookes, who used to run collections at the Corinium. Three and a half hours on foot around a town most people only ever see at pavement level. Wear something sensible.
More info →Cirencester Civic Society sixtieth anniversary
Sixty years of a group that has quietly argued about what gets built here and what does not. Details were still to be announced when this went out, so check before you set off.
More info →Talk: RAF Brize Norton, over 80 years of flying operations
Cirencester Archaeological and Historical Society. Brize is close enough that most people have heard of it without ever knowing much about it.
More info →Corinium Afternoons: Salmonsbury
An hour on Salmonsbury Camp at Bourton-on-the-Water, a scheduled site that is now a nature reserve. Pairs neatly with the exhibition upstairs if you have not seen it yet.
More info →Cirencester Park Unaffiliated Horse Trials
Three days of horse trials across Grade I listed parkland. Free to watch from the ropes, and a good way to spend a couple of hours even if, like me, you couldn't tell one dressage test from another.
More info →Cirencester in the Civil War, town walk
Ian Thomas walking people round the storming of Cirencester in 1643. An hour and a quarter, and you will not look at the top of Cricklade Street the same way after.
More info →Frozen film night and sing along
You already know whether this is for your household. If it is, the singing is compulsory and resistance is pointless.
More info →Farmers' Market
Second and fourth Saturday of the month. Local beer, pies, game, fruit and veg. Go early for the brownies. I never do, and I always regret it.
More info →Free Active Family Fun Day
Giant inflatables, an assault course and a pile of sports to try, all free. Six hours of somebody else tiring your children out.
More info →Roman Crafts Weekend
The craftsmanship behind the villa, demonstrated rather than described. If you went for the free weekend earlier this month and liked it, this is the better version.
More info →Twilight Market
The Market Place after dark with the stalls lit up. Easily the nicest the town centre looks all month.
More info →Tetbury Music Festival
Nine days of it, opening on the Saturday evening and running into October. Programme is worth a look before you decide it is not your thing.
More info →Charity car boot and Vintage and Artisan Fair
Sellers from half seven at the farm shop, buyers from half eight, then the Corn Hall fair to spend whatever you made. That is how it goes in my house, anyway.
More info →Still running: Woodland Ball Run and Magical Fairy Trail
Both finish at the end of the month. If the fairy doors have been on the list since July, this is the fortnight.
More info →Still running: Yes, Prime Minister, and the Salmonsbury exhibition
The political comedy at the Barn Theatre into October, and a year of art and archaeology at the Corinium, done with the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. Neither needs planning round, both are there when you have a gap.
More info →The first proper cold snap always finds the jobs you put off
A door that will not shut cleanly once the frame swells. A radiator that gurgles and never quite warms the room. A gutter still full of what the summer dropped in it. None of it improves by being left until December. Give me a shout and I'll get it done while the evenings are still worth something.
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