Harden Moss Sheepdog Trials
One of England's oldest sheepdog trials since 1908, held on a remote Pennine hillside above Holmfirth where handlers and dogs have competed over the same windswept ground for more than a century.
A handsome Pennine mill town that punches above its size: good real ale at a CAMRA stalwart, a proper street market, strong cafe culture, and the Last of the Summer Wine backdrop giving it a gentle fame that draws visitors without overwhelming the place.
Cottages, B&Bs and hotels near Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.
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"A full Wharfedale country show with livestock, horticultural classes, showjumping and local food, run by the Arthington, Bramhope, Pool and District Society since 1906 at the gateway to the Dales."
Arthington Show
"The Calder Valley town of Mirfield holds its annual show at the Huddersfield Road showground each late August, a West Yorkshire agricultural and horticultural show that has been running continuously for well over a century in a part of the county where the textile mill towns and the farming country meet."
Mirfield Show
"Every first September weekend, the hilltop village of Norland transforms via a self-guided trail through narrow lanes and gardens, with villagers creating hundreds of characters on this year's Sports, Leisure and Games theme, all raising money for local causes."
Norland Scarecrow 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"A 35 year old festival that scatters concerts and slow sessions for beginners between a parish church, the common and snug pub back rooms in a Wharfedale market town."
Otley Folk Festival
"Competitors race uphill carrying a hundredweight sack of coal to the village maypole every Easter Monday."
World Coal Carrying Championships
✦ Weird and Wonderful"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