Family History Weekend · 2027

Keep exploring together.

Saturday 1 May – Monday 3 May 2027

After the school week, History Week opens out into Family History Weekend — a chance for children, parents, carers and communities to keep exploring history together, at venues and at home.

Family History Weekend: Saturday 1 May – Monday 3 May 2027 History Week: Monday 26 April – Friday 30 April 2027

The bank-holiday weekend

A weekend to keep history alive — for everyone.

Family History Weekend runs over the early May bank holiday, straight after the school week — three days for families and communities to discover the past together.

After the school week, History Week opens out into Family History Weekend — a chance for children, parents, carers and communities to keep exploring together.

Venues can run family trails, special talks, reenactments, workshops, performances, object handling, local history walks, archive days and family-friendly events. It is an invitation to step into local places, share stories across generations, and discover the history right on your doorstep.

Three days, after the school week — a relaxed, welcoming chance for whole families to explore history side by side.

For venues & cultural partners

Open your doors for the weekend.

History Week invites cultural, civic and heritage organisations to welcome families during Family History Weekend. Register the activities you might run — from trails to talks to object handling.

Family trails & local history walks

Self-led trails around your site or town, and guided walks that uncover the stories behind everyday places.

Talks & performances

Special talks, storytelling, theatre and performances that bring people, periods and places to life for all ages.

Reenactments & living history

Costumed reenactments and living-history demonstrations that let families see and feel how people once lived.

Workshops & making

Hands-on workshops — crafts, skills, food, music and more — that invite families to make and do, not just look.

Object handling

Object-handling sessions where children and grown-ups can hold the past, ask questions and look closely.

Archive & family-history days

Archive days and family-friendly events that help visitors trace local stories, records and their own family roots.

Venues can register interest now and shape what they offer as Family History Weekend takes form.

A weekend that works for venues

A bank-holiday opportunity to welcome new visitors.

The weekend is deliberately placed on the early May bank holiday — a natural moment for families to be out and about, exploring local places together.

Welcome families during a public-footfall bank-holiday weekend
Connect with new local audiences beyond the school week
Showcase your collections, site, stories and people
Run free, paid or sponsored activities that suit your organisation
Build relationships with schools and families for the year ahead
Be part of a shared national moment for history and heritage

For families

Discover the history around you.

You don't need to travel far to find history. Some of the best stories are in your own family, your own street and your own town — waiting to be asked about.

Ask your relatives

Ask parents, grandparents and older relatives about their lives, their work, where they grew up and what has changed. Their memories are living history.

Bring out old photos & objects

Dig out old photographs, letters, medals, toys and keepsakes. Look closely together and talk about the stories behind them.

Visit a local place of history

Visit a museum, castle, archive, gallery, library or heritage site near you — or simply explore an old building, street or memorial.

Notice the history on your doorstep

Look at street names, old shopfronts, statues and plaques. History is all around us — Family History Weekend is a chance to really see it.

A weekend to slow down, share stories across generations, and discover that the past is closer than it seems.

Be part of Family History Weekend.

Venues and cultural partners can register their interest now. We'll keep you posted as History Week UK 2027 and the Family History Weekend take shape.