The APF 2026 exhibition returns to the Ragley Estate in Warwickshire on 24–26 September, and this one carries some weight: it is the show’s Golden Anniversary, fifty years on from the first APF at Longleat in 1976. Held every two years, it remains the largest forestry, arboriculture, woodland, fencing and biomass event in the UK, and the place where most of the sector’s buying conversations happen in person. Vigilis will be exhibiting on stand C8a.
What to expect at the APF 2026 exhibition
Organisers passed 300 confirmed exhibitors in July and expect more than 320 across the site, with visitor numbers projected at around 23,000 over the three days. The line-up spans harvesting machinery, sawmilling, arboriculture equipment, nursery stock, tree protection, fencing and firewood processing, the full working chain rather than a single trade.
The anniversary edition has attracted new names as well as familiar ones, with DeWalt exhibiting at the show for the first time. For visitors, the practical effect is a denser demonstration programme and more kit running in the field rather than parked on a stand.
Competitions and live demonstrations
APF’s competitions are a large part of why people come. The 2026 programme includes pole climbing, forwarder driving, winch operation and chainsaw competitions, alongside continuous working demonstrations across the estate. If you are assessing machinery, watching it work on real ground for twenty minutes tells you considerably more than a specification sheet.
Planning your visit
Two practical notes. There is no on-site camping at Ragley, so Church Farm Campsite at Alcester is the official alternative, and it books up. And the site is large and largely unsurfaced: proper boots, and a plan for which sections you want to cover on which day, will save you a lot of walking. Tickets and the full exhibitor list are on the APF Exhibition website.
What is worth looking at on tree protection
Tree protection has changed faster in the last five years than in the previous twenty, and a show is a good place to test claims. Three questions are worth carrying round the site. First, what does a shelter actually do at end of life: is it soil-biodegradable, is it genuinely recyclable through a stream that exists, or does someone have to go back and collect it? Second, what is the evidence behind the durability claim, and over what period was it gathered? Third, does the supplier understand your species and site, or only their own product range?
Those questions matter more now that funding conditions and certification schemes increasingly ask what happens to plastic left in the ground. A guard is not just a purchase price; it is a purchase price plus a retrieval cost, and the second number is the one that gets forgotten at specification stage.
Find Vigilis on stand C8a
We will be at APF 2026 on stand C8a for all three days. Vigilis manufactures soil-biodegradable and recyclable protection for trees, hedges, shrubs and vines, including the Vigilis Bio tree shelter, tree guards and mesh shelters. Bring us your site and your species, and we will talk through what actually suits them.
If you are specifying protection for the 2026/27 planting season, the show is a good moment to settle it with the samples in front of you. If you cannot get to Ragley, our distributor network covers the UK.
