Stansted Summer Festival

Napoleonic Living History Camp

Experience history in action as the largest gathering of Napoleonic reenactors in the UK join us for the festival weekend. Stroll around the Living History Camp and experience the sights and smells of back-to-basics living, from baking bread and open fire cooking to needle crafts. Watch cavalry drills and musket fire, the Changing of the Guard on the Mansion forecourt and mock battles. Try your hand at Archery and see how we lived over 200 years ago!

Live Music & Performances

Relax in a deckchair with your favourite drink and enjoy a selection of local bands within the intimate setting of the South Lawn. Hear vintage sounds from the fantastic Amy Baker and the Langstone Big Band and Dawn Gracie of Dawns Vintage Do’s, rock out with the eccentrically Edwardian Iron Boot Scrapers, Samba showmen Tuto Tribe and funk and soul powerhouse The Brassholes Brass Band. Feel the beat of the captivating Batala Drummers Portsmouth. Be absorbed by the classic sounds of the Emsworth Concert Band and Hampshire Caledonian Pipe Band and watch the Immersive Dance Co.

Forest School

Visit Mikey's Forest School in a small corner of woodland where activities include natural den building, fire lighting, relaxing in the hammocks and toasting marshmallows over the campfire. Create art from natural materials and have a quiet moment away from the festival action in the peaceful surrounds of the Orange Grove.

The Stansted Safari, Yew Maze and Light Railway

Included in your Summer Festival ticket is the Stansted Park Safari, Yew Maze and Miniature Railway. Take the ‘Safari’ ride across the estate in the Tractor Trailer and see what wildlife you can spot along the way, get lost in the Yew Maze or take a peaceful journey around the Arboretum on the Light Railway. Your wrist band allows you to exit and re-enter the festival site to visit these activities, plus the Pavilion Tearooms, Garden Centre and Farm Shop as many times during the day as you want!

Market Avenue, Food & Drink

Browse Market Avenue, where you will find a carefully selected range of local traders with unique or handcrafted items.

On the South Lawn you'll discover delicious food and drink vendors - from Hog Roast and Gyros to posh Toasties and Pizza - Pull up a deckchair and soak up the atmosphere with your favourite tipple, barista coffee or Pimms, with slush and bubble tea for the kids (and grown up kids!).

Family Games & Activities

Perfect your circus skills at the Crazee Hazee tent and watch classic Punch & Judy shows, balloon animals and be wowed by Marco the Magician's unbelievable tricks! Find a range of family activities, from classic lawn games like croquet, tennis and bowling to our special Stansted Park themed Mini Golf course! Have a quiet moment out to listen to the Story Teller or help the Scouts fire water powered rockets and tomahawks, play hook a duck, giant Jenga and giant Connect 4.

Parks and Woodland Display

Come and see some of the Stansted Park machinery on display and find out about the work that we do to maintain the 476 hectares of woodland on the estate. You will have the opportunity to meet the Forestry Team - including Head Forester Michael Prior - and ask questions about woodland management.

Virtually all of the woodland is within the Historic Parks boundary and is part of the designed landscape. Stansted’s parkland is managed under Natural England’s Higher Level Stewardship Scheme and a long term management plan approved by the Forestry Commission, which ensures work is sympathetic with the landscape and environment alongside timber production.

Classic & Vintage Vehicles

Love cars and bikes? See a range of classic vehicles on the lawn in front of Stansted House and cheer on as Veteran Motorbike Riders do laps on the Forecourt. The RCT Rider are a Veterans motorcycle enthusiasts’ group formed to support those who suffer from injury, mental and physical illnesses. They organise meetings, ride outs, or just groan at terrible jokes! Their main ethos is that of remembrance and respect. They are self-funded and any money raised through donations and fundraisers goes direct to where it will do the most good.

You will also find the Veteran Cycle Club, whose display is based on a fictitious bicycle shop covering the period 1940s to early 1960’s You’ll see vintage cycles, tools, boxes and signs from the first half of the 20th century and a selection of bikes, including one belonging to the winner of the 1935 Tour de France!

Field Gun Sport Display

Stansted Park is home to the UK Field Gun Academy who have revived the Field Gun Sport for a new generation. Watch in awe as teams race to compete against each other and the clock by pushing, pulling, carrying and lifting the gun and limber over an obstacles course. The sport originated when Queen Victoria gave the sailors of her fleet the privilege of marching through London with their guns on display. One thing led to another and before too long it turned into a sport where crews would race against each other.