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Pugin After Dark Festival 2026 - Alton Pugin Trail & 214th Birthday Celebrations
- Louie Young
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
The Alton Pugin Trail first launched at the Festival's Pugin Exhibition, but Sunday offered the opportunity for visitors to book a guided walk of the trail. Led by Louie, Sue, Kevin and Lee, walkers explored Alton, discovering a number of Pugin's secret gems along the route.
The trail began at the Roundhouse and took in both St Peter's and St John's Churches, Alton Castle, and finished at the bottom of the valley at Station Lodge and Alton Station. Those that hadn't been able to secure a spot on one of the tours could be seen exploring at their own pace utilizing both hard and digital copies of the trail which can be downloaded here.
Whilst some visitors were exploring the Alton Pugin Trail, Johnnie was taking others on guided tours of St John's Church, including parts of the hospital, as well as the churchyard and Guildhall. Johnnie particularly impressed guests with his extensive and in-depth knowledge of the complex and thoroughly enjoyed his interesting and informative tours.
The weekend was wonderfully rounded off by tea, coffee and cake kindly hosted by the Kenelm Youth Trust in the beautiful dining hall of Alton Castle, in celebration of Pugin’s 214th birthday. The Trust treated visitors to an array of delicious homemade cakes, and they even baked Pugin his very own birthday cake, which was cut by Louie after everyone sang happy birthday to the late architect. As well as cake attendees were given the opportunity to explore further parts of the castle, a real treat as it is not commonly open to the public.
A massive thank you to all the Pugin After Dark team for taking walks and tours throughout the day, especially after a long weekend of events. A massive thank you also to Sandra and the Kenelm Youth Trust staff and team for putting on such a perfect celebration to a perfect weekend, it was very much appreciated and enjoyed by all. And most of all thank you for everyone that came and joined us for the first ever Pugin After Dark Festival, we could not have done it without you all.
A massive thank you to Outside who have generously awarded us a Creative Community Commission last year, taking our idea of creating a festival from a dream to a reality - we couldn't have done this without you. A big thank you also to Alton Community Events who will also kindly supported the festival.
To be the first to hear about future events, project and plans please join the Pugin After Dark please mailing list via out contact us page here.
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