A Festival in the Woods
The Surrey Hills Wood Fair is a two-day festival celebrating traditional woodland crafts, held each September in or near Cranleigh. The event is organised by Surrey Hills Enterprises and supported by the Surrey Hills National Landscape (the body that manages the former AONB). It draws several thousand visitors across the weekend and has been running since 2010.
The fair takes place in a woodland setting – either at the Cranleigh Showground or in a nearby copse within the Surrey Hills. Trees are felled, planks are sawn, and charcoal is burned on site. Pole-lathe turners, hurdle-makers, chair-bodgers, and coopers demonstrate traditional skills that were once the bread and butter of rural Surrey. It is hands-on rather than aspirational – visitors are encouraged to pick up tools and try.
Woodland Crafts and More
Beyond the core crafts, the Wood Fair includes tree climbing (supervised, for adults and children), chainsaw carving, bushcraft demonstrations, willow weaving, and green woodworking courses that run through the day. A local food and drink area features Surrey producers – many of the same names that appear at the Surrey County Show and the Guildford food festival. Live music, usually acoustic, plays through the afternoon.
Why It Matters
The Surrey Hills cover 172 square miles of the county, roughly a quarter of Surrey's total area. Woodland management is central to maintaining the landscape – without active coppicing, thinning, and replanting, the character of the hills would change within a generation. The Wood Fair exists partly to celebrate that work and partly to make the case for it. It is the kind of event that reminds you why the Surrey Hills were designated a National Landscape in the first place – and it does so without taking itself too seriously.
