The 2011 Cotswold Festival

The Festival

This is the third Cotswold Festival since 2007, and this year it is bigger and better than ever before. 

The Theme for the 2011 Festival is "See Life in 17th Century Stow" which promises to provide lots of family fun & entertainment for all, as we celebrate Cotswold life, crafts and history. We hope as many people as possible will wear period costume, which is available to buy or hire. 

We hope to attract many local visitors and tourists to an exciting event providing family fun & entertainment for all. As well as the many special activities taking place during the Festival, we hope you will enjoy visiting our wonderful local shops. We expect that they will have many new visitors during the Festival, who will become regular customers having seen what excellent products and friendly service are on offer.

Proceeds from the Festival will support the following local charities:

• Stow Youth Club
• The Stow Branch of the Royal British Legion Welfare Fund
• North Cotswolds Voluntary Help Centre

The Festival will take place over three days:

• Antiques Day - Friday 16th
• SAT 17 Sept 9.30 - 17.00
• SUN 18 Sept 10.00 - 16.00

Please click on the links above to see details of the programme for each day.

Cotswold Festival Programmes will be available from the middle of August from Go-Stow, price £1.50. There will be a Lucky Programme number prize of £100 on both Saturday and Sunday, sponsored by Stow on the Wold Tescos.

English Civil War Re-enactment

The last battle of the first English Civil War took place near and in Stow in 1646. We are really excited about the Civil War Re-enactment which will take place on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the Cricket Ground.

Tickets for the Sealed Knot display are £5 for Adults (over 16), £2.50 children (5-16) and free for under 5s. A family ticket for £15 will admit two adults and up to 4 children aged 5-16. Tickets in the form of wrist bands can be bought from the Go-Stow Information Stall in Stow Square during the Festival weekend

Activities around Stow's Town Square

On both days, in The Square, there will be a street market, a Living History Exhibition and an an arena with live music from Stiff Upper Lip, Short and Sweet, The Stow Baptist Church Group and the Cotswold School Band, the Silver Bough strolling players & Morris dancing

Treasure Hunt

A Treasure Hunt will take you on a stroll round the byways of Stow, where you can find many interesting shops and eateries. A draw for the winner of the Treasure Hunt will take place on both Saturday and Sunday. The winners will receive a family ticket to Cotswold Farm Park plus £25 spending money.

Crafts and Memorabilia

There will be demonstrations of traditional crafts in St. Edwards Church and in St. Edwards Hall, there will be an exhibition of Civil War memorabilia with expert knowledge provided by the Stow Civic Society.

Barn Dance

On Saturday evening there will be a Barn dance in The Square to the music of the Silver Bough band and caller.


For more details, visit their website at http://www.cotswoldfestival.com/index.php

Cheltenham Literature Festival, Oct. 8-17

The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival returns in a celebration of award-winning writers, world-renowned thinkers and international star names – with more than 450 events over the ten day Festival.

Once more the Festival welcomes a range of Guest Directors who have each programmed a dynamic series of events. Kevin McCloud explores architecture and design, Will Hutton investigates finance, China Miéville shares the best of future fiction, Mary Beard brings to life ancient Greece and Rome and Owen Sheers puts poetry centre-stage.

Welcoming over 2,000 literary lovers for each event, the Centaur Series on the opening weekend promises some of the biggest names in popular culture and current affairs – including Armstrong & Miller, Peter Mandelson, Stephen Hawking, Graham Norton and Hollywood superstar Michael Caine.

At its heart the Festival rejoices in the joy of books, the thrill of debate and the unique interaction between writer and reader and this year welcomes some true literary legends. Salman Rushdie, A S Byatt, Jostein Gaarder, Philip Pullman and Adrian Mole author Sue Townsend all feature, amongst many others!

A host of small screen stars will also flock to Cheltenham this October - Dawn French, Gok Wan, Chris Evans, Kirstie Allsopp, Dom Joly and Harry Hill are just a few of the big names to spot; alongside our series celebrating culinary genius, with Nigella Lawson, Antonio Carluccio and Saturday Kitchen regular Olly Smith – a truly tasty line-up!

Also, don’t forget Book It! – the festival for younger readers at the heart of the programme with fun, exciting and surprising events every day of the Festival.

Please join us on 8-17 October 2010 - the full programme is now available to book online.  For all details and bookings, visit: http://cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature/