Grasmere Rushbearing
Children carry rush bearings woven into crosses and harps through Wordsworth's village to St Oswald's church, handed gingerbread at the end by the same shop that has made it for generations.
Grasmere punches far above its size: a Michelin-starred restaurant, a world-famous gingerbread shop, a working brewery with a taproom, several well-regarded cafes and real ale bars, and Wordsworth's grave all within a short walk of each other make this a rare village that genuinely rewards the journey rather than merely the passing glance.
Cottages, B&Bs and hotels near Grasmere, Cumbria.
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"The combined agricultural show for the Brough and Kirkby Stephen area showcases the sheep farming traditions of the Cumbrian Dales, with horticulture, vintage machinery, and livestock classes in the dramatic Upper Eden valley."
Brough and Kirkby Stephen Agricultural Show
"The Fellside Royal since 1864, a pure Eden Valley agricultural show in a remote Cumbrian village with sheepdog trials, fell races, quoits, children's fancy dress and the quiet pride of hill farming families on show."
Dufton Agricultural Show
"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
"Two September days at Crooklands, where Cumbria's livestock and rural skills are given the space they deserve, Herdwick sheep competing in the ring with the Lake District fells as the weather behind them."
Westmorland County Show
"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"A tower of rushes twelve feet high is pulled through the Pennine villages of Saddleworth by a hundred Morris dancers from across the country, a weekend of dancing, singing, gurning and walking on the edge of the moors."
Saddleworth Rushcart Festival
✦ Weird and Wonderful"A sixteen foot thatched rush cart pulled by sixty men in whites and clogs winds between the pubs of the Calder Valley, morris sides dancing it from inn to inn over a September weekend."
Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing
✦ Weird and Wonderful"The Malton showground in the Ryedale market town hosts this September traction engine rally where working steam engines from across Yorkshire and the North compete in road runs and working demonstrations, the last major steam show of the Yorkshire summer season."
Yorkshire Traction Engine Rally
"The North York Moors market town famous for its steam railway goes fully Victorian for a winter weekend, with staff in period dress, lantern-lit streets, costumed carol singers and a steam train pulling out of the station into the winter darkness to the sound of period band music."
Pickering Victorian Christmas
"At midnight on New Year's Eve forty odd guisers carry blazing barrels on their heads to a bonfire in the Northumberland market square, then turn to first foot the year in."
Allendale Tar Bar'l
✦ Weird and Wonderful"Each spring, wild Narcissus pseudonarcissus carpets a seven-mile stretch of the River Dove in Farndale Nature Reserve, drawing up to 40,000 visitors to a dale with a resident population of around 200."
Farndale Daffodil Walk