Mari Lwyd Walk
A torchlit New Year's Eve procession follows a decorated horse's skull on a pole around town, trading sung Welsh challenges for entry and refreshment.
Britain's smallest town punches well above its weight: a working on-site brewery, a genuine calendar of eccentric community events, a cafe and a real pub make it a rewarding and oddly spirited destination for anyone willing to seek it out.
Cottages, B&Bs and hotels near Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys.
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"Three days of the finest Welsh dogs working sheep across a hill field near Brecon, with ice cream from Llanfaes Dairy and a real trial hush over the crowd."
Welsh National Sheepdog Trials
"The market town at the heart of the Elan Valley turns its cattle market into a gathering of vintage tractors, steam engines and working machinery each August, a show that could only happen in a part of Wales where the landscape itself feels preserved from an earlier century."
Rhayader District Vintage Show
"A leisurely ride through mid-Wales hills where every checkpoint hands you cider and perry, capped by a BBQ and free live music in town."
Summer Cider Cycle
✦ Weird and Wonderful"Teams of two mountain bikers tow a charioteer in a Roman-style chariot in a flat-out dash for the world title."
World Mountain Bike Chariot Racing Championship
✦ Weird and Wonderful"A 25,000-capacity festival on a Brecon Beacons estate where ten areas wrap live music around literature, science, comedy and a giant burning Green Man."
Green Man
"The Victorian spa town of Llandrindod Wells dresses entirely in period costume for a week each August, with residents, traders and visitors all adopting Victorian dress for street entertainment, performances, markets and a grand parade through a town whose architecture still looks exactly as it did when the railway brought Victorian society to drink the waters."
Llandrindod Wells Victorian Festival
"Two acres of snowdrops carpet the ancient Pleasure Ground Wood at a 700-year-old Marches castle each February, with optional guided tours led by the former head gardener."
Chirk Castle Snowdrops
"Around 15 to 20 private gardens open in a small Welsh market town draped in floral displays, with a plant market and picnic spots beside the River Usk."
Usk Open Gardens
"One of the last Derbyshire wells dressed entirely in the old way with no nails or glue, just clay boards pressed petal by petal, blessed with a service and kept up for five days."
Barlow Well Dressing
"Children in elaborate horse costumes parade, then boys plough miniature furrows in the sand at the Hope."
Boys' Ploughing Match and Festival of the Horse
"The plague village dresses its wells in late August, the same clay and petal craft as its neighbours, in a place that carries more history per cottage than almost anywhere in England."
Eyam Well Dressing
"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