The CBA and Forestry England are proud to welcome you to the launch event for the 35th Festival of Archaeology. This free family friendly event will be held at the Westonbirt Arboretum, the ideal location to explore this year's festival theme, nature.
*The event is free to enter, but does require booking - please follow the link on the right hand side of this page to reach the booking page.*
Join us for a wide range of free events and activities, including themed walks through the wonderful Arboretum landscape, experimental archaeology demonstrations, craft activities, living heritage displays and talks with some of the most exciting voices in British archaeology today.
We'll keep updating this page in the build up to the launch, but we are delighted to reveal that the following partners will be helping us launch our 2026 Festival:
Ancient Craft - experience James Dilley and Emma Jones showcasing some of the best experimental archaeology demos in the land.
Boss Morris - the Boss Morris is a group of female creatives who share an artistic and progressive vision of morris dancing as a means to increase social engagement and interest in this unique and ancient folk dance, and will be leading dance workshops.
Regia Anglorum - the local branch of this leading early medieval re-enactment group will bring their expertise and displays to the launch.
Our amazing Community space will return, in the form of a grand tipi, where archaeology, heritage and nature focused organisations will be sharing their projects, handling collections and activities.
Organised walks will be running throughout the day, exploring the landscape of Westonbirt, the history of the site, and the archaeology of the landscape.
In the Great Oak Hall, we'll be welcoming authors Susan Greaney, Wyl Menmuir, and Jonathan Mullard, who'll be talking about their recent publications, while Cathy Tattersfield will be leading us through an exploration of the folkloric songs of Gloucestershire.
Art and dendrocrhonology workshops will run throughout the day in the education rooms, while you can also visit the coppice compound, to learn about coppicing and witness a day long charcoal burn.