Food Festival Sunday 10am to 4pm, free entry, but no trains through Farnham all day. Plus the Maltings Family Festival for £2 and Beckett on Friday night.

Two festivals fill Farnham this weekend. The Maltings has its Family Festival on Saturday. The Food Festival takes over the town centre on Sunday.

The one thing to plan around is the trains. No trains run through Farnham on Sunday, so anyone coming to the Food Festival from London or Aldershot needs another way in.

Everything below is taken from the organisers’ own pages, checked on Friday morning.

Friday 25 September

Krapp’s Last Tape, Farnham Maltings, 7.30pm. Samuel Beckett’s one-man play runs for 50 minutes with no interval in the Tindle Studio. David Westhead plays Krapp, in a production directed by Stockard Channing.

  • Tickets: £17, £15 for Maltings members, £6 for students, booking fee included
  • Book: Farnham Maltings or the box office on 01252 745444

Saturday 26 September

Family Festival, Farnham Maltings, 10am to 4.30pm. The whole building is given over to children and their families for the day. The Maltings lists circus, pottery, storytelling, printmaking, beat making, art installations and a silent disco, with activities on the front lawn.

  • Entry: £2 on the door, which covers most activities
  • Extras: face painting and balloon modelling are paid for on the day
  • Details: Farnham Maltings Family Festival

A few sessions are ticketed separately, with festival entry included:

Event Time Age Price
Nick Sharratt’s Once Upon A Drawalong, Great Hall 2pm, 75 mins 4+ £14
Out of the Box, circus comedy, Tindle Studio 10.30am or 1.30pm, 60 mins 4+ £11
Make a Scarf Marionette, New Wenham Room 10.15am, 11.45am, 1.45pm, 3.15pm All £11 adult and child, £16 adult and two children
Mythical Creatures Pottery, 3 to 7 years 10am, 60 mins 3 to 7 £13

Nick Sharratt has illustrated around 300 books, including many of Jacqueline Wilson’s. Bring pens, paper and something to lean on. Advance tickets for the youngest pottery session have sold out, but the Maltings says a few will be sold on the day.

Trains on Saturday are thinner than usual. South Western Railway is cutting some Farnham to Guildford services to run extra trains for rugby at Twickenham:

  • the xx34 Farnham to Guildford trains do not run between 0934 and 1934
  • the xx23 Guildford to Farnham trains do not run between 1023 and 2023
  • the xx04 Farnham to Guildford trains start from Aldershot between 1104 and 2004
  • the xx53 Guildford to Farnham trains stop at Aldershot between 1053 and 1953

Sunday 27 September

Farnham Food Festival, 10am to 4pm, free. More than 100 food and drink traders fill Brightwells, The Borough, East Street and the Bush Hotel Courtyard. It is the festival’s 18th year. Our Food Festival guide has the cookery stage times, the music and the trader zones.

Farnham Farmers’ Market, Central Car Park, 10am to 1pm. The monthly market runs the same morning.

Getting there:

  • No trains. SWR says the lines in the Aldershot area are closed all day for maintenance. Waterloo to Alton trains do not run. SWR advises taking a Waterloo to Basingstoke stopping train to Farnborough, where buses run to Alton via Aldershot. It does not list the bus stops. Ascot to Guildford trains via Aldershot are also replaced by buses.
  • Roads close. The Borough (East) and East Street are shut from 5am to 8pm. Drivers can still turn right at the bottom of Castle Street onto The Borough (West).
  • Free hoppa bus, 10am to 4.30pm. It runs every 15 to 20 minutes on three routes across north and south Farnham and drops you at the festival. The stops are on the town council’s festival page.
  • Parking is free. The town council says all Waverley Borough Council pay and display car parks are free on Sundays.
  • The town council’s advice is to avoid driving if you can.

What it means for you

  • Going to the Food Festival from outside town? Drive and park early, or use the hoppa from the edge of Farnham. Do not plan on the train.
  • Got young children? Saturday at the Maltings is the cheaper day out. £2 gets most of it.
  • Driving through on Saturday morning? Castle Street’s overnight closures should end at 6am. Our roadworks page has the latest.

Sources