The Wild Stride Festival
The hiking and music festival putting East Sussex's coastline on the map
The Wild Stride is a hiking and music festival unlike anything else happening in Sussex right now. It starts on the clifftops above Hastings, winds 19km through Hastings Country Park, pauses for an acoustic set among the vines at Charles Palmer Vineyard in Winchelsea, and finishes at Tibbs Farm near Rye - where a full evening of live music, food, and dancing awaits.
It's one day, one route, one community. And on 11th July 2026, it returns for its second year.
It started, by Callum's own admission, with a list - the things that made him happiest. Community. Making a difference. Hiking. Live music. He landed on something he wanted to build straight away.
"Initially, I imagined small gigs," he says. "But somehow the idea grew into something bigger and evolved into a festival experience."
Hastings has a longstanding arts scene and a fiercely independent high street. Rye has cobbled streets and independent wine bars. The land between them - rolling countryside, working farms and family-run vineyards - is a part of Sussex that doesn't always make it onto the tourist trail.
For Callum, the route wasn't chosen off a map. It came out of a decade of living locally and the relationships that built up along the way.
"I used to live in Rye and had become good friends with the Wheeler family at Tibbs Farm. I floated the idea to Phil Wheeler and he immediately said yes." Tibbs Farm - working farmland on the edge of Rye - became the festival's final stop, hosting live music, food and dancing as the sun goes down.
"As I began looking at possible routes, one of them happened to pass through Charles Palmer Vineyard - and having lived locally for almost ten years, I'd become friends with the Palmer family too. When I shared the idea with them, they instantly got behind it."
Charles Palmer, a family-run vineyard in Winchelsea known for its English sparkling wine, now hosts the festival's acoustic set among the vines.
"None of those relationships were built with this event in mind," Callum says. "They came simply from living here, getting to know people and becoming part of the community. Life has a funny way of bringing things together, and this event is a reflection of that."
Last year drew keen hikers, music lovers, artists, runners and wine lovers, with strangers turning into friends by the end of the night.
This year, there are four ways to join- a Full Experience Pass covering the 19km hike, vineyard stop and festival; a Vineyard & Festival Pass with a shorter 6km hike; a Vineyard Only Pass for the acoustic stage; or a Festival Pass straight to Tibbs Farm.
Year two brings a few changes, but not to what matters most. "The biggest lesson has been to stay true to why I started it in the first place. The people who came last year made the event what it was, and I'm very conscious of protecting that spirit as it grows."
One moment from year one has stayed with him. Heading up the steps onto East Hill at the start of the day, he turned around - and for the first time, the scale of what he'd created hit him.
"I remember seeing this long line of people following behind. It was the first time I properly realised that all those months of planning had become something real."
By the time everyone reached Tibbs Farm, the sun was going down. "There was a real sense of camaraderie, and the atmosphere that evening was incredible. If people leave having made new friends, had interesting conversations, shared a few laughs and danced together, then I'll consider that a success."
The Wild Stride takes place on 11th July 2026. Tickets are available now at thewildstride.co.uk.
