Between the Trees, south Wales
Between the Trees, awarded the UK’s best micro-festival in 2025, returns to Candleston Woods, a spectacular reserve located between Cardiff and Swansea. This festival is designed to reconnect attendees with the natural world through a diverse programme featuring science and nature activities, folk music, and storytelling. Workshops include micrographia sessions that explore the insect life on the reserve and nature crafts. The Seren area offers new talks and walks, including storytelling sessions. The site, with camping spots adjacent to a wild beach and expansive dunes, provides an inspiring natural setting. The event runs from 27 to 30 August, with weekend tickets priced at £195 for adults and £50 for children.
Secret Wildlife Festival, East Sussex
Set on peaceful, rewilded fields between a 75-acre wood and a quiet country lane near Barcombe, the Secret Campsite is rich in wildlife, including nightingales and slow worms. The Secret Wildlife festival invites approximately 90 campers to engage in continuous nature activities led by Michael Blencowe, known as the Sussex Naturalist. Activities include drop-in bushcraft sessions, guided walks from dawn to dusk, and a communal barbecue. Hands-on experiences feature moth trapping, building hedgehog tunnels, and a glow-worm safari. Each evening, the Seven Sisters Astronomy Group assists campers in exploring the universe. The festival concludes with a Secret Cinema screening featuring footage from the campsite’s camera traps. The event is scheduled for 26-28 June, with weekend tickets including camping and all activities priced from £112 for adults and £56 for children.
Isle of Wight Biosphere Festival
The Isle of Wight Biosphere festival spans the entire island, highlighting its diverse species and landscapes within this UNESCO reserve, which includes beaches, wetlands, chalk downland, and woodland. Featured events include a freediving safari in seagrass meadows at Seaview led by marine photographer Theo Vickers, open days at locations featured in Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild, and a UV night walk exploring forest biofluorescence in Firestone Copse. Red Funnel offers discounted ferry fares from mainland England (£14 for adults on foot) to celebrate the festival week. The festival runs from 27 June to 5 July and includes a mix of free and paid events.
North Pennines NatureFest, County Durham
Coinciding with European Geoparks Week, North Pennines NatureFest offers a comprehensive schedule of informative and interactive events throughout the North Pennines national landscape and UNESCO Global Geopark. An adder exhibition at Bowlees visitor centre highlights the region’s dedication to this native species. Participants of all ages can join ecological experts for a “wildlife recording frenzy” at Housty Farm in East Allen valley. During the middle weekend, families are invited to a nature camp at Low Way Farm in Teesdale, featuring activities such as bat detecting and birdsong walks. The festival runs from 23 May to 7 June, with events priced individually and nature camp fees starting at £30 for adults and £20 for children.
Nuts About Nature, Norfolk
At Kelling Heath holiday park, a 120-hectare woodland and nationally rare open heathland near Holt, local nature experts will lead activities and workshops during Nuts About Nature. The event coincides with the unveiling of the park’s new red squirrel enclosure. Guests are invited to become “acorn adventurers” for the weekend, participating in pond-dipping, nature crafts, and self-guided trails. The park’s countryside team will be available to answer questions about the red squirrel population, conservation efforts, and the recently refurbished and expanded enclosure. The festival takes place from 5 to 7 June, with tent pitches starting at £39.50 per night and a 3-for-2 nights offer available using the code NUTSABOUTNATURE26.
Urban Wild, Southampton
Organised by the Urban Wild initiative as part of its Youth for Climate and Nature scheme, Urban Wild 2026 will use communal events to explore the theme "Reimagining Southampton." The festival aims to bring people closer to the city’s green and blue spaces while envisioning a greener future. It opens with Urban Wild on the Common on 24 May, featuring stalls, music, and family activities on Southampton Common. Additional activities, organised by community groups, include group bike rides, creative workshops, and wildlife identification sessions. The festival runs from 23 to 31 May and is free to attend.
Orkney Nature Festival
Organised by a committee of local volunteers, this weeklong festival immerses visitors in Orkney’s distinctive wildlife, including puffins and Risso’s dolphins. Guided walks across the islands of Hoy and Birsay visit seabird colonies perched on cliffs. RSPB wardens facilitate close observation without disturbance during guide-in-a-hide sessions. Additional activities include snorkel safaris, exploration of 5,000 years of human and natural history at local sites, and nature-inspired art workshops with Robin Palmer. The festival runs from 11 to 17 May, with events priced individually.
Solstice Festival, Cornwall
The Solstice festival, an initiative recognising nature as a recording artist and using royalties to fund conservation, will take place at Trematon Castle estate over the solstice weekend for the first time this year. Overlooking the Tamar estuary, the festival features live music, immersive art installations, talks, and fire ceremonies led by performers such as the female group, Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip), and Deb Grant (6 Music DJ). Nature immersion activities include botanical guided walks, foraging sessions, and participatory workshops focused on ecology and seasonal change. This not-for-profit event will donate 100% of festival profits to nature restoration efforts. The festival runs from 19 to 22 June, with weekend tickets starting at £260 for adults only.
Goren Festival, Devon
Set across the wildflower meadows and orchards of Goren Farm near Honiton, the Goren festival is a family-friendly weekend celebration of music and nature. Pop-up stages will provide live music throughout the weekend, and attendees are encouraged to participate in creative arts through workshops, open mic sessions, and fireside gatherings. A nature zone offers activities for younger visitors, including nature trails, bat walks, wildlife stands, and a forest school. The festival runs from 3 to 5 July, with weekend tickets starting at £44 for adults and £29 for children. Camping pitches are available for £18.
Festival of Nature, Bristol
Organised by the Bristol Natural History Consortium, the Festival of Nature aims to inspire public engagement with nature and climate action through free events held in Bristol, Bath, and online. As the UK’s largest free nature festival, it offers hundreds of activities, including guided wildlife walks, river and shoreline surveys, citizen science projects, seed planting, pollinator tracking, and hands-on conservation efforts. Highlights this year include insect identification walks, family tree trails in Victoria Park, river dipping in Brislington Brook, online poetry-writing workshops, dementia-friendly allotment sessions, and a bioblitz species count at Stoke Park. The festival takes place from 6 to 14 June and is free to attend.
