#BuxtonFlowerpotTrail
Buxton Flowerpot Trail 2026
The Buxton Flowerpot Trail returned for 2026 thanks to a grant from Tarmac Tunstead.
It ran during July and August alongside all four of the town’s summer festivals and, with 73 dots on the map, was our biggest ever trail!
It was also part of the Buxton Festival Fringe and won the Fringe award for the Visual Arts category!
Theme
The theme was ‘children’s stories’, inspired by the 100th anniversary of Winnie-the-Pooh.
A.A. Milne’s beloved character first appeared in the London Evening News on Christmas Eve 1925, with first Winnie-the-Pooh book published in October 1926.
The framed picture below was an 8th birthday present for one of our team!
Participants were encouraged to think about nursery rhymes, fairy tales, cartoons, comic strips, and illustrated storybooks so we could see their favourite characters recreated in flowerpot form. (See photos of some of the creations over the years.)
Although, as ever, they didn’t need to align to the theme, they could make whatever they’d like.
Pots & Workshops
The trail is all about finding new uses for old resources, so, for those needing pots, we had some available to pick up for free from our stalls at:
- Buxton Spring Fair on Monday 4 May, 10am-5pm
- The Pump Room on Saturday 16 May, 11am-4pm
- Buxton Market on Saturday 30 May, 9am-2pm
We also ran making workshops at the Serpentine Community Garden, with their nature-tots and home-ed groups, and helped Derbyshire Community Health Services with their creations for Cavendish Hospital.
Making
Flowerpot creations are simple to make – they are just knots in string – and, in the least, only require:
- string/twine
- scissors
- flowerpots (or other previously used, plastic-based containers)
- decorating materials – this could just be a felt tip pen to draw a face but you may be able to find some old bits and bobs round the house, along with some glue.
Making instructions to make a basic flowerpot person and our making videos are on our general project page here, but there isn’t really a right way or a wrong way. They can look however you want, it just takes a bit of trial-and-error and forward thinking, and they don’t have to be people – you can make animals, aliens, objects or sculptures.
Register Your Location
The registration deadline to join the trail map was Sunday 21 June 2026.
Display
Flowerpot creations were on display for July and August 2026 to help brighten up the town during all four of the summer festivals and for the school summer holidays, and was part of the Buxton Festival Fringe (9-27 July).
Buxton Flowerpot Trail Map
A printed version of the trail map was available throughout July and August (cost £1) at High Street News, Poole’s Cavern Visitor Centre and The Pump Room.
An electronic version was also available on our news blog for those who wanted to go paper-free.
Thanks
We were able to run the Buxton Flowerpot Trail project in 2026 thanks to support from Tarmac Tunstead.
Thanks also to High Street News, Buxton Civic Association and Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust for selling the maps, and to the Buxton Town Team for the continued use of their base map.
And thanks to all the families, individuals and businesses who take part, making flowerpot creations for the trail. It’s wonderful to see the support for this trail and the fabulous, characterful flowerpot creations you make.
High
Street
News
Pick Up Pots Stalls & Making Workshops
Our Creation
Flowerpot Creations
Here are photos of most of the creations. What an amazing lot! And so many stories represented.
Get Involved
Anyone wanting to get involved with the project, helping to promote or volunteering at our workshops, please get in touch – email hello@funnywonders.org.uk.
Have you made a flowerpot person or enjoyed the trail? Let us know, send us a message or post it on social media using the hashtag #BuxtonFlowerpotTrail.
We’re happy to take donations of old pots, subject to prior arrangement. Please get in touch if you would like to donate some.