Burnham Art Trail 2026

Now in its 22nd year, the Burnham Art Trail is a town-wide takeover of Burnham-on-Crouch that transforms more than forty-five venues into temporary galleries for nine days. From 20 to 28 June 2026, painters, sculptors, ceramicists, printmakers and mixed-media artists exhibit across every kind of unexpected space — bakeries, hair salons, the optician, the chiropodist, the funeral parlour, a yacht club, a riverside vineyard, a clothing shop and the bridal rack alongside the Burnham Museum, the Town Hall Council Chamber, café gardens and back-garden studios. The result is a critical mass that turns the whole town into a single afternoon's wander.

A rich fringe programme runs throughout the week. Daily live music at The Parlour Café; weekend demonstrations on the Quay with The Potato Badgers; an evening of poems, stories and songs with Jane English at The White Harte; the Big Quiz at the Canary Shed; two cinema nights at the Rio Cinema pairing Jonathan Meades's 'The Joy of Essex' and Firstsite's Michael Landy documentary 'Welcome to Essex' with locally-made shorts; illustrated talks at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, including Firstsite director Sally Shaw on Art & Essex and Mike Allen on architect Joseph Emberton; The Every Voice Choir performing on the Quay and in St Mary's Church; the Schools Concert at St Mary's; an Open Mic Night at The Queens Head; and Jazz in the Vines at Crouch Ridge Vineyard.

Trail maps are available at the Burnham Museum (Coronation Road, CM0 8AS) — the first venue, and a good place to start. This is a community-led festival in the best sense, with a critical mass of destinations and fringe events easily worth two days out.