Free family fun promised at Exeter’s Heritage Harbour Festival

Published: 22 September 2023

Exeter’s remarkable maritime history will be brought back to life this weekend with the latest in a series of festivals down on the quayside.

The Heritage Harbour Festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday (23 and 24 September) down at Exeter Quay and Canal Basin.

The free festival will celebrate the golden age of galleons and seafaring, with lots of fun for all the family.

Two days of ‘general jollification’ is how organisers are describing the event. There will be large scale traditional sailing vessels to admire including the 32m Thames barge the Snark and the relaunched fishing smack Britannia, both moored in the Canal Basin.

There will be live music and dance, cannon firing, historic quay walks with Exeter’s Red Coat Guides, trips around the city in historic cars and so much more.

Festival goers can look forward to historic talks and a lecture about the development of the harbour over five centuries, an art exhibition, musical pirates, traction engines and lots of nautical themed fun on and around the waterside.

There will also be a chance to see an outdoor screening of Onedin Line Redux with Richard DeDomenici – a low-budget remake of scenes from the famous 1970s BBC drama.

For a full programme, visit the Custom House website