Street Food Fest at the Vine Gardens on 29 August, the last two free bandstand concerts, the Gruffalo trail at Knole, and free Knole entry on 15 September.

Sevenoaks thins out in the last week of the school holidays, but the diary does not. Two free concerts are left on the Vine bandstand before the season closes on 27 August, the Street Food Fest takes over the Vine Gardens on Saturday 29 August, and twelve giant Gruffalo sculptures go up in the parkland at Knole the same day and stay until 1 November. The date worth writing down now is Tuesday 15 September, when Knole’s showrooms, Gatehouse Tower and car park are free to everyone for Heritage Open Day. Booking for that opened on Thursday 20 August.

Below is what organisers had confirmed on their own listings when we checked on 21 August 2026, with times, venues and postcodes. Every entry links back to the source so you can check before you set off. For places that are open whatever the month, see our guide to things to do in Sevenoaks.

The next three weeks at a glance

  • Saturday 22 August, 3pm to 5pm. Oxted Band, Almost the Last Night of the Proms, on the Vine bandstand. Free.
  • Wednesday 26 August, 9.30am to 4.30pm. Free fishing day at Monk Lakes for 11 to 17 year olds, transport included, booked in advance.
  • Wednesday 26 August, 10.30am to 12pm. Forget-me-not Café at Bat & Ball Station, with a quiz. Free.
  • Thursday 27 August, 6pm to 8pm. White Light Band, the last bandstand concert of the summer. Free.
  • Thursday 27 August, 6pm to 7.15pm. Book Club at Knole, on this year’s page-to-screen theme.
  • Friday 28 and Saturday 29 August, 6.30pm. Outdoor cinema on Green Court at Knole: Pride and Prejudice then Lilo and Stitch.
  • Saturday 29 August, noon to 7pm. Sevenoaks Street Food Fest, Vine Gardens. Free to walk into.
  • Saturday 29 August. The Gruffalo Art Adventure opens at Knole and runs to 1 November.
  • Monday 31 August. Last day of Summer at Knole, the park activities that have run through the holidays.
  • Saturday 5 September, 9.30am to 10.30am. Tai Chi on the Vine with the Deputy Mayor. Free.
  • Monday 7 to Sunday 13 September. Conservation Week at Knole, 11am to 4pm.
  • Tuesday 15 September. Heritage Open Day: free entry to Knole, including the Gatehouse Tower and the car park.

The last two free concerts on the Vine bandstand

Music on the Bandstand has run at Vine Gardens for 15 years and is free to walk up to. Bring a rug or a chair; there are refreshments from Café on the Vine and from the cricket club. Two concerts are left in the 2026 season (Sevenoaks Town Council):

  • Oxted Band, Almost the Last Night of the Proms, Saturday 22 August, 3pm to 5pm. A brass band that plays across the south east, and the closest the season gets to a party (event listing).
  • White Light Band, Thursday 27 August, 6pm to 8pm. Rolling Stones, Billy Idol, Oasis, The Killers and everything in between, and the last concert of the summer (event listing).

The Thursday evening concerts also carry free activities for children run by Play Place, including soft archery, badminton, clay modelling, board games, painting and crafts, which makes 27 August the better bet if you are bringing younger children.

Free fishing for 11 to 17 year olds, Wednesday 26 August

A free day’s fishing at Monk Lakes, 9.30am to 4.30pm, with transport there and back laid on at no charge. It is part of Bradbourne Re-bourne, the lake restoration project backed by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the sessions are run with the South East Rivers Trust. There are only eight places a day and you have to book by email in advance; everyone meets at 9.30am in the South Park car park behind the Stag, TN13 1ZZ. If 26 August is full, the last session of the year is on 29 October, in half term (Sevenoaks Town Council).

Tai Chi on the Vine, Saturday 5 September

An hour of tai chi in the open air on the Vine, 9.30am to 10.30am, led by the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Lionel O’Hara. It is free and open to all abilities, with no booking mentioned on the listing, though there is a collection for the Mayor’s chosen charity, Hospice in the Weald (Sevenoaks Town Council).

Street Food Fest, Saturday 29 August

The Sevenoaks Street Food Fest is back at the Vine Gardens on Saturday 29 August, noon to 7pm, free to walk into. It is a Heart of Sevenoaks event supported by the town council, with street food traders and live music through the afternoon (Sevenoaks Town Council).

Knole, from the school holidays into the autumn

Knole sits at the top of the town and has the fullest diary of anywhere in the district. Its own listings show (National Trust):

  • Summer at Knole, to 31 August, 10am to 4pm. Park activities through the last days of the school holidays.
  • Attic tours, running to 28 November, 11.30am to 12.15pm. A behind the scenes look at the roof spaces above the showrooms.
  • Lord Sackville’s private garden open days, 24 August to 16 October, 11am to 4pm. The 26 acre garden is only open on a handful of dates a year.
  • Book Club at Knole, Thursday 27 August, 6pm to 7.15pm, on this year’s theme of page to screen.
  • Outdoor cinema on Green Court, Pride and Prejudice (2005) on Friday 28 August and Lilo and Stitch (2025) on Saturday 29 August, both 6.30pm to 9.30pm.
  • The Gruffalo Art Adventure, 29 August to 1 November, 10am to 5pm. Twelve giant sculptures through the parkland, aimed squarely at half term.
  • Conservation Week, 7 to 13 September, 11am to 4pm, when conservation work on the collection is done in front of visitors.
  • Toddler Mondays, 7 September to 19 October, 10am to 12pm, for under fives.
  • Bat walk with Mountfield Ecology, Friday 18 September, 6.45pm to 8.15pm. Listed as sold out, so this one is worth watching for a repeat rather than turning up for.
  • Volunteer coffee mornings, from Wednesday 23 September to 28 November, 10.30am to 12pm. For anyone thinking about volunteering at Knole.

The National Trust had not published prices for the individual events on that listing when we checked, so use each event’s own page before booking. Our guide to Knole Park covers opening times, parking and the deer.

Heritage Open Day at Knole, Tuesday 15 September

The one date to put in the diary now. On Tuesday 15 September only, admission to Knole is free for everyone, and that covers the showrooms, the Gatehouse Tower and the car park. The showrooms and tower are open 11am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm (National Trust).

There is also a free guided walk that day, “The Changing Faces of Knole: an archaeology walk”, from 11.30am to 12.15pm, starting in Stone Court and taking in the historic icehouse from a newly installed viewing platform. There are only 12 places, given out first come first served on the day, and you need to collect a tour lanyard from the Visitor Centre by 11.20am.

Two practical points. Pre-booking your free admission is recommended to guarantee entry, and booking opened on Thursday 20 August, so the 15 September slots are live now. The day is part of Heritage Open Days, England’s largest history and culture festival, which runs nationally from 11 to 20 September 2026 (Heritage Open Days); other buildings across the district usually open free that week, and the festival’s own search is the place to see which.

The Forget-me-not Café, last Wednesday of the month

A free dementia-friendly session at Bat & Ball Station from 10.30am to 12pm on the last Wednesday of every month, with free refreshments and volunteers on hand, for anyone noticing problems with memory or cognition and for their family and carers. On Wednesday 26 August the entertainer Phil Raymond hosts a quiz; on Wednesday 30 September Liz Botterill of Sevenoaks Museum gives a talk (Sevenoaks Town Council).

The weekly markets

Three markets run every week whatever else is on, all confirmed by the town council (Sevenoaks Town Council):

  • Bligh’s Saturday Market, Bligh’s Meadow, 9am to 4pm, with jewellery, ceramics, candles, prints and speciality foods including cheeses and patisserie.
  • High Street Saturday Market, upper High Street outside the Chequers, 9am to 4pm, for breads and baked goods, olives, fruit, vegetables and flowers.
  • Wednesday High Street Market, also outside the Chequers, 8am to 2pm. This is the market that used to be held in Buckhurst Lane.

Coming up after September

  • Kent Biodiversity and Regenerative Food Festival, Saturday 3 October, 10.30am to 4pm at the Vine Gardens. A free first-year festival of regenerative and organic growers, bakers and makers, with live music all day (Sevenoaks Town Council).
  • The changing faces of Knole archaeology walk, Thursday 15 October, and Deer Keeping: Autumn Rut, 16 and 17 October, both on the Knole listing above.

We keep separate dated guides to the rest of the year: October half term and pumpkin picking, Halloween events and fireworks displays, then Christmas fairs and markets, pantomimes and where to meet Father Christmas.

Getting there

The Vine Gardens, the High Street and the Stag are all within a ten minute walk of each other, so one trip covers most of the above. If you are driving in on a Saturday, our page on parking in Sevenoaks has the current tariffs and the car parks that fill first, and there is a separate list of free parking. Coming by rail, see train times to London for the timetable in both directions. If you are making a day of it, we also keep guides to things to do with kids, family walks and breakfast and brunch.

This page is rewritten as organisers confirm new dates. Everything above was checked against the source listed beside it on 21 August 2026, and dates can still change, so use the links before you travel. More in our What’s On section.

Sources

Image: “Sevenoaks, Knole Park, Knole House” by Michael Garlick, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sevenoaks,Knole_Park,_Knole_House-geograph.org.uk-_7392566.jpg).