The free festival opens the weekend the M3 junction 9 roundabout shuts, and one event is already cancelled. What to book now, and the deadlines that bite first.
Winchester Heritage Open Days runs from Friday 11 to Sunday 20 September, and every event in it is free. The national Heritage Open Days directory lists 70 events within five miles of the city (Heritage Open Days). This year’s theme is Everyday Histories (Winchester Heritage Open Days).
There is a problem with the opening weekend, and it is worth knowing before you plan anything for the Saturday or Sunday.
The festival opens the same weekend the M3 roundabout shuts
The M3 junction 9 roundabout closes from 9pm on Friday 11 September until 6am on Monday 14 September. National Highways says the M3 itself stays open through junction 9, and that it is the slip roads on and off the junction that close, along with the roundabout (National Highways).
One festival event has already gone because of it. The free heritage bus shuttle from Winchester city centre to the Royal Logistic Corps Museum at Worthy Down, due to run on Sunday 13 September, has been cancelled. The organisers’ notice on the listing says the event was called off because “essential engineering works near the City mean that the motorway will be closed on September 13th”, and that the predicted heavy traffic in Winchester made it unworkable (Heritage Open Days).
Those two accounts of what is shut do not quite match. Take National Highways as the record on the motorway, and the organisers as the record on their own event.
The northbound entry slip road at junction 9 is a separate matter. It is closed until winter 2027, so there is no access to the M3 northbound from the roundabout at all. Full detail is on our roadworks and travel page.
Book these now, because the deadlines come first
Most of the programme is walk-in, but the smallest and most unusual tours are capped, and some caps are tiny.
| Event | When | Places | Booking closes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Royal Hotel, St Peter Street | Sun 13 and Sun 20 Sept, 11.30am and 1.30pm | 10 | 12 Sept, 3pm |
| Fellows’ Library, Winchester College | Fri 18 Sept, 2pm and 3pm | 20 | 17 Sept, 2pm |
| Legions to Logisticians, RLC Museum, Worthy Down | Wed 16 Sept 2pm, Thu 17 Sept 10am | 15 | not stated |
The Royal Hotel tour is led by one of Winchester’s official tourist guides and goes through a Grade II listed building that takes in parts of a Tudor house, a medieval kitchen and an 18th century warehouse. It is not suitable for children under 12, and the buildings have stairs and uneven surfaces. Booking is through Hampshire History Trust on TicketSource (Heritage Open Days).
The Fellows’ Library at Winchester College holds more than ten thousand volumes, from medieval manuscripts to contemporary artists’ books, and the tour is led by the Fellows’ Librarian. Book through the college’s own heritage site. The listing is blunt that the building cannot accommodate visitors with mobility restrictions (Heritage Open Days).
The Worthy Down talk covers 6,000 years of the camp’s history and prehistory. The museum notes that the signs asking for ID or an MOD pass do not apply to museum visitors, because the museum sits outside the wire (Heritage Open Days).
Turn up, no booking needed
- Guided tours of the Great Hall, Saturday 12 September at 11am, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm. A spotlight tour of the Round Table. Bring a coat: the hall is 800 years old and cannot be heated or cooled (Heritage Open Days).
- Hampshire Chronicle open day, Friday 18 September, 11am to 1pm at 5 Upper Brook Street. Meet the team, tour the office and put questions to the editor, at what the paper calls its only open day of the year. The first 50 people get a goodie bag (Heritage Open Days).
- Treasury museum, Winchester College, Friday 18 September, 12pm to 4pm. Egyptian, Greek and Roman artefacts, casts of the Parthenon Frieze, Chinese ceramics, and a temporary show of the college’s Greek vases (Heritage Open Days).
- Winchester City Mill miller talks, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, 10am to 4pm. The National Trust mill has stood on the Itchen since at least Saxon times (Heritage Open Days).
The festival hub is in The Brooks shopping centre, open 10am to 4pm on 12, 13, 19 and 20 September. The heritage trail and the family scavenger hunt need no booking at all: both are downloads you print at home (Winchester Heritage Open Days).
What it means for you
If you are coming into the city on Saturday 12 or Sunday 13 September, plan on the roundabout being shut and the roads around Winnall being busier than usual. The park and ride sites are the reliable way in on those two days, and Winchester College and the City Mill both tell visitors in their own listings to use public transport or park and ride rather than look for a space near the venue.
- Car park locations, tariffs and park and ride prices: parking in Winchester
- What is shut and when: roadworks and travel
- More to do locally: things to do in Winchester
The Great Hall has no parking of its own. Its listing points visitors to the Tower Street multi-storey, a three to four minute walk away, or the Westgate park and ride stop, two minutes away. The City Mill has no parking either and directs visitors to Chesil car park or the St Catherine’s park and ride.
One practical warning about postcodes. The Great Hall’s own listing says its postcode, SO23 8UJ, will take a sat nav to the wrong place, and asks drivers to use SO23 8TP for the Westgate pub on the mini roundabout at the end of Castle Avenue instead.
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