High summer is Exmoor at its most sociable. The hay is in, the show marquees are going up, and every village green from Exford to Challacombe seems to have a skittle alley, a tea tent or a brass band on the go. It’s the season when the National Park stops being simply a landscape to walk through and becomes a place to join in — cheering on a gun dog scurry, tasting a local grower’s tomatoes on a closed-off street, or lying back on a picnic rug while somebody explains the stars overhead.
Below is our roundup of what’s on across Exmoor and the West Somerset coast between now and early September 2026. Almost everything here is within half an hour of one of our cottages, so you can wander home from the show ring, kick off your boots and light the woodburner — because even in August, Exmoor evenings have a habit of turning cool.
What’s On in Exmoor This Summer
1. Dunster’s Big Days: Country Fair & Dunster Show
If you only make it to one corner of Exmoor for an event this summer, make it Dunster. The village hosts two of the season’s headline gatherings, both played out against the storybook backdrop of Dunster Castle.
Dunster Country Fair — 29 July
A proper family day out with something for every age. The main ring is the heart of it, with entertainment running all day and grassy slopes where visitors settle in to watch, the castle rising behind them. Elsewhere you’ll find ferret racing, hound shows, falconry displays, craft exhibits and a Punch and Judy show for the little ones.
Dunster Show — 21 August
West Somerset’s premier agricultural show and one of the great one-day shows of the West of England, held on the lawns below Dunster Castle. Expect a lively food and craft marquee, trade stands selling everything from jewellery to a new Land Rover, competitive showing classes and main ring entertainment that keeps the crowds on the rail all afternoon. A fixture in local diaries and a must-visit for holidaymakers.
Stay in Dunster
2. Village Shows & Moorland Gatherings
This is the heart of an Exmoor summer: small shows run by the communities that farm this landscape, where the prize marrows matter and the tea tent is as much of a draw as the show ring.
Brompton Regis Show & Gymkhana — 8 August
Showjumping, showing and gymkhana classes, a family dog show and a gun dog scurry, plus flower, vegetable, cookery, handicraft and egg competitions for the serious growers. Children get their own area with games, activities, face painting and a bouncy castle, while grown-ups gravitate towards the barbecue, licensed bar and stalls of plants and produce. There’s an Auction of Promises and a raffle too.
Exford Show — 12 August
A celebration of everything that makes Exmoor special, with the finest local horses, Exmoor ponies and sheep on show alongside craft and trade stands, local food and drink, and that very special local ice cream. The setting alone is worth the trip: views north over the Exe Valley towards Dunkery and south to Molland Common by way of Withypool Hill.
Exford & Simonsbath Flower & Produce Show & Fete — Saturday 29 August
Exford Village Green comes alive from 1.30pm with a large show marquee, a barbecue, skittles, children’s races, a tea tent, local stallholders, family activities and an auction of produce. Stay on into the evening for live band Jack the Lads from 7.30pm. A lovely, unhurried bank holiday Saturday — note that no dogs are permitted on the green.
Challacombe Sheepdog Trials & Family Dog Show — 5 September
Sheepdog trials get under way at 10am at Whitefield Barton, followed by the family dog show at 1pm. Around the edges there are stalls, side shows, an exhibition of old photographs, flower arranging and skittles competitions, and refreshments to keep you going. Watching a good dog work the moor sheep is one of the quiet pleasures of an Exmoor September.
Stay near Exford, Brompton Regis & Challacombe
3. Food, Music & Festivals on the Coast
Minehead has two of the summer’s most enjoyable days out, both free-spirited, both firmly rooted in the local community.
eat:Minehead Food Festival — Sunday 9 August, 10am–4pm
The Avenue closes to traffic and fills up with the very best of West Somerset eating and drinking. It’s a brilliant way to meet the growers, makers and producers working the land around Minehead: farmers’ market favourites, street food, treat food, fine crafts, community groups, cafes and bars. The line-up always includes plenty of gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian and alcohol-free options, so nobody goes hungry.
Minehead Bay Festival — 29 August
Art, culture, music and fun on Minehead’s handsome seafront. Running since 2022 and produced by the Minehead and Coast Development Trust together with the people of Minehead, the festival brings the local community and visitors together for a day of live music and creativity by the sea — a perfect bank holiday weekend fixture.
Stay in Minehead
4. Theatre & Live Performance
Three very different nights out, from a one-woman drama about wartime treason to Shakespeare hijacked by a witch and a knight who can’t quite manage heroism.
Careless Talk, Watchet — 1 August
The only British person tried and charged with treason during the Second World War takes to the stage for the first time. Was Mabel a collaborator, a visionary, or simply an outsider — the victim of a witch hunt, or of her own uncompromising nature? You’ll meet her on Sandown Beach with her secateurs, her sequined tassels and her heartfelt, if misguided, self-belief. Based on the novel Careless Talk by James Friel, shortlisted for the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize.
Dame Heccatty Weirdsister and the Instruments of Darkness do Macbeth, Watchet — 15 August
Take a string quartet, add a production of Macbeth, then hand the whole story over to Heccatty, chief witch. The result is a gloriously bonkers, wonderfully gothic evening of live music and theatre in which the audience helps assemble a cast to make the RSC proud. Beginner-friendly Shakespeare with the Mavron quartet as her Instruments of Darkness — genuinely funny, and a great introduction to chamber music for younger theatregoers.
Outdoor Theatre: King Arthur & The Holy Fail, Dunster — 15 August
In a land of daring quests, dashing knights and endless jousting, there lived a would-be hero waiting in the wings. When Camelot is rocked to its core by a tragic — and frankly improbable — incident involving a large table of undisclosed shape, Arthur is thrust into the quest of a lifetime. Will he battle through blistering cold and scorching fire to save his realm, or crumble when fate refuses to cooperate? Bring a rug, a cushion and a picnic.
Stay near Watchet & Dunster
5. Guided Walks & Exmoor Stories
Some of the best hours you can spend on Exmoor are in the company of someone who knows a particular valley inside out. This summer’s guided walks come with mining history, farming family sagas, a mathematician’s lost garden and the footsteps of Exmoor’s most famous chronicler.
West Somerset Mineral Line — Chargot Woods — 2 August
Walk leader Phil Gannon — a chartered building surveyor in West Somerset for thirty-two years, and formerly a member of the Exmoor Mines Research Group — leads a tour into the industrial past of the Brendon Hills. An hour’s gentle stroll to Langham engine house is followed by a two-hour walk down the steep miners’ track to the Bearland Flue and other iron-mining features, with the possibility of visiting Burrow Farm engine house or Kennisham Hill.
Historic Walk around Luxborough — 16 August
A hundred years of farming in one remote Exmoor village, told by walk leader Brian Scott using notes by EF Williams. The Scott family probably arrived in Luxborough from North Devon in the 16th century and worked as shepherds for the Knights, ending up at Butcher’s Farm in the 1920s when the Chargot Estate was sold. Expect stories of mining, timber — and bombs. Dogs welcome on a lead; booking is required, so do check the event page for details.
The Lost Picturesque Landscape of Ada Lovelace, Porlock — 4 September
Graeme McVittie, Senior Woodland Officer for the Exmoor National Park Authority and involved in managing woodland at Culbone for over 25 years, leads this walk along the South West Coast Path from Ashley Combe Lodge to Culbone Church. Together you’ll explore the surviving features of the extensive picturesque landscape laid out here by the mathematician’s family — with a forester’s practical eye on how such a place is recovered and conserved.
Hope Bourne Guided Walk in Withypool — 7 September
Follow in the footsteps of the novelist and artist Hope Bourne around Withypool, taking in some of her favourite views. Walk leader Lisa Eden, an Exmoor Society Trustee who oversees the archive and works closely with the Hope Bourne collection, shares stories from her remarkable life on the moor. A moderate walk with some rough and steep ground underfoot, possibly extending onto Withypool Hill if weather and time allow, with optional refreshments in Withypool afterwards.
Stay near Luxborough, Porlock & Withypool
6. On the Water & Under the Stars
Summer at Wimbleball Lake, Brompton Regis — until 27 August
Wimbleball’s action-packed summer programme suits all ages and abilities, with paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing, sailing, high ropes and eFoiling on offer. Children can go all in with a Multi-Activity Week, and there are two-day RYA sailing courses for both children and adults. Hire equipment, launch your own kit, or book an instructor-led session and learn something new. Equally, it’s a wonderful spot simply to sit, watch the resident wildlife and let a hot afternoon drift by.
Summer Night Star Gazing at Triscombe Farm — 15 August
Exmoor’s famously dark skies aren’t only a winter treat. On 15 August, bring your own savoury picnic to Summer Night Star Gazing at Triscombe Farm — dessert and drinks are provided — and settle in for an evening under the stars. Children get their own star-gazing stories in the planetarium dome, which makes this an easy one for families with younger astronomers.
