September 24/25/25th at Ragley Esate, Alcester, Warwickshire will see the 50th staging of the UK’s and Ireland’s largest specialist event for anyone working in the forestry, woodland, arboriculture and fencing industries. For the first time in many years the dates do not clash with the National Ploughing Championships so will enable many Irish visitors and exhibitors to attend both events.
APF 2026 is shaping up to be a huge event for our 50th birthday. 300 exhibitors and 25 000 visitors are expected to attend with over £90 million pounds of state-of-the-art working machinery on show. The 2km demonstration circuit is 95% full and less than 200m frontage is still available. That is over 2 ½ miles of working machinery on show.
The specialist Fencing Village has expanded and now has nearly every major manufacturer and supplier of fencing equipment and materials on display.
One of the standout features of APF 2026 will be the amount of events and competitions that will be taking place with many opportunities for visitors to have-a-go. The Husqvarna World 25m poleclimbing returns with some fantastic cash and equipment prizes on offer in several classes.
The European chainsaw carving championships, sponsored by A W Jenkinson has a world class field of 25 competitors including several previous winners and the top two carvers in TV’s ‘A Cut Above’ carving competition.
The UK Forwarder driving championships, sponsored by Richard Court Forestry Engineering Ltd and Coombes Forestry Ltd has a new spectator friendly location. In 2024 there were over 50 entries to the competition. It will feature an open competition and one for younger less experienced operators.
The Solidur and Teufelberger UK Speed Team climbing competition is back. Teams of two will compete against the clock in a tag race to reach ten points in the trees and be crowned UK champions.
In the Fencing Arena, sponsored by McVeigh Parker, there will be two British championships for speed and traditional post and wire fencing.
If you fancy trying a new skill then there will be plenty on offer. In the Husqvarna Arena there will be daily training workshops for anyone wanting to expand their competitive chainsaw skills. You can learn and have hands on practice of the five disciplines of the World Logging Championships with expert tuition from members of the UK Team.
There will be an opportunity to try poleclimbing and find out what it takes to climb a 100ft pole.
There will be a new category event for students and apprentices over the age of 14 in the Forwarder driving championships, with a chance to drive a £500K forwarder under the expert eye of an instructor.
For the first time anywhere we will have timber winching competitions with categories for both tractor winches and capstan style winches more commonly used by arborists. There will be demos of the capstan winches and the chance to talk to the designers and manufactures with all your technical queries.
Husqvarna & Stihl will be displaying all their latest equipment from saws to battery powered ascending devices .competition to test the skills and safety of winch operators.
Try your hand at axe throwing or controlling a timber horse. If you want to test your head for heights and fancy a career in tree surgery than come along and have-a-go at ascending into a tree with rope and harness,
Our Arb Worker Zone returns with every major arb manufacturer and retailer and the chance to pick up some great bargains.
The Forest Worker Zone will, as ever, be a fantastic source of help, advice and practical demos on a huge array of subjects.
The traditional woodland craft area will have the largest display of rare and traditional woodland crafts on show anywhere in the UK with over 25 skilled craftspeople demonstrating. Coracles to charcoal, hazel hurdles to Oak swill baskets, clog making to axe forging, willow weaving to pole lathe turning. Many will be pleased to let you have-a-go and learn more about these highly skilled crafts.
The seminar tent has a fantastic line up of experts bringing you up to date with all the latest topical news on grants, safety, training, pests and diseases.
As it is our 50th birthday there will be a great display of equipment and machinery in the Confor tent of the changes in forestry over the last 50 years and reminiscences of the past shows. Come and share your memories of previous events
We have opened for bookings for both exhibitors and visitors. Exhibitor booking forms are available on our website. Demand is already high and we sold out our Demo circuit last time. Stand costs start at just £450 + VAT. Advance visitor tickets are just £25 and represent a £5 saving on the gate price.
If you don’t want to exhibit then we still have a few fantastic sponsorship opportunities to promote your company to a very targeted audience including the chainsaw carving, entrances and gates, as well as axe throwing.
There is far too much to do and see in one day so come for two or three days and benefit from discounted tickets. There is some great local low-cost camping just 10 minutes from site
For more information, including to buy tickets or get entry forms for the competitions visit our website www.apfexhibition.co.uk, email info@apfexhibiton.co.uk or call us on + 44 1428 723545.
