Take part in the Dorking Walking Festival 2025

We’re excited to announce the inaugural Dorking Walking Festival, taking place from 20th to 28th September 2025. The festival will highlight the many scenic routes around our town and showcase the local groups that already organise walks.

All walks should start, end, or pass through Dorking town centre to encourage participants to eat, drink, or explore what the town has to offer. Walks can be either led or self-guided.

The aim is to promote walking as a healthy, enjoyable activity, while helping more people discover Dorking and make use of the fantastic walking groups already in place.

• The dates of the festival will be Saturday 20^th – Sunday 28^th September.
• We are looking for walks that celebrate the town centre and surrounding areas.
• We would love a range of walks in terms of length, accessibility, demographics, etc. We welcome your ideas and will seek to help fill gaps.
• We want this to showcase all the groups and activities that there are already available and get people thinking about how walking can fit into their daily lives more.
• We want to also showcase the town and the lovely businesses there are too and we ask that your walk either starts or finishes in the town centre, or has a stop in the town midway through. See the town area here.

Q: I’d like to run a walk but worried it might be too similar to someone elses?

A: You can have a look here at what other groups have planned. However, a walk designed for dog walkers may take a similar route as a wellness walk for young people. If the target demographic is quite different it won’t be an issue if their route is similar as different people will go on the walks for different reasons. From the walks shared so far, they are all very different, but the earlier they are shared the more we can ensure there is a good mix.

If two walks look to be too similar the Walking Festival organisers will liaise with both groups to find the best outcome.

Q: Are there any boundaries as to where the walks can take place?

A: As long as your walk either starts or ends in the town centre or has a stop in the town centre your walk can go wherever it likes. 

Q: Can I charge a fee for my walk?

A: Yes it is absolutely fine to charge a fee but you will be responsible for collecting the fee securely and you will need to have a clear refund/cancellation policy in place.

Q: Who is the target audience for the festival?

A: We will target both local people and potential visitors to the area and we hope to encourage both experienced walkers to celebrate the joy they get from walking but also those who perhaps haven’t had the opportunity to experience walking in this way. There are a variety of groups looking to take part and each of their demographics are slightly different. It is up to each group to decide who they want to target for their walk, depending on their strengths, target audiences etc. We will then support and publicise via appropriate channels.

Q: How will the festival be promoted?

A: Hello Dorking will promote the festival extensively through it’s website, social media channels and weekly newsletter. We will also provide a walk guide, posters and it will appear in our Dorking in Summer brochure. We will also promote it at all other events we have a presence at over the summer.

We will provide materials that all groups taking part can utilise and share with their followers.

We will also hold a launch event and have an information stand in St Martins Walk on Saturday 20th September.