Mushrooms, Music and Makers: Emmetts Garden's Autumn Festival Returns

Emmetts Garden, the National Trust property near Ide Hill, is running its biggest Autumn Festival yet this year, with events spread across more than three weeks from 9 October to 1 November - and a talks weekend that includes, somewhat unexpectedly for a Kent hillside garden, a lecture on the science of magic mushrooms.

The festival opens with a three-day Autumn Fair Makers Market (9-11 October), held under an enlarged marquee in the meadow so it goes ahead whatever the weather, with stalls selling autumn, woodland and botanical-inspired crafts - jewellery, prints, wooden sculptures, ceramics and food. The same weekend brings Music on the Meadow (10-11 October): Medway Concert Brass play Saturday at noon and 2pm, Biggin Hill Concert Band play Sunday at the same times, and visitors are encouraged to bring a picnic blanket and chairs, which aren't provided. Family-friendly Halloween workshops, a self-led autumn trail and a guided autumn walk run through the rest of the festival's three-and-a-half-week span, into the October half-term.

The festival's centrepiece is the Autumn Talks Weekend (16-18 October), bringing in household names from gardening television - Adam Frost, Frances Tophill and Danny Clarke - alongside specialist speakers covering topics from autumnal folklore and astronomy to plant conservation and nature-based wellness. The session drawing the most attention is Dr David Luke's Saturday morning talk on the chemistry, neuroscience and psychology of magic mushrooms (17 October, 10.30-11.30) - a serious scientific look at psychoactive fungi timed, fittingly, for the peak of the wild mushroom season in Emmetts' surrounding woodland.

The Autumn Fair itself is free to attend with normal garden admission or National Trust membership. Talks Weekend tickets are sold individually, from £10 to £25 per session, or as a day pass - £55 for Saturday's full programme, £25 for Sunday's - which the Trust says saves £15-17 against booking each talk separately; pre-booking is strongly advised, with only a limited number of day passes available. Emmetts Garden is on Ide Hill Road, between Sevenoaks and Westerham, with its own car park.

Source: National Trust, Emmetts Garden