Britain’s foremost and largest festival devoted to the traditions and crafts of wooden boatbuilding, held on FAWLEY MEADOWS, Henley-on-Thames RG9 2HY 15-17th JULY

This quintessentially English family friendly Festival takes place on the river in Henley-on-Thames, also home of the world famous annual Royal Regatta. This year we will be celebrating H.M. the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in “TRAD” style with WW1 & WW2 naval craft, our usual gathering of Dunkirk Little Ships, and beautiful heavy horses, for in this Her Majesty’s Jubilee year, no event could be complete without horses! We have vehicles and vessels of every sort from the reigns of her father, her grand father, her great, great grandfather, her great great great grandmother and of course her own!

Centre stage of the Festival is the largest gathering of traditional river craft in the world. We have a WW1 radio-controlled torpedo boat, aerobatics from the Bremont Great War display team and a display by a World War II Harvard trainer; a military encampment including our Field Kitchen, and the Berks-Oxon military vehicle group mounting a World War II era static display. There are amphibious vehicles and hovercraft, and the wonderful veteran cycles from the Solent Veteran Bicycle Club. Also available will be river trips on the beautiful old passenger steamer Alaska, the oldest still operating on the Thames which has been tripping since Queen Victoria was on the throne. She will be joined by the Windsor Belle, another old passenger steamer, though a mere 18 years her junior from the Edwardian era, built in 1901.

Our family dog shows are always a highlight on Saturday and Sunday, and a source of not a little canine amusement. We also have children’s rides, face-painters and story-tellers, shops galore from ships chandlers to vintage couture, and a whole street of antiques.

Food at the Festival is another highlight, with Paul Clerehugh’s pop-up pub “The Crooked Billet”, and a host of delicious vendor offerings around the site and at the Food Court near the Ferry landing stage. Next to the Food Court is the acoustic stage which provides al fresco entertainment through the day. In the evenings on the main stage we have great music and entertainment from acclaimed local bands The Covered and Night Train, so you can dance the night away on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

We open at 10am on all three days, and whilst the shops close in the evening, the band and the pub keep going until 11pm each night.

Tickets, boat entries, car, military and amphib entries, exhibitor application forms and the opportunity to become a member and support this fabulous event, can all be found on our website, www.tradboatfestival.com. See you there.