A month of floral art, craft and planting events runs across Newbiggin by the Sea from 3 October, ending with the Window Wander on 30 and 31 October.
Newbiggin by the Sea is getting a month of flowers in October. Bloom is a programme of botanical and floral themed workshops, exhibitions and activities running across the town through the month, with the first dated event on Saturday 3 October and the last on Saturday 31 October.
It is coordinated by Common Threads Northumberland CIC, a community interest company based in the town, whose nature of business is registered at Companies House as artistic creation.
The people running the sessions are local makers, businesses and community groups rather than a touring programme. In its announcement, Common Threads says Bloom “invites people to learn, make, share and connect through workshops, exhibitions and activities across the town”.
The dates announced so far
- Saturday 3 October: a botanical phytography and natural inks workshop
- Saturday 17 October: a watercolour and stitch floral sampler
- Sunday 18 October: a floral themed yoga retreat
- Wednesday 21 October: a Flower Power quiz night
- Thursday 29 October: a drop-in window art session
- Friday 30 and Saturday 31 October: the Window Wander
The drop-in window art on 29 October leads into the Window Wander that follows it. Newbiggin Arts Centre, the community arts charity that runs the Front Street studio and the Gibson Street community centre, is holding a flora themed exhibition for the whole month alongside it. The organisers also promise an illuminated trail and activities for children during the October half-term holiday.
Named workshops and the free sessions
Three of the making sessions carry the names of the people leading them: stitching with Jessica Kinnersley Textiles, essential oil candle making with Rest & Restore, and camera-less prints and cyanotypes with Joanne Burke Artist.
The gardening strand is the part that costs nothing. The community gardening programme Let’s Grow is running free bulb lasagne sessions, which the organisers say will show people how to plant layers of bulbs that bring spring colour to gardens and containers.
There is also a reuse project. Large dominoes made for a recent arts event in Newcastle are being turned into a colourful planting space, led by Beyond Youth.
Common Threads says Bloom “celebrates the creativity already growing in Newbiggin by the Sea and gives people of all ages a chance to take part, try something new and enjoy the town together”. The strapline on the festival banner is shorter: “Learn, Connect, Share.”
What it means for you
If you want to go, the thing to know is that the announcement gives dates but not times, venues or booking arrangements for each session, and it does not say which of the workshops charge. The organisers point people to Common Threads CIC on Facebook and Instagram for the full timetable, and that is where the practical detail will land first.
Two dates are worth pencilling in whatever else you do. The window art on 29 October is a drop-in, so it is the one session the announcement says you can simply turn up to, and the Window Wander on 30 and 31 October is the closing weekend the whole month builds towards.
If you are travelling in for it, our guide to parking in Northumberland covers what the council charges on the coast and in the towns, and our things to do in Northumberland round-up carries the rest of the county’s autumn calendar. That includes the Blyth fireworks, which are on Saturday 31 October, the same evening the Window Wander finishes.
We will add the venues and times to this page when the full programme is published. If you are running one of the Bloom sessions and want the detail listed, send it to us and we will put it up.
Sources: the Bloom announcement and festival banner issued by Common Threads Northumberland CIC on 18 September 2026.
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