25-28 June 2026: Alnwick, Northumberland
Most of What a Wonderful World's events are at the festival's home venue, Alnwick Playhouse. Some other events are at other venues in the Alnwick area, and across Northumberland. Our 2026 programme is currently being planned, we are adding new events all the time, so check this page regularly. We have an exciting mix of music, discussion and celebration of our Wonderful World to look forward to!
It is exciting that JON BODEN will be our headline performer on 27th June. We advise you book your tickets quickly, as this event likely to sell out.
To keep up-to-date with further 2026 festival events as we announce them, you can keep checking this page regularly. Alternatively, follow us on Social Media or sign up to our mailing list by sending a message, asking to be added.
Any questions about the 2026 festival, please ask via the Contact Us page.
JON BODEN: The Floodplain Trilogy
"A personal response to the climate crisis"
In this specially devised show for What A Wonderful World Festival, the lead singer of Bellowhead presents The Floodplain Trilogy, a personal response to the climate crisis, weaving together contemporary reflections and musings with the sung narratives from his three groundbreaking solo albums, Songs from The Floodplain (2009), Afterglow (2017) and Last Mile Home (2021).
Climate change anxiety is at the heart of the trilogy, but among the darkness there are many moments of light and hope. The Floodplain Trilogy presents a vision of the future that brings together folk-infused ideas of community and weaves them into speculative stories of survival and rediscovery.
"Alone, Boden still has the energy of a twelve-piece band" (EDS Magazine)
Jon Boden has become the "stand out performer of his generation" (The Guardian) of traditional English folk artists, but one whose repertoire extends far beyond the boundaries of the genre.
Jon Boden is known for his performance in the Hollywood movie About Time: his YouTube audio of the track has over 9 million views and over 22 million plays on Spotify. He is the lead singer and main arranger of the progressive folk juggernaut Bellowhead, who have sold over a quarter of a million albums, had seven singles on the Radio 2 playlist and have sold out hundreds of venues throughout the land and beyond, including notably the Royal Albert Hall.
You can listen to Jon talking about his work on BBC Radio 3's The Essay
Saturday 27 Jun 2026, 7:30pm
Alnwick Playhouse Auditorium
£18 or £6 for U18s
Picture by Andy Muscroft
FAMILY WILD ADVENTURE DAY: River Life, Nature & Time Travel.
Thanks to our partners in College Valley for hosting this event.
Join us for a hands-on family adventure in College Valley, packed with discovery, exploration, and fun in the great outdoors. Families will take part in a river-dipping session to investigate aquatic invertebrates and uncover the fascinating mini-beasts that reveal the hidden health of the river ecosystem. From there, enjoy a gentle walk through the valley that steps back in history, bringing the landscape’s past to life through stories and shared exploration. Designed for families to learn together, this joyful day combines nature, science, and heritage in an engaging, memorable experience.
Recommended age of children: 5 to 12 years.
Full joining instructions will be emailed after booking.
Saturday 20 June 2026, 10:00am - 2:00pm
Kirknewton Village Hall Car Park
£8 or £6 for U18s
FORAGE AND ART: Wild Food
Thanks to our partners in College Valley for hosting this event.
Step into the remarkable landscape of College Valley for an immersive Forage & Art experience led by the expert Cramlington Forager. On this guided walk, you’ll slow down and tune into the hidden abundance of wild foods growing all around you. Learn to identify edible plants with confidence, explore their nutritional and traditional uses, and practise responsible harvesting before tasting seasonal wild flavours.
Then, guided by an artist, translate your experience of the beautiful College Valley into a work of art to take home.
Full joining instructions will be emailed after booking.
Thursday 25 June 2026, 10:00am - 2:00pm
Kirknewton Village Hall Car Park
£40 (Over 18s only)
ROTHBURY POETRY AND MUSIC
Thanks to our partners Coquetdale Creatives and Rothbury CAN for hosting this event.
Join Katrina Porteous (shortlisted for the TS Eliot prize) for an evening of poetry and music alongside Merrie Snell, Andrew Charleton, James Tait and Maddy’s Crowd.
Thursday 25 June 2026, 7:00pm
£10 (or £5 for U18s)
Picture by Tony Griffiths
POETS GO WILD
Poets Paul Mein, Catherine Ayres and young poets, with music by Alistair Anderson.
Saturday 27 June 2026, 10:30am - 12:30pm
Hauxley Wildlife Discovery Centre
Suggested donation £3 (U18s free)
REPAIR CAFE
Thanks to our partners Greener Berwick for hosting this event.
Bring your broken items to our Repair Cafe and we'll see if we can mend them. Includes: blade-sharpening; darning; sewing repairs; general electrical repairs; mechanical repairs; woodworking; toy repairs; PC software help and bike maintenance.
Saturday 27 June 2026, 10:00am - 1:00pm
Salvation Army Church Hall, Berwick-upon-Tweed
FREE drop-in, no prior booking required
GREENER BERWICK WALKING TOUR
Thanks to our partners Greener Berwick for hosting this event.
Find out what Greener Berwick does on this short walking tour. See how herbs, vegetables, fruit, nuts and edible flowers that can be used by the community are grown and how they also attract pollinators. The tour ends with coffee at the Repair Café, where we try to mend anything we can. We'll tell you about the pollution monitoring we do in the River Tweed, share info about how to make our homes warmer to reduce our energy bills, and have a cycle maintenance support on hand too.
Full joining instructions will be emailed after booking.
Saturday 27 June 2026, 10:15am - 11:30am
Berwick-upon-Tweed
ART & ARCHAEOLOGY IN A "WILDING" LANDSCAPE
Thanks to our partners Hepple Wilds for hosting this event.
Following the success of 2025's workshop with Rose Ferraby, we are back at the Hepple Estate again for another immersive art experience. The day promises to give people an unique insight into the amazing history and ecology of the land at Hepple. The workshop will explore the landscape in creative ways, looking at how people have lived and worked here for thousands of years, and what we can learn about future landscape change. This is building on ongoing work at the site as part of the UKRI funded ‘Rewilding’ Later Prehistory Project at Oxford Archaeology. During the workshop we’ll be thinking about stories of place at the wilding here at Hepple. The day will include a locally sourced lunch and guests will be experimenting with new ways of imagining landscapes and creating their own artwork inspired by Hepple. You’ll be led through various drawing exercises out in the landscape and then developing these into a collage later in the day. All materials will be supplied and no experience is necessary.
Rose Ferraby is an archaeologist and artist, creating artworks that capture the
landscape through history, culture and ecology. Rose has worked across the world and has also created a number of programmes for BBC Radio 3 and 4. From 12th June – 12th July you can see Rose’s artwork in an exhibition at The Old
Schoolhouse in Alnmouth.
Richard Thompson is Hepple’s ecologist and has a deep knowledge and
understanding of this landscape. Having grown up locally, he has his own cultural history in the landscape, which feeds his thorough understanding of the landscape.
Full joining instructions will be emailed after booking.
Monday 29 June 2026, 10:00am - 4:00pm
£25 (Over 18s only)
TALES FROM THE STONES, AN AUDIENCE WITH JACKIE MORRIS AND TAMSIN ABBOTT
Step into an enchanted world where myth, nature and art entwine. In Wild Folk: Tales from the Stones, award-winning writer Jackie Morris (The Lost Words) and stained-glass artist Tamsin Abbott conjure luminous fables inspired by Britain’s ancient landscapes. Meet selkies, silver trout and the black fox as big as a wolf – spirits that move between worlds and remind us of our deep connection to the wild.
Join Jackie and Tamsin for an afternoon of storytelling, conversation and imagery as they explore creativity, friendship, and the timeless magic that links stone, tree, fox and star.
Saturday 7 March 2026, 2.30pm
Alnwick Playhouse Studio
THIS EVENT HAS PASSED! SORRY YOU MISSED IT!