Downton Cuckoo Fair
Save the Date – Saturday 3rd May 2025
We are pleased to confirm that we are planning in earnest for the next Downton Cuckoo Fair on Saturday 3rd May 2025!
With new volunteers continuing to come forward to support the largest free event in Wiltshire, which helps local community organisations raise significant funds, we are looking forward to welcoming everyone back next year. Having taken into account feedback from the community and stallholders, and looked into what can feasibly be changed, the format will be broadly similar to recent fairs, but with some small adjustments to make the fair more manageable.
We are also delighted to thank Toomers Ltd for their very generous sponsorship of the 2025 Cuckoo Fair along with Batt Broadbent Solicitors who have kindly sponsored our Day Leaflet.
If you think you can help the fair in any way, with the planning, on the day, or with sponsorship, please don’t be shy – just contact us, we would be delighted to hear from you!
The First Round of Invitations Have Been Sent!
We are excited to share that invitations have now been sent to our stall-holders who attended our last fair in 2023! If you were there at our last fair, please keep an eye out for your invitation.
These invitations are sent out en masse, so some of your inboxes may have incorrectly flagged it as spam or junk mail, or automatically filtered it to another folder besides your main inbox, so please make sure to check all of these. If you were a stall-holder at our 2023 fair and have not received your invitation after checking all of your inbox folders, please contact us using our Existing Stallholder Enquiry Form and await a reply.
The deadline for you to send us your application, payment and supporting documents is 15th December 2024. After that date, we’ll start sending invitations to those on our waiting list and so your initial invitation may no longer be accommodated. Please have a look at Policies, Terms and Conditions & Documents for details of what documents we require.
As noted in the invitations, our website does get updated as we process your applications. If you are unsure of the status of your application, your information being present on Details of stallholders will show that we did receive and process your application. If your information needs to be updated, please request this change through Web Directory Details.
We expect to send out the final pitch allocation letters around March 2025. Please see our full Booking Timetable for all the key dates.
Please keep in mind, every application and update is processed individually by a team of volunteers, so turnaround times can vary.
Thank you for your support for our village’s special tradition, and we can’t wait to see you next year!
Information
In 2022 the Fair returned after a 3 year break. In 2019 was our fortieth anniversary with a cavalcade of Downton minis and opening by the mayor of Salisbury. In 2018 we welcomed an over 20,000 visitors to our fair, with more than 250 craft, gift, homeware and food and drink stalls on the greens and in marquees along The Borough. The Downton Cuckoo Fair offers fun for all the family including rural craft demonstrations, Punch and Judy, clowns, fairground attractions (no inflatables) in the Memorial Gardens and a produce market in the car park behind the Co-op. The perfect day out in Wiltshire!
We have a wide range of entertainment during the fair including Maypole, Morris & traditional dancers, street entertainers, Downton Brass Band, and a host of live music being performed at key venues throughout the Fair. Click for more information
There is also a wide selection of food and refreshments, along with facilities for the disabled – see our On Site Facilities
Some other events are held over the weekend – see the Weekend Programme NB most of these are held by other organisations so please direct all questions and queries directly to them
There are ample car parks available, run by voluntary organisations and charities, with mini-buses running a Park and Ride service from the Barford Lane car park. To make the most of the your visit to the fair see the ‘Visiting Us’ menu options above.
If you want to add our event to your Listing/What’s On website then please see the ‘‘Fair Use’ Policy by Third Parties eg Listing Websites’ on https://cuckoofair.co.uk/web-site-usage
Frequently Asked Questions
General
If you are a fair visitor you can still contact your favourite exhibitors and help them with their custom during this difficult time by having a look at the stall holder A-Z directory https://cuckoofair.co.uk/details-of-stallholders-produce-market
The Downton Cuckoo Fair is held on the Saturday of the first Bank Holiday in May. This is usually the first Saturday in May but sometimes can be the last Saturday in April.
In 2025 the Downton Cuckoo Fair will be held on the 3rd May 2025.
