Summer in the city – A guide to what’s on in Exeter for families this summer

Hello! As usual, there are a plethora of exciting events happening in Exeter for families over the summer holidays.

So without further ado, here’s my MASSIVE round up.

20th – 30th July, Rougemont Gardens: The Exeter Northcott Theatre Graduate Company Present, The Comedy of Errors, celebrating Shakespeare outdoors! (suitable for 8+, picnics available, tickets from Exeter Northcott)

22nd July, Exeter Cookery School: Children’s cookery course (10-14 years, see website for details)

23rd July, The Boat Shed Theatre: The MakeShift Ensemble present – Fox and Rabbit’s Idiot’s Guide to The Owl and The Pussycat, (ages 4+, £5). Read more about Exeter’s new arts venue.

23rd – 28 July, Powderham Castle: Story Walks, Join storyteller and children’s author Clive PiG for a gentle stroll around the grounds of Powderham Castle.  Along the way he’ll tell some tip top tales from the Story Sack he carries on his back. Read about our visit to Powderham Castle.

24th – 29th July, Crealy: Crealy high dive show, watch in awe as the troupe perform intricate and tricky dives from high above the small pool below.

27th July, 2pm, The Boat Shed Theatre:  Shipwreck Sam, (Boo to a Goose Theatre co) ages 4 – 10 years, £5.

28th July, Exeter Library at 2pm, free: Dogs Trust Afternoon of Fun Activities with Stacey Prosser, Dogs Trust Education & Community Officer.

28th July, The Boat Shed: Brave Bold Drama’s Alf The Highway Man (2pm, ages 4+, £5)

29th July, The Boat Shed: Flossy and Boo’s Fantastical Mystical Wondrous Fantabulous Tremendous Stupendous Curiosity Shop (2pm, ages 4+, £5)

29th July, The Corn Exchange: The Devon and Cornwall Beard and Moustache Championships, Family friendly event, loads of categories, there’s even a children’s hand made category!

30th July, Shillingford Organic Farm: Summer Feast at the Farm, pop along to Exeter’s local award winning organic farm to harvest fresh produce, meet new friends and prepare and share a fresh organic lunch, booking essential and online now, full details here. Read all about the award they won recently.

30th July, Cricklepit Mill: Bumblebee ID workshop, Introduction to identification, ecology and how to help Devon bumblebees, by Exeter’s branch of the Devon Wildlife Trust (more events and info here).

1st August, Exeter Cathedral: Urban Forest School – Outdoor adventure, whatever the weather, right in the middle of the city. Learn the safe way to use a pocket knife and then light a fire with flints for chocolate or marshmallow treat (£7 per session, book online) – this event has other dates too.

1st – 6th August, Exeter Phoenix: Unpacked Children’s Theatre Festival, there are lots of shows happening including Above Bounds, ‘The Ugly duckling’ (I caught this last year, see my review here). For full festival listings head here.

2nd – 3rd August, RAMM, Create a Neon Seascape, Draw an underwater world in neon crayons and fill it with fluorescent fish, sparkling starfish or luminous lobsters.  Suitable from 3yrs (Free, drop-in, suggested donation £2).

3rd August, Exeter Cathedral: Young Scientist, Be a cool scientist and discover the flying machines around the Cathedral. Make copters and planes whizz across the nave. (10.00-12.00, ages 6-9yrs, 13.30-15.30, ages 9-12yrs, £7, book online) – this event has other dates too.

4th – 6th August, Powderham Castle, Exeter’s South West Coffee festival

5th August, Chococo, Gandy Street: Chocolate lolly making workshop for kids, contact them for more information 

9th – 10th August, RAMM, Suspended Sea Creatures and Meet the Curator, Make a realistic or imaginary underwater friend to dangle in a display from the cafe balcony (Free, drop-in, suggested donation £2, Suitable from 5yrs+)

14th August at 11am & 2pm, Exeter Library: Ugly Duckling Shadow Puppetry Workshop (free but tickets must be booked from library).

16th – 17th August, RAMM, Make a Lego Aquarium, Can you make a crab, a coral reef, an octopus or a sunken ship? (Free, drop-in, suggested donation £2, Suitable from 3yrs+)

18th August at 2pm, Exeter Library: Childrens’ Storytime with local author Loreley Amiti (free).

20th August, Goffin Land, Church Hill, Exeter, EX4 9JL: Family Fun Day, Games, soft archery, kids theatre workshop, fire lighting, agile play, face paints, shave horse of course, laughter bar & treasure hunt. The only cost is for food at a modest price & licensed bar

23rd – 24th August, RAMM, Marine Masks and High Tide Hats, Make a hat and decorate it with seaweed and fish (Free, drop-in, suggested donation £2, from 3yrs+)

27th Aug – 1st Sept, Powderham Castle: Wonderland, Join the Mad hatter for the ever popular theme and cause mayhem in the gardens (5-11 years, book online).

29th August, Exeter Library: Boo to a Goose performance (tickets £4 for children only but must be accompanied by an adult).

30th – 31 August, RAMM, Best Dressed Sea Chest: Create your Own Treasure Box, decorate a treasure chest inspired by the sea. (Drop-in, £2.50 per child, ticket from Garden reception, Suitable from 3yrs+).

31st August, Exeter Cookery School: Children’s cookery course (10-14 years, see website for details)

2nd-3rd September, St Thomas Community Festival: Created and curated by the locals, this is a fab event for families.

That’s not all folks…..

If festivals are your thing, see my posts on Festivals in Exeter over the summer and Festivals in Devon!

From 29th July to 31st Aug take the kids to try some street dance classes with Urban Flow (we saw them at Exeter Respect fest and they are pretty good! )

Brilliant Exeter library have all of the above PLUS their usual activities of Bounce and Rhyme every Tuesday 10:15-10:45am and 11:15-11:45am, Storytime every Friday at 2pm and Bounce and Rhyme again on alternate Sundays (will be on 23 July). They are also running Childrens’ crafts sessions – Animal Agent Themed at 10am – 3pm on 31 July, Monday 7 August and Monday 21 August (free – donation invited – drop in). More info on all events here. 

There are lots of activities happening at Exeter Cathedral (I just picked my favs!) See the full diary here.

In addition to the events I have picked there are also tonnes of activities to get involved in at Royal Albert Memorial Museum, see the full listing here and details of one off events here.

If you’re a bit of a foodie, Princesshay have summer tasting days on 12th, 19th and 26th August where you can pop along and try samples from restaurants, play garden games and listen to live music.

You can also take the family on one of the excellent Red Coat tours of the city, more info here.

More ideas further afield!

My lovely local blogger pals have curated some brilliant holiday ideas too:

Jo at Organised Jo has put together a fab list of  events in Torbay & South Devon.

Arabella over at Exeter baby activities has put together a great list of free stuff to do in and around Exeter.

Claire from Flip flops and wellies has put together a list of things to do in Lyme Regis.

Holiday clubs for working parents

Our kids are trying holiday clubs for the first time this summer (eek) before we moved we don’t need to worry about all that, we had our parents – how times have changed!

If you need to pack your cherubs off and you would like to fill their minds with fun educational things. Here are a few of the holiday clubs happening in Exeter:

Tubers have a summer holiday club when your kids can learn all things YouTube, more info here.

1st- 5th August, 10am to 4pm daily, Theatre Week at RAMM (£100 for each participant for the week). Create a Sea Life performance from scratch with Paddleboat Theatre Company. Learn new skills including puppetry, object play, movement and mime, perform a show at the end of the week and achieve an Arts Award. Perfect for new starters and those with more experience. Open to children aged 6 to 8 and 9 to 11. 

14th-18th August, Exeter Phoenix: Macbeth Theatre Week with Anthos Arts. A week of fun exploring and creating an adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies for young performers age 12-18.

Also see my blog on free things to do in Exeter (local parks).

Wherever you go, whatever you get up to, have a great fun filled summer 🙂