Heritage Open Days is England’s largest festival of history and culture. Every year in September it brings people together to celebrate their heritage, community and history … stories are told, traditions explored, and histories are brought to life. It offers the public a chance to see properties that are normally closed to the public and learn more about the history of the area – all for free!
The theme for 2026 was ‘Everyday Histories’, presented by leading family history website, Findmypast. With billions of historical records and detail-packed newspaper archives from every corner of England, Findmypast is the perfect resource to help you research family and local history.
This year, over the weekend of Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th September, we had a fantastic 10 properties take part in Heritage Open Weekend, 8 of which are not normally open to the public. We also hosted an Exhibition of the Settle – Carlisle Railway line to celebrate its 150th Anniversary of passenger transport, which was very well received. The Tourist Information Centre received almost 400 visitors in just two days. They distributed around 200 leaflets; sending some down the Settle-Carlisle line and circulating them to other TICs in the area.
Several local groups, Appleby Archaeology, Cumbria Vernacular Buildings Group and Appleby-in-Westmorland Society, teamed up to provide a one-off exhibition in Appleby Public Hall, which was very successful and resulted in a few new members signing up. Local historian, Richard McGregor, gave a number of talks in the Supper Room, two related to tracing family history and genealogy.
The Masonic Hall is always a popular site, and the volunteers certainly helped make it special this year. They gave visitors individual tours and lots of information about both the building and the Freemasons.
Appleby Creamery held a cheese market in the Cloisters, as this is historically where the dairy market took place. Their cheese tasting went down a treat, and their young (and very well dressed) assistants did a tremendous job – no one was getting away without a sale! Maurice, the Managing Director, said ‘The Cloisters were used to sell cheese and butter, but not before 10am, to prevent potential customers trying to get in early when the vendors were en-route. It was great to bring back a traditional market, even just for a day.’
We would like to thank everyone who opened their properties and volunteered over the weekend, it was an incredible showcase of the heritage and history that Appleby has to offer. Castle Bank had almost 150 visitors and raised over £400 for Appleby Smarter with their tea and cake sales! One visitor even commented ‘we want to move in’!