Events...

Dorset is alive with events, festivals, fairs and shows. Some are big, others small, but throughout the year there’s usually something happening somewhere that’s just that little bit out of the ordinary - and occasionally truly exceptional!

From music festivals to agricultural shows and food fairs to steam extravaganzas, casual visitors stand a fair chance of stumbling across something to entertain or interest them for at least an hour or so just by accident! Others plan entire visits to the County for specific events that might keep them happily occupied for days!

Some events, such as Lulworth Castle’s Camp Bestival music festival and the Great Dorset Steam Fair, provide fairly basic campgrounds of their own, as an integral part of the event. But if not everyone in your party shares the same passion for total immersion on-site, you can always book at a camping park away from the venue and travel in.

Being a County with strong farming roots, the summer brings agricultural shows to many towns large and small throughout the area. Once these shows would have been the chance for local farmers to show off the best of their animals and produce to their customers and neighbours. It would also have been a chance for their suppliers to try to sell the farmers the latest money-making or time-saving gizmo. None of that has changed, but many shows, especially the bigger ones, now try to put on a bit of a spectacle to appeal to a wider audience -making many shows a real value-for-money fun-day out.

Throughout Dorset, over the summer months, you’ll find an excellent mix of traditional farm shows, which are an interesting day out in themselves and larger shows seeking to be more of an attraction to a wider audience.

You’ll also find festivals and events celebrating the best of Dorset’s food and its close links with fishing and the sea.

Add to that the events and carnivals put on by the County’s main attractions and towns and you’ll find a real smorgasbord of fun to be had and doings to be done.

Dorset Camper can’t provide a definitive listing of all the events, fairs and festivals, but we can provide you with a taste of some of the biggest and the best, and we’ll try and point you in the right direction to find out about the rest!
Dorset is alive with events, festivals, fairs and shows. Some are big, others small, but throughout the year there’s usually something happening somewhere that’s just that little bit out of the ordinary - and occasionally truly exceptional!....​"