Nearly 1000 visitors headed to Enys Gardens last Saturday to celebrate everything that makes Cornwall special at Awenek, our Great Cornish Heritage Festival – and what a day it was!
Highlights included seeing a Bronze Age forge in action, weapons displays, combat re-enactments, live music, traditional crafts demonstrations and even the chance for visitors to craft their own ancient tools.
From sea shanties and Cornish wrestling to expert-led talks and apple pressing, the festival was packed with an incredible array of activities.
It featured demonstrations of ancient crafts like axe-making and flint knapping and traditional skills including Cornish hedging, scything, basket making and blacksmithing. There will be a foraging tour of the gardens, a guided tour of Enys House and talks on the forgotten ferrywomen of the Fal, Cornish folklore, crossroad burials and the Cornish Native Bee.
Designed to be family-friendly, there were also lots of make-and-take activities to keep children entertained throughout the day, ranging from grinding wheat to make Iron Age honey bread to designing a medieval fish tile, just like the one found at nearby Glasney College.
The music programme featured the Red River Singers, Oll an Gwella, Merv and Alison Davey, the Story Republic and Nancothnan. There was also storytelling and theatre performances from the likes of the Cornish Caretakers, Cobweb Tales, Mazed and Multivax.
Huge thanks also go to all our exhibitors, staff and volunteers who made this incredible day possible.
Thank you to Coodes Solicitors for generously sponsoring the festival and to Feast Cornwall for part-funding it.
The festival had a wonderful atmosphere and it was fantastic to see how much everyone enjoyed exploring Cornwall’s arts, culture, traditions and history.
We are also hugely grateful to those of you who so generously made donations, purchased raffle tickets or bought some of our fundraising merchandise in support of the event. Awenek is a huge undertaking which comes at considerable cost to our charity, and your support makes a massive difference to our work. Thank you!
Awenek 2025 was sponsored by…
Awenek 2025 is part-funded by…
