London on 10 and 11 October: free gardens, closing fairs and a half marathon

Three things come together in London this weekend, 10 and 11 October 2026: dry sunny weather, the Hampton Court gardens opening free of charge, and the Premier League returning after the international break. Add the Royal Parks half marathon on Sunday, which shuts the centre until midday. Everything below has been checked against venue and organiser websites — anything we could not confirm is not in this piece. This week's focus is London.

What is free in London on 10 and 11 October?

The big free event of the weekend is the Hampton Court gardens, open without a ticket on both days.

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The gardens at Hampton Court Palace, Saturday and Sunday. Historic Royal Palaces has declared 10 and 11 October garden open days: entry is free, with no tickets and no pre-booking. Open 10:00 to 17:30, last admission 16:30. The palace's own caveat matters: entry to the palace, the Maze and the Magic Garden still requires a ticket — only the gardens are free.

StarQuest, V&A South Kensington, Saturday. A performance-lecture by the artist Maya Man about youth competitive dance and the algorithmic stage — its London premiere. Lecture Theatre, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL: doors and a screening from 11:00, the lecture itself 12:00 to 13:00, followed by a conversation with the artist and the curators. Free.

Rewind: Grime on Camera, V&A East, Saturday evening. A talk about how grime was filmed, at the new museum on Carpenters Road, E20 2AR, Level 3. From 19:00 to 21:00, free.

Afternoon Poems, Keats House, Sunday. An hour of poetry at Keats's house on Keats Grove, NW3 2RR: doors at 14:00, reading from 14:15 to 15:15, this edition on travels, journeys and adventures. Free, run by the museum itself.

What ends this weekend?

Two large shows close on Sunday: the craft fair at Alexandra Palace and the contemporary art fair on Brick Lane.

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Knit + Stitch at Alexandra Palace runs 8 to 11 October, and Sunday is the final day: it closes at 16:30 that day, against 10:00 to 17:30 from Thursday to Saturday. The organiser publishes prices as follows: adult in advance £28.20 (£23.95 plus fee), on the door £29.50; concession (students, disabled visitors, 65+) £25.75 in advance and £27 on the door; under 18s £13.75 in advance and £10 on the door; an afternoon ticket from 14:00 is £22.25 in advance and £24 on the door. The £4.25 fee is charged once per order, not per ticket — and there is no fee on the door.

The Other Art Fair at The Truman Brewery (83 Brick Lane, E1 6QL) also closes on Sunday. Saturday 11:00 to 19:00, Sunday 11:00 to 18:00, and that is the end of it.

New Scientist Live at ExCeL London runs 10:00 to 17:00 on both weekend days. Monday 12 October is also on, but for school groups only, 9:30 to 15:00 — so for an ordinary visitor the weekend is the last chance. Entry is via the West entrance, Custom House station (Elizabeth line and DLR).

Are there Premier League matches?

Yes. The international break ended on 6 October and Matchweek 6 restarts on 10 October.

The question comes up often because the September and October windows were merged into one in the 2026/27 season, running 21 September to 6 October. The next break is 9 to 17 November. So this is a full football weekend.

Home fixtures in London: Arsenal v Leeds United, Saturday 12:30 at the Emirates; Chelsea v Bournemouth, Saturday 15:00 at Stamford Bridge; Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest, Sunday 14:00 at Selhurst Park.

London clubs away: Brentford at Aston Villa, Saturday 15:00; Fulham at Ipswich Town, Saturday 15:00; Tottenham at Manchester United, Saturday 17:30. Outside London the headline match is Liverpool v Manchester City on Sunday at 16:30.

Which roads will be closed?

On Sunday the centre closes for the Royal Parks half marathon — the main restriction of the weekend.

The Oysho Royal Parks Half Marathon starts in waves from 08:45 on Sunday in Hyde Park. The organiser publishes three blocks of closures: Hyde Park — roads closed from 00:01 on Sunday until 05:00 on Monday; St James's Park — 06:00 to 18:30 on Sunday; Westminster — 07:00 to 12:30 on Sunday. There is no park access and no parking from 06:00; coaches drop off on Knightsbridge, Bayswater Road and Park Lane.

In practice: if you need to cross the area from Marble Arch to Parliament Square on Sunday morning, allow an extra hour and go on foot or by Tube. Westminster reopens around lunchtime; Hyde Park only by Monday morning.

No major road closures for runs or parades are announced in the centre on Saturday.

What is happening on the Tube?

There is a lot of planned engineering work, and two lines are closed over long sections on both days.

From TfL's planned closures schedule: Circle — no service between Edgware Road and Aldgate via Victoria, both days. District — no service from Edgware Road and Tower Hill towards Ealing Broadway, Kensington (Olympia), Richmond and Wimbledon, both days. DLR — Stratford International to Woolwich Arsenal closed, both days.

Sunday only: Elizabeth line — no service West Drayton to Slough until 08:15; Weaver line — no service on the entire line until 10:15; Suffragette line — Barking to Barking Riverside, plus Gospel Oak to Barking until 09:45 and after 23:00; Windrush line — Wandsworth Road to Clapham Junction. Overnight Friday into Saturday, Piccadilly trains do not stop at Earl's Court between 03:15 and 05:45.

The District closure is particularly awkward for anyone heading to Hampton Court via Richmond or Wimbledon: the simpler route is a South Western Railway train from Waterloo to Hampton Court station. A fuller breakdown of London closures is in our piece on TfL works in October, and how to pay less for travel is covered separately.

What has just opened and runs all weekend?

The week's big opening is "The 90s" at Tate Britain, which started on 8 October.

The exhibition runs to 14 February 2027 and is open daily 10:00 to 18:00. Tickets: £22 standard, £20 concessions, £5 on the Tate Collective scheme for ages 16–25 (sign up and log in to book), free for Tate Members with no booking needed. New exhibitions draw the heaviest traffic at weekends — book a slot in advance.

Are there any Russian-language events?

Yes, one confirmed — two lectures by Ilya Kolmanovsky on Sunday.

The biologist Ilya Kolmanovsky appears on 11 October at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill: at 12:00 a children's lecture, "Return of the Bermuda Snail" (6+), and at 14:00 an adult lecture, "Nobel Prizes 2026 UNLOCKED". The promoter marks both as having only the last tickets left.

One warning. The venue's own website is not working: the domain tabernaclew11.com serves unrelated content with no connection to the venue. Check times and availability with the promoter, not on The Tabernacle's site. We went through this and seven similar cases in today's check of UK event listings.

What will the weather be like?

Both days are dry and bright, around 16 °C — good going for October.

The Met Office forecast for London: Saturday 10 October — sunny intervals, high 16 °C, low 8 °C, a dry morning, with the chance of rain peaking at 30% between 13:00 and 15:00, wind up to 11 mph with gusts to 31 mph around 15:00. Sunday 11 October — sunny intervals, high 16 °C, low 9 °C, chance of rain under 5% all day, light wind up to 6 mph.

So for the half marathon and for the Hampton Court gardens, Sunday is noticeably the safer bet. If you are planning a long walk in a park, make it Sunday; if you are going to a museum, it makes no difference.

How should you put the weekend together?

The easiest order is museums and fairs on Saturday, parks and the palace on Sunday — with an allowance for the road closures.

Saturday works normally: Knit + Stitch and The Other Art Fair are not yet on their final day and are less crowded, StarQuest at the V&A in the middle of the day, Rewind at V&A East in the evening, football on television or at the ground. On Sunday morning the centre belongs to the half marathon — Hampton Court and Keats House both sit away from the closures, which is where to head. Note that Hampton Court shuts at 17:30 with last admission at 16:30, while Knit + Stitch and The Other Art Fair close for good — you have until 16:30 and 18:00 respectively.

Last week we covered the weekend across Britain outside London. And a reminder for the end of the month: the clocks go back on 25 October.