Bourton-on-the-Water Christmas Lights Switch On
Each late November, Bourton-on-the-Water places a decorated Christmas tree in the River Windrush and gathers villagers on the green for a carol-led lights switch-on, making it one of the Cotswolds' most distinctive festive traditions.
Bourton is an exceptionally pretty riverside village that wears its Cotswold-limestone credentials impeccably, but it is geared almost entirely towards visitors and can feel more like an open-air attraction than a living community in high season - come early, or out of peak, and it earns every one of its 117 listed buildings.
Cottages, B&Bs and hotels near Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire.
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"A purpose-built opera house in a Cotswolds village presents Wagner, Handel, Verdi and Humperdinck across a full summer season, one of the UK's most ambitious small opera festivals in a setting of extraordinary rural beauty."
Longborough Festival Opera
"Three days at South Cerney Airfield bring together one of the largest gatherings of vintage vehicles, steam engines, working horses, buses and stationary engines in the South West, a complete world of working mechanical heritage set out across a former wartime airfield with the Cotswold Water Park shimmering beyond."
Gloucestershire Vintage and Country Extravaganza
"Vintage biplanes drone overhead while hard driving bluegrass and old time pickers jam around a bonfire on one of the quirkiest festival fields in the country."
Didmarton Bluegrass Festival
"One of the biggest one-day shows in England, held in the Cotswolds on the first Saturday of September, Shetland Pony Grand National, champion cattle, and a showground that fills the whole town with its presence."
Moreton Show
"Traction engines, vintage vehicles and working machinery gather off the A436 near Bourton-on-the-Water for a two-day show in the Cotswold limestone uplands, the kind of event that draws real working-machinery enthusiasts rather than festival-goers and is better for it."
North Cotswold Steam and Vintage Show
"The most prestigious sheepdog event in the British Isles, held at the Daylesford Estate where the finest handlers from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales compete across three days for the International Supreme title."
International Sheepdog Championship
"Over 100 events in 8 days on the Jurassic Coast, with a Wild West theme for 2026, a carnival procession, air display, fireworks finale, Titan the Robot, Granny Turismo shopping trolley dancers and open water swimming, all free and raising £40k for local charities."
Swanage Carnival Week
"A week-long seaside carnival in the fishing town of Looe, with a traditional Furry Dance, live music, and the Polperro Fisherman's Choir."
Looe Carnival Week
"A classic Cornish market-town carnival parade held each summer in the medieval stannary capital of Lostwithiel."
Lostwithiel Carnival
"A beloved carnival night in one of Cornwall's most picturesque fishing villages, with a harbour-lit procession drawing crowds from across the peninsula."
Mousehole Carnival
"A vibrant coastal carnival parade led by the legendary Giant Bolster through the streets of St Agnes, combining floats, dance routines, and local pride."
St Agnes Carnival
"A proper Exmoor community fair on the recreation ground, with craft displays, a hog roast, beer tent and stalls arranged against the backdrop of some of the most dramatic coastal scenery in England."
Porlock Country Fair