Creative Director and historian, James Holland, “The line-up for this year’s festival has showcased some of the best and brightest names from the world of history. 

“We’ve been able to give our audiences access to talks and spectacles they couldn’t see anywhere else.  

With everyone from former heads of states, thought leaders and people at the forefront of recreating history, this has truly been the best festival yet”. 

A particular, and peculiar, highlight of the festival was the creation of a traditional hayrick – a technique to store hay not seen in the county for 70 years – which took place over the week of the festival, drawing regular crowds and generating reams of content online. 

The festival unveiled a new ticketing system for 2025, which for the first time allowed visitors entry to all talks included in the price of their ticket. 

Managing Director, James Florence, “We wanted to encourage our visitors to explore different topics and new speakers this year, by making the festival talks more accessible.  

“The feedback we’ve had during the week has been overwhelmingly positive – from both speakers and visitors – with people enjoying areas of history they had never engaged with before.” 

Visitors to the festival also included over 2,000 school children who took part in the Chalke History Festival for Schools, with a curriculum-based programme of events, including talks from top historians, hands-on experiences, and living history performances.   

The Chalke History Festival will be returning to Broad Chalke near Salisbury next year, 22-28 June 2026. In the meantime, festival fans can join the Chalke History Club, where talks from this year’s festival are scheduled to be published after the summer.