Thirty-eight free heritage events run in and around Reading from 11 to 20 September, from Basildon Park to the Town Hall organ. Fourteen need booking first.

Thirty-eight free events are now listed in and around Reading for this year’s Heritage Open Days, England’s largest festival of heritage and culture. The festival runs from Friday 11 to Sunday 20 September, and every event is free.

Fourteen of the 38 require pre-booking, and that is the part worth acting on now. Some booking windows close well before the day. The Green Park wind turbine tour stops taking names on 1 September and is capped at 50 people.

The figures come from a search of the official Heritage Open Days listings for Reading, checked on 18 August. Twenty-one events need no booking at all, two prefer it, and one is booked on the day.

The ones worth planning around

Basildon Park is free for five days. The National Trust is opening the whole site, house, garden and 400 acres of parkland, free to anyone from Monday 14 to Friday 18 September, 10am to 5pm with last entry at 4pm. No booking. The Silhouettes of Society fashion exhibition runs in the house at the same time (listing).

You can have a free organ lesson in the Town Hall. Reading Town Hall is opening its Father Willis organ on Saturday 19 September, with group lessons for beginners at 12.15pm led by Hannah Gill, co-chair of the Society of Women Organists. No musical experience is needed and children aged 7 and over can take part with an adult. The lessons must be booked; the separate illustrated talk by organ curator William McVicker is drop-in (listing).

The Green Park wind turbine, up close. A one-hour tour at 6pm on Tuesday 15 September, capped at 50 people, with booking closing on 1 September (listing).

Reading Abbey Quarter tours. Reading Museum’s volunteer guides run a 90-minute walk at 11am on Saturday 12 and Saturday 19 September. It starts in the Story of Reading gallery and includes access to the Abbey Gateway, the surviving part of the school where Jane Austen was a pupil. Booking is through Reading Museum. The Gateway has no step-free access and the schoolroom is up 30 steep steps (listing).

Heritage Open Days in Reading, key dates 12 to 20 September 2026 Timeline of dated Heritage Open Days events in Reading. Saturday 12 September: Royal Berkshire Archives behind the scenes, Abbey Quarter tour, Camino walk. Sunday 13 September: Rising Sun temperance tavern, Foxhill House. Monday 14 to Friday 18 September: Basildon Park free entry. Tuesday 15 September: Green Park wind turbine tour. Wednesday 16 September: 1984 RAG parade walk. Friday 18 September: Jacksons department store talk. Saturday 19 September: Town Hall organ, Reading Old Cemetery, Quaker Meeting House, Romans day. Sunday 20 September: MERL centenary displays, Georgian architecture walk, RISC roof garden. Heritage Open Days in Reading: the dated events Events with a fixed date. Several sites also open on multiple days across the festival. Sat 12 Sep 3 events Royal Berkshire Archives behind the scenes (booking) Abbey Quarter tour 11am, Reading Abbey Camino walk Sun 13 Sep 2 events Rising Sun Arts Centre, the 1877 temperance tavern Foxhill House, Whiteknights campus (booking) Mon 14 Sep to Fri 18 Basildon Park free entry, house, garden and parkland 10am to 5pm daily, last entry 4pm, no booking Tue 15 Sep 1 event Green Park wind turbine tour, 6pm, 50 places Booking closes 1 September Wed 16 Sep 1 event Retracing the 1984 university RAG float parade route From the MERL, booking required Fri 18 Sep 1 event Working lives in Jacksons, and shopping in the Oracle Oracle management suite, booking required Sat 19 Sep busiest day Town Hall organ, Old Cemetery walk, Quaker Meeting House, Romans Reimagined, Tilehurst flower festival Source: Heritage Open Days event listings, checked 18 August 2026. Graphic by Reading Daily
Saturday 19 September is the busiest day in the Reading programme, and Sunday 20 September adds the MERL centenary displays, the Georgian architecture walk and the RISC roof garden.

Buildings that are rarely open

  • 17 Castle Street, Saturday 19 September. Rooms not normally open to clients, with diamond chimneys, a carriage mounting block and a Victorian staircase. No booking.
  • Reading Quaker Meeting House, Church Street, Saturday 19 September, 10am to 4.30pm. Two talks, on the history of Quakers in Reading at 11am and on Huntley and Palmers at 2pm, plus the garden and refreshments.
  • Royal Berkshire Hospital Medical Museum, Craven Road, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, 2pm to 4.30pm.
  • St Mary’s Episcopal Chapel, Castle Street. Self-guided tours, pots and glassware found in a pit under the floor during renovations, and the baptismal register from 1884 to search for an ancestor.
  • Brock Keep, Oxford Road. Tours of the former armoury and gatehouse, now artist studios and a gallery.
  • The Rising Sun Arts Centre, Silver Street, Sunday 13 September. Built in 1877 as the Reading Temperance Tavern and one of the lesser known Alfred Waterhouse buildings in the town, with guided tours, temperance drink tasting and a magic lantern exhibition.

Walks and talks

  • Reading Old Cemetery guided walk, Saturday 19 September, from the Cemetery Arch on London Road. Booking required.
  • The Architecture of Alfred Waterhouse and Victorian Reading, Saturday 19 September, and Exploring the Architecture of Georgian Reading, Sunday 20 September. Both start at Town Hall Square and are led by Dr Stephen Gage of the University of Reading. Booking required. The Georgian walk covers a slice of Reading’s 400-plus listed Georgian buildings.
  • Caversham Road: an area shaped by Victorian aesthetics and innovation, a guided walk from The Moderation. Booking required.
  • Tudor to Civil War Reading Walkabout, from the Maiwand Lion in Forbury Gardens. Booking required.
  • The monks and pilgrims of Reading Abbey Camino walk, Saturday 12 September, a five-mile walk along the St James’ Way. Booking preferred.
  • AudaTours Biscuit Town, a self-guided audio tour from Reading station on the Huntley and Palmers biscuit workers, brewers and clerks who built the town. Available any time.

Churches, communities and gardens

  • Reading Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin, over 900 years of history, Norman foundations and historic parish records. No booking.
  • Saint Giles Church, Southampton Street, one of Reading’s three medieval churches, open 10.30am to 3.30pm on Saturday 12 and Saturday 19 September.
  • Holy Trinity Church, Oxford Road, Saturday 12 September. Grade II listed, built in 1826 to a design by the local architect Edward Garbett.
  • St Michael’s, Tilehurst, Saturday 19 September, a flower festival with self-guided tours of the building and churchyard.
  • Everyday Histories: the Ukrainian community in Reading, Sidmouth Street, Saturday 19 September, noon to 4pm, with a talk at 1pm on a community that has been in Reading since the 1950s.
  • Behind the Garden Wall, Caversham Court Gardens, on the gardeners who grew food and flowers for the household, and the 18th century yew hedge in the former kitchen garden.
  • RISC Edible Roof Garden, London Street, Sunday 20 September.
  • Festival Evensong, Christ Church, Christchurch Road, Sunday 20 September, with refreshments afterwards.

What it means for you

If you want any of the 14 bookable events, book now rather than in September. The wind turbine tour closes its list on 1 September and is capped at 50 people, and Reading Museum’s Abbey Quarter tours are two dates only, at 11am on 12 and 19 September.

If you would rather turn up on the day, 21 of the 38 need no booking at all, and Basildon Park is the biggest of them: five weekdays of free entry to a National Trust property.

Two practical notes. The Abbey Gateway part of the museum tour has no step-free access and involves 30 steep steps, so check the accessibility line on each listing before you commit. And several listings show email addresses in a scrambled form on the Heritage Open Days website, so use the phone number given on the listing if you cannot read the address.

For getting into town, our guides to parking in Reading and Reading roadworks and travel cover the car parks and the closures running through September, including overnight works on Friar Street, The Forbury and Blagrave Street during festival fortnight. If you are after more to do locally, see things to do in Reading.

Sources

Event details are set by the organisers and can change. Check the listing before you travel.