Short answer: Padstow's December food festival relaunched in 2025 as the Padstow Christmas Fayre, run by the team behind the Porthleven and St Ives food festivals, over four days in the first week of December (4–7 December in 2025). The market, lantern display, carols and fireworks are free; the chef demos and masterclasses are ticketed. 2026 dates are announced by the organisers in the autumn.
A name change to know: from 2025 the event runs as the Padstow Christmas Fayre, a four-day relaunch of the old Christmas Festival with Rick Stein and Paul Ainsworth on the first line-up, an artisan market, family activities, carols, fireworks and a lantern display. It ran 4–7 December in 2025, and the 2026 Fayre is listed for Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 December; check the organisers' page before you book.
This is one of our town-by-town winter guides — the full county picture is in Christmas and New Year in Cornwall 2026.
The Padstow Christmas Festival started as a fundraiser by the town's chefs and has become the biggest winter event in Cornwall: a four-day food festival with cookery demonstrations from names like Rick Stein and Paul Ainsworth, a big artisan market around the harbour, the Christmas Tree of Lights, a lantern parade and a fireworks display over the water. It's always the first weekend of December, Thursday to Sunday.
2026 dates: confirmed — Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 December 2026. The chef demo timetable lands nearer the time; check the organisers' pages before planning around a particular name.
The chef demonstrations in the marquee are ticketed and the headline sessions sell out in advance, so book on the festival's own website when they're released (usually October). There are also ticketed dinners at the restaurants. If you're going for the demos, plan the day around your slot and treat everything else as a bonus.
Padstow's harbour car parks are full by mid-morning on festival days and the road in from Wadebridge queues. Three better options:
The Saturday lantern parade and fireworks are the children's night; go early for a spot on the harbour wall. It's busy, cold and slow-moving — a carrier beats a pushchair. Dogs are fine in the market and most pubs, less happy at the fireworks; leave them home for that hour.
The Shipwrights Padstow and The Golden Lion Padstow for pints; Malcolm Barnecutt on The Strand (the old Chough Bakery) for a pasty in the queue. Our Padstow guide has the sit-down options — book them, this weekend more than any other.
See the full Padstow guide, filtered by who's with you.
Plan your day near Padstow →