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Festivals & Events

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Your guide to Dorset’s best festivals and events! From food and drink festivals to huge-scale music festivals, there’s always something going on in Dorset. Be sure to check what’s on when you’re visiting.

Check out the links to my various festival round-ups below, followed by a quick list of all the main events coming up this season.

Button: 2026 Festivals

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What’s On in Autumn 2026

Here’s what’s on in Dorset during September, October, and November this year…

  • Halloween – click here for the full list of Halloween events
  • Pick Your Own Pumpkins – click here for a list of pumpkin patches
  • Swanage Blues Festival (1-4 Oct)
  • Shaftesbury Carnival (3 Oct)
  • Gillingham Carnival Week (4-10 Oct)
  • Bournemouth International Film Festival (9-10 Oct)
  • Purbeck Film Festival (16 Oct – 1 Nov)
  • Dorchester Literary Festival (17-24 Nov)
  • Diwali Festival of Lights at Corfe Castle (25 Oct)
  • Athelhampton Winter Food Fair (7-8 Nov)
  • Tank Museum Dorset Christmas Fair (14-15 Nov)
  • Illuminate At Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens (20 Nov – 31 Dec)
  • Bonfire Night (5 Nov) – click here for the full list of events

Button: Pumpkin Patches
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Check what’s on month-by-month:

Dorset in September: written in white over a photo of a tractor ploughing a field in autumn
Dorset in October: written in white over a photo of a woodland in autumn with golden leaves carpeting the floor
Dorset in November: written in white over a photo of castle ruins on a hilltop surrounded by frost
  • September
  • October (coming soon)
  • November (coming soon)

Halloween in Dorset

  • Spooks by the Sea Parade, Weymouth Town Centre to Melcombe Regis Car Park (30 Oct)
  • “Ascarium” at Weymouth SEA LIFE (3 Oct – 2 Nov)
  • Halloween Fun at Nothe Fort (24 Oct – 1 Nov)
  • Find more Halloween events here

Christmas in Dorset

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