We’d love you to join us. Heritage Open Days is an inclusive event, encouraging different interpretations of heritage and culture around the country.
Your site or event doesn’t need to be big or fancy or boast of famous connections (although we like those things too!), it just needs to meet the four conditions below:
1. Entrance must be FREE!
If you intend to raise money over Heritage Open Days, there are various ways of doing so but admission to the main attraction of your event has to be free of charge. Running a free tour if visitors have to pay a site entrance fee doesn’t count!
2. Offer something special – one or more of the following:
- Open a site or part of a site that isn’t usually open to the public
- Launch a new online activity/event
- Offer free entry to a usually charging site/activity
- If your site is open free of charge all year round – then something out of the ordinary! Such as: have volunteer stewards on site to greet visitors and answer questions / put on some activities or a competition / invite other groups to showcase their work – eg artists, choirs, local history societies
3. Provide some form of information
Heritage Open Days visitors want to learn something new. You can support their exploration by providing:
- Guided tours
- Talks
- Info flyers
- Quizzes
- Exhibitions
- Skill demonstrations
4. Take place within the festival dates (Any day or every day!)
The festival covers ten days in early September and your event must take place at some point during this time. However, it doesn’t have to be open on all days or even for a full day.
The dates for 2024 are 6–15 September.
If you can say yes to all four criteria, just complete an ‘Expression of Interest’ form and somebody from the Events team will be in touch.