The Best Autumn Food Festivals in Kent 2026
Kent's orchards, vineyards, hop farms and coastal towns provide the ingredients for a brilliant calendar of food and drink festivals every autumn.
From enormous seaside food festivals filled with independent producers to apple celebrations, vineyard harvest weekends and festivals dedicated to Kent's famous hops, beer and cider, September and October are two of the best months to discover the flavours of the Garden of England.
Whether you want to sample local produce in Broadstairs, celebrate the hop harvest in Faversham or discover hundreds of beers and ciders aboard a heritage railway, here is our guide to the best autumn food festivals in Kent in 2026.
Last updated: 11 August 2026
1. Broadstairs Autumn Food Festival
Address: Victoria Gardens, 5-6 Victoria Parade, Broadstairs, Kent CT10 1QL
Dates: Friday 2 to Sunday 4 October 2026
Festival type: Food, drink, street food and local produce festival
Opening times: Friday and Saturday, 10am to 6pm; Sunday, 10am to 5pm
Admission: Free
Booking: Not required for general festival entry
Dogs: Registered assistance dogs only within the festival site
Best for: The best all-round autumn food festival in Kent
Why visit: Broadstairs Autumn Food Festival is one of Kent's biggest dedicated celebrations of independent food and drink, bringing around 100 stalls to Victoria Gardens overlooking the sea.
Visitors can browse everything from artisan bread, pastries, preserves and pickles to Kent cider, wine, spirits and freshly prepared street food. The festival places a strong emphasis on independent and regional producers, giving visitors the chance to sample products and speak directly to the people who make them.
There is also live music on the bandstand, chef demonstrations, workshops and free family activities within the festival marquee. Vegetarian, vegan and dairy-free options are represented among the food traders.
The location is a major part of the appeal. Victoria Gardens sits directly above the Broadstairs coastline, making it easy to combine the festival with Viking Bay, the town centre, independent shops and pubs.
Visit Kent Guide tip: Arrive by train and turn it into a full Broadstairs day out. The festival is within walking distance of the station, and avoiding the car is useful when thousands of visitors descend on the town over the weekend.
2. Faversham Hop Festival
Address: Faversham town centre, centred around Market Place, Faversham, Kent ME13 7AH
Dates: Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 2026
Festival type: Hop harvest, beer, street food and town festival
Opening times: Events run throughout both days; individual stages and venues have their own schedules
Admission: Main festival free to attend; some individual experiences may be charged
Booking: Not required for general festival entry
Best for: Kent food and drink heritage and one of the county's biggest autumn atmospheres
Why visit: Faversham Hop Festival is one of the most distinctively Kentish events of the year, celebrating the town's historic connection with hop growing and brewing. The 2026 festival takes place across the town centre on 5 and 6 September.
Market Place, Preston Street, West Street, East Street and other central areas fill with beer stands, food traders, independent stalls and several stages of live music. There are also traditional processions, Morris dancing, historic vehicles and family entertainment.
Beer is naturally a major part of the weekend. CAMRA operates a street bar serving cask beer from Kent breweries alongside Kent-produced cider, while local pubs and breweries become part of the wider celebration.
It is much larger than a conventional beer festival and works equally well for visitors interested in food, local history, music or simply exploring Faversham when the entire town is filled with activity.
Visit Kent Guide tip: Use the train. Faversham station is only a short walk from the town centre, and the festival spreads across several normally busy streets. There is little reason to bring a car if you are arriving from elsewhere in Kent or London.
One of the best festivals in Autumn: Faversham Hop Festival
3. Brogdale Apple Fair
Address: Brogdale Collections, Brogdale Farm, Brogdale Road, Faversham, Kent ME13 8XZ
Dates: Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October 2026
Festival type: Apple harvest, tastings and pick your own
Opening times: 10am to 4pm; last entry 3pm
Admission: Adults £16; under-16s free
Booking: Advance booking available and recommended
Parking: Free
Best for: Apples, Kent orchard heritage and families
Why visit: Brogdale's Apple Fair is one of the most appropriate autumn festivals imaginable for the Garden of England.
Brogdale is home to the National Fruit Collection, and the Apple Fair gives visitors the opportunity to discover rare and heritage apple varieties that are rarely, if ever, found in supermarkets.
The weekend includes apple tastings, fruit displays, talks, guided tours of the National Fruit Collection, tractor tours, children's apple juicing and orchard crafts. Visitors can also head into selected orchards to pick fruit themselves.
Every adult ticket includes a tote bag that can be filled with up to 4kg of apples from the orchard. The first 1,000 adult tickets also include an apple recipe book. Under-16s enter free.
There is a café and gift shop at Brogdale, together with free parking and accessible toilets. Dogs are not allowed in the orchards.
Visit Kent Guide tip: This is the one to choose if you want a genuinely seasonal harvest experience rather than simply rows of food stalls. Allow enough time to explore the orchards rather than arriving close to the 3pm last-entry time.
Brogdale Apple Fair
4. Balfour Winery Harvest Celebration
Address: Balfour Winery, Five Oak Lane, Staplehurst, Kent TN12 0HT
Dates: Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 2026
Festival type: English wine, harvest, food and live music
Opening times: 12pm to 7pm
Tickets: £45 per person; free children's tickets can be added when booking
Booking: Advance booking recommended
Parking: Free, with a complimentary shuttle from Marden station
Best for: English wine and an adult-focused harvest day out
Why visit: Balfour Winery's Harvest Celebration marks the beginning of the grape harvest with two days of wine, food and music across its Kent estate.
Each adult ticket includes a welcome glass of wine, a festival glass to keep and free guided tours of the estate. The event runs from midday until 7pm on both Saturday and Sunday.
Food includes barbecue dishes, pizza, oysters and other seasonal options, while live bands and DJs perform throughout the weekend. Separate wine masterclasses and more detailed tasting experiences can also be booked.
The wider Hush Heath Estate contains vineyards, orchards, woodland and meadows, making the setting an important part of the experience. A free shuttle runs from Marden railway station, while free parking is available for visitors driving to the winery.
Children are permitted, but Balfour makes clear that the festival is centred around wine and food and has relatively limited children's entertainment.
Visit Kent Guide tip: Use the complimentary Marden station shuttle if you plan to properly explore the wines. It removes the need for a designated driver and Marden has direct rail connections towards London.
Balfour Winery Harvest
5. Spa Valley Railway Real Ale & Cider Festival
Address: Tunbridge Wells West Station, Nevill Terrace, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN2 5QY, with additional festival sites at Groombridge and Eridge
Dates: Thursday 15 to Sunday 18 October 2026
Festival type: Real ale, cider, green-hop beer, food and heritage railway festival
Admission: Festival entry free
Train tickets: Adults from £20 for one-day unlimited travel; children travel free with the applicable ticket conditions
Booking: Festival entry does not require a ticket; train travel can be booked in advance
Dogs: Welcome, subject to railway rules
Best for: Beer and cider lovers and one of Kent's most unusual food-and-drink events
Why visit: Spa Valley Railway's Real Ale & Cider Festival is much more than a conventional beer tent.
The 2026 festival will feature around 230 real ales, approximately 40 Kent Green Hop beers, 14 keg beers and 80 ciders, spread across Tunbridge Wells West, Groombridge and Eridge stations.
Visitors can enter the festival sites for free or purchase a railway ticket and travel between them aboard heritage trains. Bars are also available on board selected trains, making the railway itself part of the experience.
Food at Tunbridge Wells West is due to include barbecue, Thai food and cakes, with pizza and other refreshments available elsewhere along the line. Live music will operate at the different stations, with the final 2026 line-up due to be announced in September.
The event is particularly important to Kent's autumn food-and-drink calendar because of its Green Hop beers. These are brewed with freshly harvested Kent hops rather than dried hops, making them available for only a short period around the harvest.
Visit Kent Guide tip: Start at Tunbridge Wells West rather than one of the smaller stations. It is the main festival hub and only around a ten-minute walk from Tunbridge Wells mainline station.
6. Brogdale Pear Weekend
Address: Brogdale Collections, Brogdale Farm, Brogdale Road, Faversham, Kent ME13 8XZ
Dates: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September 2026
Festival type: Pear harvest, fruit tasting and orchard festival
Opening times: 10am to 4pm; last entry 3pm
Tickets: Adult tickets currently listed from £10; under-16s free
Booking: Available online
Parking: Free
Best for: An unusual family harvest festival
Why visit: New for 2026, Brogdale's Pear Weekend celebrates one of Kent's less celebrated but equally important orchard crops.
The National Fruit Collection contains more than 500 pear varieties, and the weekend gives visitors the chance to discover fruits that are rarely available through supermarkets.
Activities include fruit tastings, pick your own, displays, guided tours of the National Fruit Collection and free children's orchard crafts. Under-16s enter free.
The event is smaller and more focused than Broadstairs or Faversham Hop Festival, but that is part of its appeal. It provides a much more direct connection with Kent's orchards and autumn harvest.
Brogdale has a café, gift shop, unlimited free parking and accessible toilets. Dogs cannot enter the orchards.
Visit Kent Guide tip: If you're considering both Brogdale events, choose Pear Weekend in September for something quieter and less familiar, or Apple Fair in October for the bigger headline harvest celebration.
7. East Malling Beer & Cider Festival
Address: East Malling Research Centre, New Road, East Malling, Kent ME19 6BJ
Date: Saturday 5 September 2026
Festival type: Real ale, cider, perry, food and live music
Opening times: 11am to 7pm, or until the beer runs out
Admission: £6 for non-members; free for card-carrying CAMRA members
Booking: No advance booking required
Transport: Free shuttle buses from Maidstone East, West Malling and Aylesford stations
Best for: Affordable local beer and cider
Why visit: East Malling Beer & Cider Festival is a straightforward, good-value celebration of traditional beer and cider.
The 2026 event is expected to feature around 70 real ales and 35 ciders and perries, alongside live music and food vendors.
General admission costs £6 for non-CAMRA members, while card-carrying members enter free. There is no need to book in advance, with both cash and cards accepted at the entrance.
Free hourly shuttle buses operate from Maidstone East, West Malling and Aylesford railway stations, making this another autumn drink event where public transport is particularly convenient.
Children and dogs are welcome at the festival, although neither can enter the marquee, with the exception of assistance dogs.
Visit Kent Guide tip: Don't drive if you intend to sample the beers. The free station shuttles make East Malling considerably easier to reach than many rural festivals.
8. Rising Tide Craft Beer Festival
Address: Canterbury Cathedral Lodge, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2EH
Dates: Friday 16 and Saturday 17 October 2026
Festival type: Craft beer and street-food festival
Friday session: 4.30pm to 10pm
Saturday sessions: 12pm to 4.30pm and 5.30pm to 10pm
Tickets: Standard £15; VIP £25
Age restriction: Strictly 18+
Booking: Advance e-ticket required
Best for: Modern craft beer, independent breweries and an adult evening out
Why visit: Rising Tide is one of the more contemporary additions to Kent's autumn food and drink calendar.
Curated by Kent brewery Time & Tide, the festival brings more than 50 beers from independent UK breweries into Canterbury Cathedral Lodge, within the historic Cathedral Precincts.
Expect everything from IPAs and sour beers to imperial stouts and more experimental styles. Cider, wine, spirits, soft drinks and alcohol-free beers are also available.
High-quality street food with an emphasis on local produce is served separately, while DJs provide music inside the Lodge Auditorium. Brewery representatives are present throughout the sessions, giving visitors the opportunity to learn more about what they are drinking.
Standard tickets cost £15 and include a festival glass. £25 VIP tickets add fast-track entry and a £10 beer voucher. The festival is strictly for visitors aged 18 and over.
Visit Kent Guide tip: This is perhaps the easiest festival on the list to visit by public transport. Canterbury East, Canterbury West and the city's bus station are all within walking distance, and there is no general parking at Cathedral Lodge.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Broadstairs Autumn Food Festival is one of the strongest all-round choices. The free three-day event has around 100 food and drink stalls alongside demonstrations, live music and family activities.
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Yes. General admission to Broadstairs Autumn Food Festival is free. Some additional activities or special events may be separately ticketed.
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Faversham Hop Festival takes place on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 2026.
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Brogdale Apple Fair takes place on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October 2026 from 10am to 4pm.
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Balfour Winery's Harvest Celebration takes place on 5 and 6 September 2026, with English wine, seasonal food, live music and tours of the estate.
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Spa Valley Railway's Real Ale & Cider Festival expects to serve around 40 Kent Green Hop beers between 15 and 18 October 2026. Green Hop beer is made using fresh hops shortly after harvesting.
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Broadstairs Food Festival, Faversham Hop Festival, Brogdale Apple Fair and Pear Weekend all offer family-friendly activities. Balfour welcomes children but the event is primarily focused on wine and food. Rising Tide is strictly for visitors aged 18 and over.
