| Heritage Open Days | |
| Logo Alt: | Heritage Open Days logo |
| Map: | File:British Isles England.svg |
| Map Size: | 100px |
| Map Alt: | map of England |
| Purpose: | Public access to historical landmarks |
| Headquarters: | 20 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0DH |
| Region: | England (except London) |
| Owners: | --> |
Heritage Open Days (also known as HODs) is an annual celebration of England's history and culture[1] that allows visitors free access to heritage sites and community events that are either not usually open to the public, would normally charge an entrance fee, or that are putting on something special for the festival. It also includes tours, events and activities related to history, nature and culture.
Heritage Open Days is England's largest festival of history and culture, bringing together over 2,500 organisations, 5,000 events and 40,000 volunteers. Heritage Open Days 2018 ran from 6-9 and 13–16 September.[2]
Heritage Open Days were established in 1994 as England's contribution to European Heritage Days, in which 49 countries now participate.[3]
Organised by volunteers (often property owners or managers), Heritage Open Days is one of England's biggest voluntary cultural events, attracting some 800,000 people every year. Until April 2009 the Civic Trust gave central co-ordination and a national voice to the event.
Heritage Open Days does not cover all of the United Kingdom as it only operates across England, there are four other European Heritage Days events in the UK that take place in September, in Wales there is Open Doors,[4] in Scotland there is, Doors Open Days, and in NI there is European Heritage Days,[5] additionally in London there is architecture festival, Open House London, which tis also a part of the Europe-wide initiative.
The 2018 festival took place across two weekends in September 2018 for the first time.[6]
In 2018, Heritage Open Days celebrated 'Extraordinary Women', in order to profile underrepresented women, through non-zero one's put her forward initiative.[7] The project is funded by People's Postcode Lottery.[8]