Eccleshall District Ploughing and Hedgelaying Match

"Founded in 1980 to unite parishes bordering the River Manifold, this strictly local-entry show is beloved for its Slow Tractor Race and genuine community spirit set against the spectacular scenery of the Staffordshire moorland valley."

Manifold Valley Show

"Longnor's cobbled market square hosts one of the last well dressings of the season in the Staffordshire Moorlands, a rare continuation of the Derbyshire tradition just over the county border."

Longnor Well Dressing

"Six dancers carry ancient reindeer antlers, some carbon dated to the eleventh century, twelve miles around a Staffordshire village on Wakes Monday, joined by a hobby horse, a Fool and Maid Marian."

Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

"The Staffordshire village of Pattingham mounts scarecrows through its streets and gardens for three late September days, running alongside fairground rides and food stalls at the village club in a festival that has quietly become one of the best attended scarecrow events in the Midlands."

Pattingham Scarecrow Festival

"One of Staffordshire's oldest continuous well-dressing traditions, begun in 1843 as an act of thanksgiving after Endon's spring uniquely survived a devastating regional drought, the festival pairs intricately flower-petalled well panels with a May Queen crowning, maypole dancing, and the competitive sheaf-tossing contest."

Endon Well Dressing

"A whole weekend of English and American folk dancing from Playford to the present, with national callers and bands across three halls, marking its 50th year."

Lichfield Folk Festival

"Possibly England's oldest continuous sheepdog trials, running since 1898 in front of Longshaw Lodge on the Peak District moors, where a special train once brought 700 spectators down from Manchester."

Longshaw Sheepdog Trials

"A Northamptonshire village green, hundreds of competitors in silly hats, one conker on a string. The 61st running of the most earnest competition you will ever attend in a field."

World Conker Championships

"A vast rolling rugby scrum, the sway, pushes a leather hood to one of four pubs, a custom said to be 700 years old."

Haxey Hood

"Up'ards and Down'ards play a two-day game of football across three miles of town and river, goals set at old mills."

Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football

"A huge leather ball is fought over along Long Street for two hours, a Shrove Tuesday game dating to 1199."

Atherstone Ball Game

"After a hare pie is scrambled, two villages battle to carry small barrels across streams in a no-rules contest."

Hallaton Bottle Kicking and Hare Pie Scramble