Sidmouth’s ever-popular walking festival is looking for volunteers to help run the 2025 Festival. The festival has been running for over a decade and is now inviting interested people to join the group and help develop the festival over the next few years.
The 2025 Sidmouth & East Devon Walking Festival will run from Saturday 13th to Friday 19th September 2025. The organisers are looking to build on the success of the 2024 festival, which ran over 24 walks and attracted over 300 people. As well as completing the East Devon Way, walkers of all abilities enjoyed a variety of coast and country walks ranging from 5 to 12 miles. Once again, a full programme of specialist walks showcased much of what makes East Devon special, with walk leaders guiding residents and visitors alike around sites like Sidbury Castle, the Norman Lockyer Observatory, Sidmouth’s Floral Gardens and the Pebblebed Heaths.
The festival is supported by East Devon Ramblers, Sidmouth Town Council and East Devon National Landscape (formally known as the AONB). The Town Council’s Tourism & Economy Committee, at its meeting on 11th December, congratulated the current team of volunteers for this year’s successes and thanked them for all their hard work.
Cllr Hilary Nelson, Chair of the Tourism and Economy Committee said: “Sidmouth Walking Festival provides local people and visitors with a unique opportunity to discover East Devon’s varied and exceptional natural landscape in a sustainable way that also promotes health and wellbeing. As with so many of the events that make Sidmouth a special place to live and visit, the Walking Festival’s greatest strength is its team of committed and enthusiastic volunteers. The Town Council is grateful to all those who give their time to make the Festival such a great event and wishes them every success in 2025.”
The Festival is looking to recruit new members to strengthen and work alongside its existing friendly team. They are particularly keen to hear from anyone with skills in programme coordination and management, publicity in both social and traditional
media as well as those interested in helping with delivery of the programmes and planning walks. A knowledge of the local walking environment would be helpful but not essential.
If you are interested, please contact sidmouthwalkingfestival@gmail.com
For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/sidmouthwalkingfestival