Your Tour Guide For England
Beyond London
England's Must-See Spots
Enjoy Wonderful Festivals
Enjoy Wonderful Festivals
England is a country with an ancient heritage and culture, reflected vibrantly in countless festivals celebrated throughout the year. There are festivals for sport, music, food, and nearly all other things traditional and contemporary. Every town and village in Britain has its own festivals, some with centuries-old customs, and others where tremendous levity and childish antics are the order of the day. There’s never a dull moment, to say the very least.
Cambridge Folk Festival
Promoted by the Cambridge City Council, the Cambridge Folk Festival is an incredible 3-day musical extravaganza in July every year which puts a special emphasis on – you guessed it – folk music. It is, in fact, one of the most famous and longest running folk music festivals in the world. The best artists of traditional folk music from the UK and Ireland participate, along with exponents of more modern variations of American country and blues and roots. The Festival, which launched in 1964, today has thousands of visitors who come to enjoy the live music in a picturesque setting.
BBC Proms Music Festival
Another great music festival, one that attracts lovers of classical music, is the BBC Proms Music Festival. This runs July-September in several venues, including Albert Hall, the Royal College of Music, and Cadogan Hall. The Festival reverberates to the sounds of the great classical masters, a musical feast attended by aficionados from all over the world. Replete with late night concerts, and an open-air session in Hyde Park as a grand finale, the BBC Proms is truly a festival to remember.
Birmingham Jazz Festival
For jazz freaks, there is nothing bigger than the Birmingham Jazz Festival, running from the 1st to the 10th of July. A musical celebration of jazz in all its permutations, the festival features over 200 performances, spread across 50 venues in the city. More than 250,000 people come to enjoy the festival that attracts elite jazz soloists and bands worldwide.
The Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival is like no other, and reputed to be the largest of its kind in the world. Located in a huge tented city, with music, dance, gigs, and even film shows at night, the atmosphere is fun and otherworldly. The Festival is held at Glastonbury in 900 acres of the Vale of Avalon, a location steeped in myth and ancient religious traditions. Among many other things, King Arthur is believed to be buried here. Called the “Big Ben of Festivals”, it is truly one not to be missed.
Weird and Wacky
Britain abounds in ancient traditions and customs that are reflected in various festivals and celebrations that can be called weird, bizarre and certainly strange.
Sweeps Festival, Rochester, Kent: It is a colorful spectacle, as dancers and musicians commemorate the tradition of chimney sweeps greeting the advent of summer so that their chimney cleaning could begin. Thought to be a pagan tradition, the festival takes place in the first weekend of May.
The Great Gorilla Run: An opportunity to impersonate a gorilla, the Great Gorilla Run is one of London’s most famous charity runs. Since the launch in 2003, people have put on their gorilla suits to traverse the 7 km route to save an endangered species from total extinction.
Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling: Maybe the most famous of all the wild traditions in England is this honest-to-God fracas. Residents from all over Gloucester’s countryside and beyond gather at Cooper’s hill, near the Cotswolds, and chase a large wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down a slope. Whoever crosses the finish line first, takes the cheese home with them. It’s England at its most ridiculous.
Whichever of the thousands of unique festivals you may attend in England, one thing is for certain… these festivals will definitely change the minds of those who still see England as a prim, proper, and conservative place.
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