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RITUAL – 16th July – 6th September 2026
The Raveningham Sculpture Trail returns this summer for its 13th year in the beautiful wild gardens at the Raveningham Centre in South Norfolk. Curator, Sarah Cannell has invited artists from across the country to respond to the theme of ‘RITUAL’ encouraging participants to share their joy of creativity and making with the summer audience.
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Raveningham Centre, Beccles Road, Raveningham, Norfolk, NR14 6NU
Raveningham Sculpture Trail is an established annual exhibition of contemporary artworks through 3 acres of semi-wild meadows, gardens and woodland in the grounds of Castell Farm, a Tudor farmhouse at The Raveningham Centre on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk. The trail is curated by Sarah Cannell and is a Creative Odyssey CIC Project – Arts projects in nature to inspire and soothe the soul. This year will feature 60 selected artists from across the UK creating diverse site specific artworks for the trail and 2 pop-up gallery spaces. We welcome over 5000 visitors to the summer exhibition and create an uplifting, inspiring space for people to experience contemporary art in a rural setting.
Trail entry £8 per person, free for under 18s. 16th July – 6th Sept 2026, 10-5pm, site closes at 6.30pm, closed mondays/tuesdays. Some parts of the trail are wheelchair accessible, we have a mobility scooter available, more info at box office. Free parking. Wheelchair accessible toilets. Well behaved dogs on leads welcome.
Raveningham Sculpture Trail 2026
The 2026 Sculpture Trail at Raveningham will feature 60 selected artists and makers across 3 acres of grounds who responded to the theme of Ritual.
Artists have developed ideas, artwork, sculpture, site specific works, stories, magic and more for the meadows, pond, gardens, and woodland at Raveningham. By letting their imaginations and aspirations soar they have created a sculpture exhibition to inspire and uplift visitors. The Sculpture Trail team is committed to encouraging public interaction with contemporary art in a rural setting as well as creating space and opportunity for artists to show and sell their work to a diverse audience.
During the pandemic the Raveningham Sculpture Trail has supported it’s community and artists and managed to open the gates during challenging times. We feel proud to be able to create a space for artists to regularly show and share their work safely with thousands of visitors.
Annually we give four awards to participating artists, The Visitor’s Choice 1st £250, 2nd £200, 3rd £150 and The Curator’s Choice £200. Many of the artworks on the trail are available for sale and artists can be commissioned to create bespoke works for individual gardens.
About The Curator: Sarah Cannell started the Raveningham Sculpture Trail, in 2014 with Waveney and Blyth Arts alongside curating 2 monthly solo and mixed exhibitions at Norwich Theatre Royal since 2007. She is an established freelance Artist and Curator, most recently running workshops for UEA students as part of their ‘Do Something Different’ festival. Sarah has curated many diverse arts exhibitions and projects around the UK including Salthouse Contemporary, Norwich Fringe Festival at the Factory 2003 – 2007 and managed one off exhibitions and commissions in London, Birmingham and Manchester. She has a unique ability to inspire and engage people in the Arts as well as being able to develop creative concepts which often involve large numbers of people to diverse audiences. More about Sarah’s practice at her website www.sarahcannell.com @sarahcannellartist
History – The Sculpture Trail arrived at Raveningham in 2017 after 3 successful years at a site along the river Waveney in Earsham, about 8 miles west of Raveningham. The Sculpture Trail was originally started through conversations between Nicky Stainton (chairman of Waveney & Blyth Arts), Sarah Cannell (freelance Curator and Artist) and Geoff Doggett (founding trustee of the River Waveney Trust).
The River Waveney Trust were keen to have an Arts event on the site and Waveney & Blyth Arts engaged Sarah Cannell to curate, develop and deliver the creative vision for the trail. The first Waveney Valley Sculpture Trail in 2014 featured 16 artists installing work over the 7 acre site and in the cafe space, with around 1500 visitors. The Trail was curated by Sarah again in 2015 and by Dulcie Humphrey (Curator Fairhurst Gallery, Norwich) in 2016 with support from Sarah.
When the site at Earsham was needed for a new project we had to find a new home for the trail within the Waveney Valley area and after a lot of consideration the trail was moved to Raveningham, home to Sarah’s parents Liz and Mal Cannell and their established businesses. At this time Liz Cannell became more involved as site manger having supported the trail at Earsham with practical help voluntarily in previous years. The move to Raveningham, meant a huge amount of work to get the 3 acre site ready and the team along with friends, volunteers, artists, rediscovered woodland paths, planted a new meadow and shaped the natural space to create vistas and cosy nooks for sculptures to be exhibited. The Sculpture Trail began to take on a life of it’s own and really settled into the landscape. In 2019 there were 40 artists exhibiting on the trail with a further 20 in the pop up gallery and 5000 visitors over the 5 week exhibition.
The increased demands of running such a large event have meant that a new dedicated team of volunteers and artists has developed alongside the trail. In 2020 we rebranded as Raveningham Sculpture Trail and set up Creative Odyssey Projects CIC alongside the trail to develop more investment in the trail and wellbeing projects alongside the main exhibition. Find out more about Creative Odyssey Projects CIC.