Media made in Exeter  Upgrade to paid

ON OUR RADAR

Heritage Harbour Festival 2025

The maritime-themed event returns for a third year with steam boats, exhibitions, talks, live music, film screenings and more.

Donna Vincent

Exeter Custom House is hosting a maritime-themed festival celebrating the city’s maritime history and Heritage Harbour status on Sunday 8 June at Exeter Quay.

Returning for a third year, the event will take place at across the quay, waterfront, canal basin and at Exeter Custom House and Transit Shed, Piazza Terracina and Exeter Phoenix.

There will be steam boats, classic cars, custom house exhibitions, a ride-on railway and a display by West Country Knotters.

Talks include Matt Newbury sharing his experiences of swimming in fresh and salt water in Devon and Red Coat Guide Jon Bell’s Tales of the Land and Songs of the Sea.

Exeter Custom House Exeter Custom House

The 100-year old sailing smack Britannia will be open for the day at the canal basin, with live music performed on board by Mariners Away, and Tamar barge Lynher 1986 will be open for visits at Kings Wharf.

Exeter Phoenix is screening Wind, Tide & Oar, a 16mm film shot over three years on a hand-wound camera in which director Huw Wahl captures the experience of engine-less sailing of rivers, coasts and open seas.

Heritage Harbour Festival Sunday 8 June 2025 Exeter Quay

Heritage Harbours is a joint initiative between the Maritime Heritage Trust, National Historic Ships, Historic England and local groups across the country.

It helps safeguard and preserve historic buildings, quays and shipyards in coastal and inland sites.

Friends of Exeter Ship Canal was instrumental in gaining Heritage Harbour status for Exeter’s canal, basin and quay. It is one of only twelve such designations.

Subscribe to The Exeter Digest - Exeter Observer's essential free email newsletter

Your personal information will be processed and stored in accordance with our Privacy Policy

This year’s Heritage Harbour Festival takes place from 11am-4pm on Sunday 8 June 2025 at Exeter Quay.

All events are free to attend except the screening of Wind, Tide & Oar at Exeter Phoenix.

For more information visit the Exeter Custom House website.

Media made in Exeter

Exeter Observer is produced by a non-profit newsroom with two part-time staff: Leigh Curtis and Martin Redfern.

Since we launched from our kitchen table in April 2019 we have published more than 1,000 news stories, features, investigations, community and culture previews, galleries, newsletters and special reports.

We work half of the week as volunteers and keep overheads low, serving 1.5 million page views a year to 50,000 regular readers on a tiny budget.

If you think what we do is good for our city please upgrade to a paid Exeter Observer subscription from less than £2/week.

135 of the 300 paying subscribers we need to break even have signed up to support the independent journalism our city needs.

We can get there with your support. We hope you'll join us today.

Upgrade to paid

More stories
Proposed revised Mary Arches Bartholomew Street East co-living block elevation

Mary Arches “co-living” developer resists “miniscule” room size criticisms as design revisions prompt further consultation

Changes include increased building footprints and removal of twelve rooms to provide eleven communal kitchens – between residents of 297 studios – while gates obstruct pedestrian thoroughfare and site’s historic setting and significance essentially ignored.

September 2025 permitted replacement scheme west elevation

Council denies data and contrives criteria to dismiss community balance concerns in third King Billy student block approval

Exeter Observer analysis finds more students living in city centre than residents as council bid to include PBSA in housing delivery figures weakens local planning policy – but does not remove it from decision-making altogether.

, updated

Grace Road Fields in March

Botched consultation restarted on sale of 8.5 acres of Riverside Valley Park green space

Council land disposal to include rights to lay underground distribution pipework across River Exe floodplain following “low-to-zero carbon” Grace Road Fields heat plant planning approval in face of Environment Agency sequential test concerns.

Exeter College and Petroc campuses map

Exeter College and Petroc merger set to create largest college group in South West

Colleges hold public consultation on creation of new organisation which they say would educate 16,000 students at Exeter and North Devon campuses and employ 2,000 staff with £100 million turnover.

Proposed Clarendon House student block aerial view

Proposals to replace Clarendon House with 297-bed student accommodation complex submitted for approval

Developer Zinc Real Estate arrives at final proposal for up to ten storey Paris Street roundabout redevelopment after nearly two years of informal public consultations and meetings with city councillors and officers.