Hollowell Steam and Heavy Horse Show
Over 40,000 people descend on a Northamptonshire village field for this 37th show that mixes heavy horses, steam ploughing, auctions and traction engines in an event that has raised millions for local charities since 1986.
A handsome ironstone village with a genuinely impressive medieval church and a well-regarded pub that punches above its weight for a settlement of under 700 people, but there is little beyond those two anchors to detain a visitor for long.
Cottages, B&Bs and hotels near Guilsborough, Northamptonshire.
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"Where exceptional arts, courageous activism and open-hearted belief meet in a stately home's parkland, holding its final festival at Boughton before moving home."
Greenbelt
"The UK's first employee-owned festival is a seriously silly, radically sustainable, meat-free adventure in utopia set in the grounds of a Northamptonshire hall."
Shambala Festival
"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
Villagly Award · Toughest Nut in the UK ✦ Weird and Wonderful"At midnight on Boxing Day, a mob of villagers paraders through Broughton in Northamptonshire banging tin cans, dustbin lids and any other available metal objects to drive away a witch who is said to have terrorised the village centuries ago, a custom so relentlessly noisy and purposeful that nothing else quite like it survives in England."
Broughton Tin Can Band
✦ Weird and Wonderful"Gardens of every size open in a sandstone village beneath Harpole Hills, mixing lush tropical plantings, water features, herb gardens and lovingly tended kitchen plots."
Harpole Open Gardens
"Up to eight gardens open beside the River Ise, from small terraced plots to the sweeping grounds of Bosworth House, with a medieval church, a friendly pub and a little bridge to cross."
Arthingworth Open Gardens
"An annual one-day agricultural show in the southern Peak District gateway town of Ashbourne, celebrating local livestock, rural skills and Derbyshire farming heritage."
Ashbourne Show
"Shropshire's largest steam event, with over 1200 exhibits at Onslow Park including shire horses ploughing the working field, steam-powered cultivating, vintage tractor pulling and the famous Grand Parade set to nostalgia poetry."
Shrewsbury Steam Rally
"One of the Peak District's biggest Bank Holiday events with sheepdog trials running through to Tuesday, show jumping, heavy horses, gundogs and a food village drawing thousands to the Hope Valley in the hills."
Hope Show and Sheepdog Trials
"A much-loved annual show held on August Bank Holiday Monday in the heart of the Peak District's Hope Valley, bringing together livestock, terrier racing, fell running and rural crafts beneath the Dark Peak moorland."
Hope Valley Show
"Three days of grand ring spectacle in the 1000-acre parkland of Chatsworth House, with hot air balloon ascents, lurcher racing, celebrity chefs, country sports and a vintage fun fair against one of England's great ducal estates."
Chatsworth Country Fair
"The 75th championship brings 250 of Britain's finest ploughmen and women to a Warwickshire farm, with steam ploughing engines, heavy horses and 300 plots across 15 classes."
British National Ploughing Championships