Surrey Day 2026
Surrey’s Hidden Treasures
9th May 2026 was Surrey Day! Surrey Day showcases the County’s rich heritage, vibrant culture and inspiring people. It brings people together to celebrate everything that makes Surrey such a special place to live, work and visit.
This year’s theme was “Surrey’s Hidden Treasures” and I found several over the course of the day.
In the morning, I was taken on a tour of Epsom’s town centre by the Mayor and Mayoress of Epsom & Ewell and Paul Taylor of “What’s On in Epsom”. I learnt about the discovery of Epsom Salts; “unofficial” Royal visits to Epsom by the Prince Regent and Charles II; and the suffragette Emily Wilding Davison’s fatal encounter with King George V’s horse. Epsom’s history was beautifully depicted in a modern mural on display in Epsom’s town centre by young artist Ole Murphy.
The Epsom Girl Guides had invited me for lunch, but lunch had to be earned! Dame Maggie Aderin – renowned space scientist and Surrey Day 2026’s ambassador – and I were given orienteering lessons at the Epsom Girl Guiding Activity Day. We learnt how to read a map and managed to earn our very own Surrey Day 2026 badge, although the Rainbows had to help us from time to time…
With my newfound map-reading skills, I then made it to the Bourne Hall Museum, which currently hosts two interesting exhibitions in addition to their permanent collection of artefacts from in and around Epsom and Ewell. One exhibition displays the great variety of objects that were found when the site of the Bourne Hall Museum was excavated in the 1960’s: Roman coins; Tudor wine glasses; silver spoons and Victorian clay pipes. The other exhibition marks the late Queen Elizabeth II’s 100th birthday and shows the Queen’s love of the famous Derby Festival at Epsom Downs racecourse. It is a fascinating collection and beautifully displayed.
Denbies Wine Estate was my next stop. Unsurprisingly this Surrey treasure had been found by lots of people – the sun shone on the vines; a live band was playing; and there were many spots for people to sit down and enjoy a glass of Surrey wine or champagne. The estate is a bustling hive of activity. Besides various businesses making different kinds of drinks: wine, beer, gin and coffee – there is a farm shop, a health centre, an art gallery and an off-road bike shop. I was taken on a highly informative tour of the estate and needed a lot of willpower not to stay and drink champagne until sunset.Surrey Day culminated at Godstone Flower Farm, where many people gathered to listen to the Surrey Poet Laureate Adam Gary proclaim a special Surrey Day poem.
The Sing It Out Choir from Godstone provided the wonderfully upbeat finale to the Day with a medley of highly infectious songs.
Surrey Day 2026 was a triumph! A special thanks goes to Visit Surrey – Surrey’s official tourist board, BBC Radio Surrey, and The Surrey Lieutenancy for having created Surrey Day eight years’ ago and managing to organise a Surrey Day which seems to be more successful each year.
