Usually October
Fire tradition · England
Hastings Bonfire
Hastings, East Sussex
Hastings Borough Bonfire Society's torchlit Old Town procession and bonfire on the beach.
A Saturday in mid-October (Saturday 17 October in 2026)
BY NATION
Unusual events in England.
A wheel of cheese, a wooden bottle and a suit of paper strips make a fairly unlikely packing list. In England they also point the way to some excellent days out. Cooper’s Hill sends runners hurtling after a cheese, Hallaton’s bottle kicking turns a village custom into a contest across open ground, and Marshfield’s Paper Boys perform their Christmas play in extraordinary disguises. Half the fun is seeing how differently each community decides what counts as an important occasion.
For dancing and music, start with Padstow’s ’Obby ’Oss, Helston’s Flora Day or the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. Read the individual guide before you pick your spot: a procession winding through the streets and a performance that stops at several places call for different ways of watching. Keep an eye on the people keeping the custom alive, not just the most photogenic costume. A good visit might mean listening to a song or staying for the whole play, not dashing off after the first picture.
Things change gear sharply at the fire events. Lewes has separate bonfire societies and fire sites; Ottery St Mary’s barrels move through busy streets. Neither is an ordinary fireworks night where any viewing spot or entry arrangement will do. At the gentler end of the list, worm charming wrings its own sporting drama from a patch of ground. Use the participation and family details in each guide to find the atmosphere you're after, rather than choosing purely by the strangest photograph.
The map below is a place to start planning an outing, not a challenge to bag everything in one trip. Pick an event that grabs you, check its current date and organiser information, then give the town or village some time of its own. Several customs follow the church calendar or a local rule rather than a fixed date. Where an entry only gives the usual time of year, treat it as a lead to follow up; once a date is confirmed, you can start planning properly.
102 events
Usually October
Folk tradition · England
Nottingham Goose Fair
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
A historic travelling funfair fills the Forest Recreation Ground with rides and stalls.
Late September into early October; next dates unconfirmed
Date announced
Folk tradition · England
Whitby Goth Weekend
Whitby, North Yorkshire
Twice a year Whitby fills with goths, steampunks and Victorian finery for gigs and markets.
30 October – 1 November 2026
Traditional date
Fire tradition · England
Lewes Bonfire Night
Lewes, East Sussex
Bonfire societies parade burning crosses, tar barrels and effigies through the county town.
5 November 2026
Date announced
Fire tradition · England
Ottery St Mary Tar Barrels
Ottery St Mary, Devon
Local barrel rollers carry burning barrels through the town.
5 November 2026
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Turning the Devil’s Stone
Shebbear, Devon
Bell-ringers lever over a huge boulder in Shebbear to keep the Devil underneath for a year.
5 November 2026
Date announced
Fire tradition · England
Battle Bonfire
Battle, East Sussex
A day-long bonfire celebration ending with a torchlit procession and fire on Abbey Green.
7 November 2026
Date announced
Fire tradition · England
Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival
Bridgwater, Somerset
Giant illuminated carnival carts parade through town, ending with a blaze of hand-held squibs.
7 November 2026
Date announced
Fire tradition · England
Edenbridge Bonfire
Edenbridge, Kent
Torchlit procession and fireworks where an 11-metre effigy of a public figure is burned.
7 November 2026
Date announced
Fire tradition · England
Hatherleigh Carnival tar barrels
Hatherleigh, Devon
Blazing tar barrels are dragged through the streets at 5am and again after the carnival.
14 November 2026
Traditional date
Fire tradition · England
Rye Bonfire
Rye, East Sussex
Torchlit procession through Rye ending at a bonfire on the Salts, topped with a boat.
14 November 2026
Usually December
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Glastonbury Holy Thorn Cutting
Glastonbury, Somerset
Schoolchildren cut a flowering Holy Thorn sprig to send to the monarch for Christmas.
A schoolday in December before Christmas; the date varies
Traditional date
Fire tradition · England
Burning the Clocks
Brighton, East Sussex
A winter solstice lantern parade through Brighton that ends with lanterns burned on the beach.
21 December 2026
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Tom Bawcock’s Eve
Mousehole, Cornwall
Mousehole remembers a heroic fisherman with lanterns, harbour lights and stargazy pie.
23 December 2026
Traditional date
Festive swim · England
Peter Pan Cup Christmas Day Swim
Hyde Park, London
Serpentine Swimming Club members race 100 yards in the cold lake on Christmas morning.
25 December 2026
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Marshfield Mummers (Old Time Paper Boys)
Marshfield, Gloucestershire
Mummers in costumes of paper strips perform their Boxing Day play along the High Street.
26 December 2026
Traditional date
Fire tradition · England
Allendale Tar Bar’l
Allendale, Northumberland
Costumed guisers carry blazing tar barrels on their heads to light the New Year bonfire.
31 December 2026
Traditional date
Traditional games · England
Haxey Hood
Haxey, Lincolnshire
A giant rolling scrum pushes a leather tube across fields to one of four village pubs.
6 January 2027
Date announced
Folk tradition · England
Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival
Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire
A straw-covered bear leads a procession with dance teams.
15–17 January 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Carhampton Wassail
Carhampton, Somerset
Villagers sing to the apple trees, fire shotguns and leave toast for the robins.
16 January 2027
Date announced
Folk tradition · England
Goathland Plough Stots Day of Dance
Goathland, North Yorkshire
Longsword dancers tour a moorland village on the Saturday after Plough Monday.
16 January 2027
Traditional date
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Grimaldi Clowns’ Service
Haggerston, London
Clowns in full costume attend a church service in Hackney honouring Joseph Grimaldi.
7 February 2027
Traditional date
Traditional games · England
Hurling the Silver Ball, St Ives
St Ives, Cornwall
On Feast Monday children hurl a silver ball round St Ives until the noon handback to the Mayor.
8 February 2027
Traditional date
Traditional games · England
Alnwick Shrovetide Football
Alnwick, Northumberland
Two parishes battle for a ball thrown from Alnwick Castle, ending with a swim in the River Aln.
9 February 2027
Traditional date
Traditional games · England
Atherstone Ball Game
Atherstone, Warwickshire
A two-hour scramble for a giant leather ball along Long Street on Shrove Tuesday.
9 February 2027
Date announced
Unusual race · England
Olney Pancake Race
Olney, Buckinghamshire
Shrove Tuesday race carrying frying pans and pancakes.
9 February 2027
Traditional date
Traditional games · England
Royal Shrovetide Football
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
A two-day, whole-town game of medieval football between the Up'ards and Down'ards.
9–10 February 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Scarborough Skipping Day
Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Hundreds skip with long ropes on Scarborough's closed seafront road every Shrove Tuesday.
9 February 2027
Traditional date
Traditional games · England
Sedgefield Ball Game
Sedgefield, County Durham
A teamless Shrove Tuesday free-for-all that begins at the bull ring on Sedgefield's green.
9 February 2027
Traditional date
Traditional games · England
St Columb Hurling
St Columb Major, Cornwall
Townsmen and Countrymen chase a silver ball through the streets and fields of St Columb.
9 February 2027
Date announced
Unusual race · England
UK Wife Carrying Race
Dorking, Surrey
Pairs tackle a course with one adult carrying another.
14 March 2027
Usually March
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Oranges and Lemons Service
St Clement Danes, Strand, London
Schoolchildren receive an orange and a lemon as the church bells ring out the nursery rhyme.
Around the third Thursday in March
Traditional date
Unusual race · England
Kiplingcotes Derby
Kiplingcotes, East Riding of Yorkshire
A four-mile horse race over Wolds tracks and verges, claimed as England's oldest, since 1519.
18 March 2027
Traditional date
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Tichborne Dole
Tichborne, Hampshire
Flour is blessed and handed out to local families outside Tichborne House each Lady Day.
25 March 2027
Traditional date
Traditional games · England
British and World Marbles Championship
Tinsley Green, West Sussex
Teams from Britain and abroad compete at ring taw marbles outside a village pub.
26 March 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Heptonstall Pace Egg Play
Heptonstall, West Yorkshire
A comic Easter mummers' play performed several times on Good Friday in Weavers Square.
26 March 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Britannia Coconut Dancers of Bacup
Bacup, Lancashire
The Coconutters dance from one boundary of Bacup to the other every Easter Saturday.
27 March 2027
Traditional date
Traditional games · England
Hallaton Bottle Kicking & Hare Pie Scramble
Hallaton, Leicestershire
Two villages wrestle small beer barrels across streams after a parade and a hare pie.
29 March 2027
Traditional date
Unusual race · England
World Coal Carrying Championship
Gawthorpe, West Yorkshire
Runners carry sacks of coal about a kilometre from the Royal Oak to the village maypole.
29 March 2027
Traditional date
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Hungerford Hocktide (Tutti Day)
Hungerford, Berkshire
Tutti Men with flower poles collect kisses and hand out oranges as Hungerford holds its court.
6 April 2027
Date announced
Folk tradition · England
Hastings Traditional Jack in the Green
Hastings, East Sussex
Green-clad processions, traditional dance and music.
30 April – 3 May 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Minehead Hobby Horse
Minehead, Somerset
Two canvas-and-ribbon hobby horses dance through Minehead and Dunster around May Day.
30 April – 4 May 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Oxford May Morning
Oxford, Oxfordshire
Choristers greet May Day at 6am from Magdalen Tower before morris dancing across Oxford.
1 May 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Padstow ’Obby ’Oss
Padstow, Cornwall
Two 'osses dance through Padstow all day on May Day to drums, accordions and the May Song.
1 May 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Rochester Sweeps Festival
Rochester, Kent
Morris sides, sweeps and the Jack-in-the-Green fill Rochester over the May bank holiday.
1–3 May 2027
Date announced
Folk tradition · England
Ickwell May Day
Ickwell, Bedfordshire
A May Queen, decorated hoops and ribbon dances fill Ickwell Green for May Day.
3 May 2027
Traditional date
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Planting the Penny Hedge
Whitby, North Yorkshire
A small hazel hedge is woven on the Esk shore in Whitby to stand three tides.
5 May 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Tissington Well Dressing
Tissington, Derbyshire
Tissington's wells are decorated with pictures made of petals for a week from Ascension Day.
6–12 May 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Helston Flora Day
Helston, Cornwall
Couples dance the Furry Dance through Helston's streets, houses and shops from 7am.
8 May 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Covent Garden May Fayre and Puppet Festival
Covent Garden, London
Punch and Judy puppeteers parade, attend church and perform for Mr Punch's birthday.
9 May 2027
Usually May
Unusual competition · England
Blackawton International Festival of Wormcharming
Blackawton, Devon
Teams have 20 minutes to coax worms out of a Devon field without digging, for charity.
Early May, usually the Sunday of the early May bank holiday weekend
Usually May
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Knutsford Royal May Day
Knutsford, Cheshire
A costumed procession, sanded pavements and a May Queen crowned on Knutsford Heath.
The first Saturday in May
Usually May
Unusual race · England
Stilton Cheese Rolling
Stilton, Cambridgeshire
Fancy-dress teams race a wooden 'cheese' along a village course near Peterborough.
Spring Bank Holiday weekend at the end of May (2025: Sunday 25 May; 2026: Saturday 24 May)
Usually May
Unusual race · England
Tetbury Woolsack Races
Tetbury, Gloucestershire
Competitors carry heavy woolsacks on a steep town-centre course.
Spring bank holiday Monday (late May)
Usually May
Folk tradition · England
Wirksworth Well Dressing
Wirksworth, Derbyshire
Flower and seed mosaics decorate wells and taps around a Derbyshire market town.
Around the late May spring bank holiday weekend
Usually May
Unusual competition · England
World Pooh Sticks Championships
Sandford-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
Players drop sticks into the Thames at Sandford Lock and race them to a finish line.
Usually a Sunday in late May
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
St Briavels Bread and Cheese Dole
St Briavels, Gloucestershire
Bread and cheese are blessed and showered over a crowd beside a medieval castle.
16 May 2027
Date announced
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Rowell Fair Proclamation
Rothwell, Northamptonshire
A mounted bailiff proclaims Rothwell’s charter fair on an early-morning circuit.
24 May 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Hunting the Earl of Rone
Combe Martin, Devon
Grenadiers hunt a fugitive earl through Combe Martin over four days, then throw him in the sea.
28–31 May 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Castleton Garland Day
Castleton, Derbyshire
A Garland King rides through Castleton hidden under a huge bell of flowers on Oak Apple Day.
29 May 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Great Wishford Grovely Day (Oak Apple Day)
Great Wishford, Wiltshire
Villagers claim their wood rights with oak boughs, cathedral dances and a cry of 'Grovely!'
29 May 2027
Date announced
Unusual race · England
Maldon Mud Race
Promenade Park, Maldon, Essex
Competitors race across the muddy riverbed.
30 May 2027
Date announced
Folk tradition · England
Bampton Morris Day of Dance
Bampton, Oxfordshire
Bampton's three morris sides dance through the village all day on the spring bank holiday.
31 May 2027
Traditional date
Unusual race · England
Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling
Cooper’s Hill, near Gloucester
Competitors chase a rolling cheese down a steep hill.
31 May 2027
Date announced
Folk tradition · England
Kingsteignton Ram Roasting Fair
Kingsteignton, Devon
A ram roast, May Queen and community stalls keep a Devon fair tradition going.
31 May 2027
Traditional date
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Lichfield Greenhill Bower
Lichfield, Staffordshire
Men in armour are inspected, then a procession, Bower Queen and fair fill the city.
31 May 2027
Date announced
Folk tradition · England
Appleby Horse Fair
Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria
Horses and a longstanding Gypsy and Traveller gathering beside the River Eden.
3–9 June 2027
Date announced
Unusual race · England
Great Knaresborough Bed Race
Knaresborough, North Yorkshire
Decorated beds race through town and across the River Nidd.
12 June 2027
Date announced
Unusual competition · England
World Custard Pie Championship
Coxheath, Kent
Teams compete in a slapstick pie-throwing contest.
12 June 2027
Usually June
Traditional games · England
Cotswold Olimpick Games
Dover’s Hill, Gloucestershire
Traditional games including the World Shin-Kicking Championships.
The Friday after the spring bank holiday
Usually June
Unusual competition · England
World Crazy Golf Championships
Hastings, East Sussex
Competitive putting takes over the seaside crazy golf course in Hastings.
Usually in June
Usually June
Unusual competition · England
World Egg Throwing Championships
Swaton, Lincolnshire
Raw eggs are tossed, catapulted and smashed on foreheads at Swaton's charity vintage day.
Last Sunday in June, as part of Swaton Vintage Day (27 June 2027 if the pattern holds)
Usually June
Unusual competition · England
World Stinging Nettle Eating Championship
Marshwood, Dorset
Contestants spend an hour eating raw stinging nettle leaves at a Dorset village pub.
Every summer, usually in June
Usually June
Unusual competition · England
World Worm Charming Championships
Willaston near Nantwich, Cheshire
Competitors use vibrations to coax worms to the surface.
A Saturday in June
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Bawming the Thorn
Appleton Thorn, Cheshire
Children decorate a hawthorn with flowers and ribbons beside the village church.
19 June 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Youlgreave Well Dressing
Youlgreave, Derbyshire
Large petal pictures celebrate the village water supply around midsummer.
19–24 June 2027
Date announced
Unusual competition · England
World Peashooting Championship
Witcham, Cambridgeshire
Dried peas are blown through tubes at targets.
10 July 2027
Usually July
Folk tradition · England
Ambleside Rushbearing
Ambleside, Cumbria
A brass-band procession of rush bearings winds through Ambleside to St Mary's Church.
Usually the first Saturday in July
Usually July
Folk tradition · England
Bodmin Riding and Heritage Day
Bodmin, Cornwall
A Cornish street celebration brings dancing, music and the trial of the Beast of Bodmin.
Usually the first weekend of July; await the next programme
Usually July
Folk tradition · England
Grasmere Rushbearing
Grasmere, Cumbria
Villagers carry flower-and-rush bearings in procession to St Oswald's Church, Grasmere.
A Saturday in mid-July, usually the second Saturday (formerly near St Oswald's Day, 5 August)
Usually July
Unusual race · England
Oxenhope Straw Race
Oxenhope, West Yorkshire
Teams in fancy dress carry a straw bale 2.5 miles between pubs, downing a pint at each stop.
First Sunday in July, starting at noon (4 July 2027 if the pattern holds)
Usually July
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Swan Upping
River Thames, Sunbury to Abingdon
The King's Swan Uppers row up the Thames for five days counting and checking cygnets.
Five days, Monday to Friday, in mid-July (2026: 13-17 July)
Usually July
Unusual competition · England
Wenlock Olympian Games
Much Wenlock, Shropshire
Annual multi-sport games in the Shropshire town that helped inspire the modern Olympics.
June and July each year, with the main athletics day on a Sunday in mid-July and the Wenlock Mile in September
Usually July
Unusual race · England
World Snail Racing Championships
Congham, Norfolk
Garden snails race across a damp cloth circle at a village cricket field.
Usually a Saturday in mid-July, from 2pm
Usually July
Unusual competition · England
World Toe Wrestling Championship
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Barefoot competitors lock toes and try to pin their opponent's foot for a world title.
Usually a Saturday in July or August
Traditional date
Traditional games · England
Ebernoe Horn Fair
Ebernoe, West Sussex
A village cricket match with a ram roasting by the pitch and horns for the top scorer.
25 July 2027
Usually August
Unusual competition · England
Brambles Bank cricket match
The Solent, Hampshire
Two yacht clubs play cricket on a Solent sandbank during the brief low-tide window.
Once a year on a very low spring tide, usually late summer; time set by the tide
Usually August
Unusual competition · England
World Gravy Wrestling Championships
Bacup, Lancashire
Fancy-dress wrestling in a pool of gravy.
Late summer, recently on the August bank holiday Monday
Usually August
Unusual race · England
World Hen Racing Championship
Bonsall, Derbyshire
Hens sprint, wander or sit down on a 30-foot track in a Derbyshire pub car park.
Usually the first Saturday in August, at the Barley Mow pub
Date announced
Traditional games · England
Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show
Grasmere, Cumbria
Cumberland wrestling, fell races and hound trails at the Lake District's classic sports day.
29 August 2027
Traditional date
Folk tradition · England
Widecombe Fair
Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Devon
Dartmoor’s rural fair mixes local produce, horses, music and unusual competitions.
14 September 2027
Usually September
Folk tradition · England
Abbots Bromley Horn Dance
Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire
Traditional horn dance involving antlers.
Wakes Monday: the Monday after the first Sunday after 4 September
Usually September
Unusual competition · England
Bridport Hat Festival
Bridport, Dorset
Hats take over Bridport for competitions, street celebrations and a mass photograph.
Usually the first Saturday in September
Usually September
Unusual race · England
Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race
River Thames, London
Apprentice watermen scull from London Bridge to Chelsea in the world's oldest rowing race.
Once a year in late summer, timed to the tide; recently early September (2026: Wednesday 2 September)
Usually September
Unusual competition · England
Egremont Crab Fair and Gurning World Championships
Egremont, Cumbria
Traditional fair featuring competitive face-pulling.
Third Saturday in September
Usually September
Folk tradition · England
Pearly Kings and Queens Harvest Festival
City of London, London
London's button-covered Pearlies parade from Guildhall Yard to St Mary-le-Bow for harvest.
A Sunday in late September (2026: Sunday 20 September)
Usually September
Folk tradition · England
Whitstable Landing of the Oysters
Whitstable, Kent
A ceremonial oyster landing leads into a public procession along Whitstable’s shore.
Usually in September as part of Whitstable Rocks Oyster Festival
Usually September
Unusual competition · England
World Black Pudding Throwing Championships
Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester
Throwers hurl black puddings at a stack of Yorkshire puddings on a tall plinth.
Usually the second Sunday in September, outside The Oaks pub on Bridge Street
Date announced
Unusual competition · England
World Conker Championships
Southwick, Northamptonshire
Championship version of the traditional conker game.
10 October 2027
Date announced
Unusual competition · England
Dunmow Flitch Trials
Great Dunmow, Essex
Married couples argue before a mock court to win a side of bacon for marital harmony.
15 July 2028
Usually TBC
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Ceremony of the Keys
Tower of London, London
The Tower of London is locked up for the night in a short ceremony held every evening.
Every night of the year at 9.30pm (free tickets, released in batches and snapped up fast)
Usually TBC
Ceremony & pageantry · England
Ripon Hornblower: Setting the Watch
Ripon, North Yorkshire
Every night at 9pm a hornblower sounds a horn at the obelisk in Ripon's Market Square.
Every night of the year at 9pm in Ripon Market Square (free)