Castles, Choirs & Carnivals

Good Morning Cheshire! 👋 

This is a carnival of an issue. Bolesworth Castle turns into a three-day festival village, Anderton Boat Lift kicks off it’s big summer and Clonter serves up a full weekend of opera near Congleton. Add Chester Races, a brand new summer festival launching at Chester Cathedral, and Warrington’s Arts Festival and there’s barely a corner of the county without something going on. Here’s what’s worth putting in the diary.

Let’s dive in!

Jump to:FriSatSunRest of Week

🎉 What’s On In Cheshire

🗓️ Fri · 24 July

🚐 Dubbed Out Festival
Thu 23-Sun 26 Jul, Royal Cheshire Showground, Tabley, near Knutsford
The North West’s biggest VW campervan family festival, with big top tents, live bands and DJs including Utah Saints, Republica and D:Ream.
👉 Details

🎪 Wilmslow Street Fest
Fri 24 Jul, 5pm-9pm, Bank Square, Wilmslow
A free family food, drink and music festival taking over the square in the town centre.
👉 Details

🦌 Exhibition Wildlife Art 2026
Fri 24-Sun 26 Jul, Fri/Sat 9:30am-6pm, Sun 10:30am-5pm, Gordale Garden & Home Centre, Burton
Now in its 22nd year, over 600 original works from 50 wildlife artists, from paintings and pencil drawings to sculpture, with the chance to meet the artists behind the pieces. Free admission.
👉 Details

🔭 Planetarium Show: Summer Activities
Runs to Fri 24 Jul, 12:30pm & 3pm, Catalyst, Widnes
An immersive family planetarium show, “We Are Aliens”, narrated by Rupert Grint, exploring the hunt for life beyond Earth.
👉 Details

🎪 Pigments
Fri 24 Jul, 5pm, Bank Park, Warrington
A large-scale aerial spectacle from CirkVOST, part of Warrington Arts Festival. Free, unticketed.
👉 Details

🎭 OperaFest: Public Dress Rehearsal
Fri 24 Jul, 7:30pm, Clonter Opera Theatre, near Congleton
A preview of this summer’s operatic highlights show, ideal for opera first-timers, with an outside bar and street food.
👉 Details

🗓️ Sat · 25 July

🎶 Windystock 2026
Sat 25 Jul, midday-11pm, Windyway Head Farm, Macclesfield
A family-friendly outdoor music festival raising funds for Windyways Animal Trust, with over 12 acts across the day in a field with stunning Cheshire views.
👉 Details

🇵🇭 Cheshire East Filipino Barrio Fiesta
Sat 25 Jul, 10am-6pm, Queens Park, Crewe
Filipino food, live music, dance and cultural performances, now in its third year with celebrity guests from the Philippines. Free entry.
👉 Details

🏇 Chester Races: Midsummer Meeting
Sat 25 Jul, Chester Racecourse
A full afternoon of racing at Britain’s oldest racecourse, with the usual Roodee atmosphere and summer sunshine hoped for.
👉 Details

🛡️ Wirral Vikings at Chester Cathedral
Sat 25 Jul, 10am-4pm, Chester Cathedral
Merseyside’s largest Viking, Anglo-Saxon and Norman reenactment group demonstrate period crafts and living history in the Cloisters. Free to enter most of the year, though a small admission fee of around £3 applies during peak summer periods.
👉 Details

🎺 Ska Day Party: Warrington
Sat 25 Jul, 3pm-8pm, Level Vodka Bar and Nightclub, Warrington
An afternoon of ska anthems and 2-Tone classics from The Specials to Madness, with a checkerboard, brass-heavy atmosphere. 18+.
👉 Details

🏇 Starsailor + Special Guests
Sat 25 Jul, doors 6pm, Old Market Square, Warrington
A homecoming show from the Wigan-formed indie rock band, playing fan favourites including Alcoholic and Four to the Floor in an open-air setting. 16+.
👉 Details

⛪ Chester Cathedral: Summer
Sat 25 Jul-Mon 31 Aug, Chester Cathedral and city-wide
A new summer festival turning the cathedral into a place to rest and play, with a giant marble run, a climbing wall, deckchairs and twilight experiences, plus activities at ten locations across the city.
👉 Details

🏺 Archaeology in the Park
Sat 25 Jul, 10:30am-4pm, Grosvenor Park, Chester
A free drop-in event uncovering discoveries from the University of Chester’s training excavation in the park.
👉 Details

🍔 Hoole Community BBQ Fundraiser
Sat 25 Jul, 3pm-9pm, Hoole Community Centre, Chester
Live music from Rob McDonagh, Chester Ukes, Russ and Helen, and Ben Stafford, plus the Creepy Crawly Show, a fully stocked bar, children’s crafts, giant games and a raffle, raising funds for the community centre.
👉 Details

🌻 Family Garden Party
Sat 25 Jul, 1pm, Queen’s Gardens, Warrington
A free family event as part of Warrington Arts Festival.
👉 Details

🌍 The Planet Awakens
Sat 25 Jul-Fri 7 Aug, Catalyst, Widnes
A hands-on workshop exploring how scientists are working to understand and address environmental change.
👉 Details

🐑 The Sheep Detectives
Sat 25-Sun 26 Jul, Storyhouse Cinema, Chester
A PG-rated family film screening over the weekend.
👉 Details

🗓️ Sun · 26 July

🚤 Canal Town Summer Sundays
Sun 26 Jul, 10am-4pm, National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port
Costumed guides bring the docks to life with lock and engine demos, part of this summer’s horse boating and canal music theme.
👉 Details

👑 Enchanted Afternoons: The Princess Concert
Sun 26 Jul, Chester Cathedral
A theatrical concert where six princesses perform pop hits by Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Dua Lipa and more, aimed at younger fans. Exact time still marked TBA on the ticketing page, worth confirming before print.
👉 Details

🎭 OperaFest: Matinee
Sun 26 Jul, 3pm, Clonter Opera Theatre, near Congleton
The full Operafest programme performed as a Sunday matinee, with post-show afternoon tea available to pre-order.
👉 Details

🧺 Community Picnic in the Park
Sun 26 Jul, 12pm-4pm, St Helena’s Field, Knutsford
An outdoor Rapunzel performance, a community dog show, a climbing wall and free family entertainment. Free entry.
👉 Details

🗓️ REST OF THE WEEK

🏕️ Adventure Days at Petty Pool
From Mon 27 Jul, 8:30am-4pm, Venturewood at Petty Pool, Sandiway
A full day of outdoor fun for children aged 6-13, no experience needed, running through the summer holidays to 14 August.
👉 Details

🐣 Summer of Adventure at the Farm
Tue 28 Jul-Fri 28 Aug, 11am-4pm, Tatton Park, Knutsford
Meet new hatchlings, say hello to Little Grey Fergie the tractor, and enjoy farmyard storytelling sessions. Closed Mondays.
👉 Details

🏛️ Old Hall Open Days
Tue 28-Wed 29 Jul, 12pm-4pm, Tatton Park, Knutsford
Explore Tatton’s oldest surviving building, with space for a family picnic and outdoor games in the grounds.
👉 Details

🎵 Music Train on the Mid Cheshire Line
Thu 30 Jul, departs Chester 6:56pm, to the Golden Pheasant, Plumley
Live music from Lynchpins at one of the Music Train’s regular haunts, with the train leaving Chester and returning later that evening.
👉 Details

🏹 Outlaws: A Robin Hood Story
Running to 23 Aug, evenings, Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester
Storyhouse’s Ocean’s Eleven-style reimagining of Robin Hood continues its run in the park.
👉 Details

🧺 LOCAL CRAFT MARKETS

• Congleton Makers Market – Sat 25 Jul, 10am-4pm | 👉 Details

• Treacle Market Macclesfield – Sun 26 Jul, 10am-3:30pm | 👉 Details

🗓️ DATES FOR THE DIARY

• Mid Cheshire Charity Scooter Rally & Beer Festival – Fri 31 Jul-Sat 1 Aug | Moss Farm, Northwich 👉 Details

• Northwich Car Show – Sat 1 Aug | 👉 Details

• Lady Heyes Car Boot Sale – Sat 1 Aug | Frodsham 👉 Details

• Just So Festival – Fri 21-Sun 23 Aug | Rode Hall, near Congleton 👉 Details

💎 Hidden Gem: Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, Nantwich

Hack Green doesn’t look like much from the road, mostly concealed by a large green mound as you approach the site, with guard posts and stern signage the only real clue to what’s underneath. That’s rather the point. For over five decades this was one of the country’s best kept secrets, and it’s now one of Cheshire’s strangest days out.

The site’s history runs deeper than the Cold War it’s best known for. In 1941, Hack Green was a Starfish decoy site, lighting controlled fires to trick German bombers into missing the real target, Crewe’s railway junction.

Through the 1950s it became RAF Hack Green, one of just 21 fixed radar stations in the country tracking Soviet threats. After the RAF moved on, the Home Office converted it into a Regional Government Headquarters, a 35,000 square foot underground complex rebuilt in the 1980s at a cost of over £32 million, ready to run the country from beneath a Cheshire field if nuclear war ever broke out. It was declassified in 1993 and opened as a museum five years later.

Inside, the numbered self-guided tour takes you through a genuine labyrinth: a cypher room, a BBC broadcast studio, dormitories, decontamination facilities, and a cinema showing “The War Game,” the government film about nuclear attack that was banned from broadcast for two decades.

There’s also a real nuclear weapons display, including two decommissioned WE.177 bombs. It’s a lot to take in, and it leans further into general military history than some visitors expect, but the atmosphere of the bunker itself is genuinely hard to shake.

Practical bits:

• Start point: Hack House Lane, Baddington, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 8BL

• Distance: Self-guided tour through the underground complex, no fixed route length

• Terrain: Multiple underground levels connected by corridors and stairs, some areas present mobility challenges

• Accessibility: Pushchair friendly in most areas, but not fully wheelchair accessible throughout, worth calling ahead if this matters to you

• Time: Allow 2 to 3 hours

• Opening: Generally 10am to 4pm, but days of operation vary through the year, check the website before travelling as there’s no public transport nearby

• Food and drink: On-site NAAFI canteen and picnic spaces

🔗 Visit Hack Green

That’s it for this week.

Thanks for reading The Cheshire Buzz! See you next Thursday – same time, same inbox.