Alnwick Shrovetide Football
Two parishes play football across pasture below the castle, the ball piped to the field and won by carrying it home.
Alnwick punches well above its weight for a Northumberland market town, anchored by a castle, a world-class garden, one of Britain's great bookshops, multiple CAMRA-recognised pubs, a twice-weekly market, and a genuinely varied eating and drinking scene that keeps it lively for visitors and locals alike.
Cottages, B&Bs and hotels near Alnwick, Northumberland.
Some stay links are affiliate links. More
Add the free Villagly badge to your own website. It shows visitors you are listed with us and links them straight back to this page.
Get the free badge →Event details come from organisers and can change. Please check with the organiser before you travel.
"A classic upland agricultural show on the Allendale showfield celebrating the livestock, horticultural, and rural craft traditions of the North Pennine Dales."
Allendale Show
"A beloved North Tynedale agricultural show at the heart of Northumberland's most remote market town, celebrating 100 years of Kielder Forest in 2026 with inter-farm challenges, vintage vehicles, and livestock classes."
Bellingham Show
"Deep in the Northumberland countryside, a riotous one-day festival with terrier racing, live bands, Northumbrian piping, traditional wrestling, a dog show and fell racing, with the 2026 theme celebrating 100 years of Kielder Forest."
Bellingham Show and Country Festival
"A border shepherd's show in the shadow of the Cheviots, one of Northumberland's most traditional agricultural gatherings, with Cheviot sheep, cattle, horses and the Border hills right there on the horizon."
Glendale Show
"A tiny Northumberland hamlet between Alnwick and Craster springs to life each August Bank Holiday with a scarecrow trail quiz, tombola, sausage sizzle and refreshments raising funds for the village hall and church."
Rennington Scarecrow Festival
"Five days of classical music, recitals and choral performances in and around the magnificent 7th-century Hexham Abbey, one of the finest ecclesiastical settings for live music in northern England."
Hexham Abbey Festival of Music and Arts
"The 120th year of this tiny, utterly traditional Lakeland show at the foot of Helvellyn, with open sheepdog trials, foxhound and terrier judging and a fell race while the ancient sound of Cumbrian dialect fills the valley."
Patterdale Dog Day
"Since 1852 the Showfield at Grasmere has hosted Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling, fell guides racing, hound trailing and tug-of-war on the August Bank Holiday Sunday, and in 2026 entry is completely free."
Grasmere Sports
"Grown adults in fancy dress grapple for two minutes in a pool of cold Lancashire gravy on August bank holiday, scored as much on showmanship as on pins, all for the local hospice."
World Gravy Wrestling Championships
Villagly Award · Messiest in the UK ✦ Weird and Wonderful"Held on the green beside the River Wharfe since the sixteenth century, with the brutal 1.5 mile dash up Burnsall Fell as its breathless centrepiece."
Burnsall Feast Sports and Classic Fell Race
"Crabs (crab apples, thrown from a cart) in the morning, greasy pole and hound trailing through the day, and in the evening competitors push their faces through a horse collar to achieve the most grotesque expression possible, since 1267."
Egremont Crab Fair and World Gurning Championships
Villagly Award · Best Gurn in the UK ✦ Weird and Wonderful"The Lancashire ploughing society's annual match brings competitors to the Ribble Valley farmland each October where the Bowland fells rise to the north and the fields are some of the oldest continuously ploughed in Lancashire."
Lancashire Ploughing Society Match