"A two-day seaside carnival lighting up the streets of Newquay each summer with floats, processions, and community fun."
Newquay Carnival
"Irvinestown's beloved 46-year tradition fills 10 July days with donkey derbies, truck convoys, street entertainment and open-air dances rooted in the folklore of Lower Lough Erne."
Lady of the Lake Festival
"The East Sussex town built on the field of Hastings fills its streets and gardens with scarecrows for two weeks each July, a festival that plays with the history of battle and Norman conquest while somehow ending up being extremely cheerful."
Battle Scarecrow Festival
"A proper village fayre that runs from afternoon to late evening, with a dog show, circus skills workshops and local bands playing under the Hertfordshire sky."
Little Hadham Summer Fayre
"Around 400 handmade scarecrows take over gardens, houses and businesses across the village for a weekend Grand Fete that draws roughly 3,000 visitors to the Overton Recreation Centre grounds."
Overton Scarecrow Festival
"A week of galas, the famous Galway hooker boat races and street fun where Strangford Lough meets the sea."
Portaferry Gala
"A popular street carnival parade through the centre of this north Cornwall market town each summer."
Wadebridge Carnival
"The 64th Cattistock Show in Dorset's rolling hills hosts horses, ponies, dogs and the home of the Dorset Knob Throwing Championship, a contest involving hard biscuits, distance and great dignity that defies easy explanation."
Cattistock Countryside Show
✦ Weird & Wonderful"A week of crab catching, catapult competitions, Highland Games at Ballone Castle, ceilidhs, sandcastle contests and storytelling in this small Easter Ross fishing village on the Dornoch Firth, ending with Gala Day and the crowning of the Gala Queen."
Portmahomack Gala
"A three-day seaside carnival on the Suffolk coast with a Battle of the Bands theme for 2026, featuring a decorated shields procession, fairground, fireworks finale, and live music across the weekend on the esplanade."
Felixstowe Carnival
"The 1st Kirkbymoorside Scouts organise this annual trail through the North York Moors market town, where scarecrows in gardens and on doorsteps can only be found by buying a trail map from local shops, turning the search itself into a reason to walk every lane of a town most visitors drive straight through."
Kirkbymoorside Scarecrow Trail
"The Isle of Wight's carnival season opens at Sandown with a children's carnival and evening procession, the start of a summer-long circuit of illuminated parades around the Island run entirely by volunteers."
Sandown Carnival
"Over 100 events in 8 days on the Jurassic Coast, with a Wild West theme for 2026, a carnival procession, air display, fireworks finale, Titan the Robot, Granny Turismo shopping trolley dancers and open water swimming, all free and raising £40k for local charities."
Swanage Carnival Week
"Sixty years of Norfolk's biggest village shindig, where Lego fans and chefs share a field, the church fills with flowers, and everyone dances to live bands until Sunday evening."
Worstead Festival
"A week-long seaside carnival in the fishing town of Looe, with a traditional Furry Dance, live music, and the Polperro Fisherman's Choir."
Looe Carnival Week
"Over a century old and still packing the quayside with parade floats, a town crier contest, gillying competitions and the most celebrated sandcastle battle in North Norfolk."
Wells Carnival
"Traction engines, showman's engines and road rollers gather above Whitby for a summer rally that ends each Saturday with fireworks over the abbey ruins, in one of the most dramatic settings for any steam event in England."
Whitby Traction Engine Rally
"A classic Cornish market-town carnival parade held each summer in the medieval stannary capital of Lostwithiel."
Lostwithiel Carnival
"A beloved carnival night in one of Cornwall's most picturesque fishing villages, with a harbour-lit procession drawing crowds from across the peninsula."
Mousehole Carnival
"The Isle of Wight's capital transforms for its annual summer carnival, with the illuminated procession on 20 August filling the town centre with floats, music and light."
Newport Carnival
"A vibrant coastal carnival parade led by the legendary Giant Bolster through the streets of St Agnes, combining floats, dance routines, and local pride."
St Agnes Carnival
"From Crowning Day to the main parade, Sheringham gives itself over for a week to duck racing, sandcastle contests and floats that bring out every family on the North Norfolk coast."
Sheringham Carnival
"A proper Exmoor community fair on the recreation ground, with craft displays, a hog roast, beer tent and stalls arranged against the backdrop of some of the most dramatic coastal scenery in England."
Porlock Country Fair
"For nine days every August this Wharfedale village fills its gardens, walls and doorways with handmade scarecrows, and half the fun is the treasure hunt of finding them all."
Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival
✦ Weird & Wonderful"This North Yorkshire village between Bedale and Northallerton holds its annual feast on a summer Saturday in a tradition that predates the railway and the motor car, an intensely local occasion where the village green is the venue and the whole community is both performer and audience."
Kirkby Fleetham Feast
"A traditional Cornish market-town carnival in St Columb Major, home also to the ancient Cornish hurling custom, with a decorated float procession each August."
St Columb Major Carnival
"An annual summer carnival parade through the legendary Arthurian clifftop village of Tintagel on the north Cornwall coast."
Tintagel Carnival
"The biggest steam engine rally in Cornwall brings around 70 full-size engines to Stithians Showground for three August days of steam trailer rides, threshing, wood sawing, stone crushing and a Saturday evening sheaf-pitching competition."
West of England Steam Engine Society Rally
"Suffolk's award-winning seaside carnival fills the shingle beach town of Aldeburgh across a summer Bank Holiday weekend, with a procession, 10K Mini Marathon, community events and the particular magic of carnival lights on the North Sea."
Aldeburgh Carnival
"A full week of Derbyshire village carnival life with well dressings, a flower festival, a scarecrow competition and then the spectacular Saturday parade of floats, fancy dress and Carnival Royalty through the village, followed by classic cars, alpacas and children's entertainment on the recreation ground."
Barlow Carnival
"402 years old and still going: the parade winds through the market town to the riverside quay for a weekend of live music, a fun dog show and genuine community spirit."
Beccles Carnival
"One of Cornwall's largest inland town carnivals, with an illuminated evening procession through the historic streets of Bodmin each August."
Bodmin Carnival
"A colourful summer carnival parade through the surf town of Bude, one of the highlights of the north Cornwall seaside summer calendar."
Bude Carnival
"A charming village carnival in the wooded Helford valley community of Constantine, keeping alive a cherished local summer tradition."
Constantine Carnival
"A full week of North Norfolk seaside pageantry crowned by the Red Arrows over the pier, a revived town-centre parade and a sandcastle competition that the whole family takes very seriously."
Cromer Carnival
"A packed week of boat racing, carnival processions, a Giant Pasty Ceremony, fireworks, and live music on the quayside of this beloved south Cornwall estuary town."
Fowey Royal Regatta and Carnival
"West Mersea Island has held its town regatta since 1838 and the August event on the Blackwater estuary combines sailing races with watersports and a fireworks finale, an evening on an island famous for its oysters where the Essex marshes glow gold in the late summer light."
West Mersea Town Regatta
"A full week of summer fun in the tiniest town on the Isle of Wight: river sports, boat racing, sandcastle competitions, treasure hunts, a dog show and a grand procession through Yarmouth's medieval streets."
Yarmouth Carnival Week
"Pun-loving villagers craft dozens of scarecrows like Builder's Bum and The Crow Bar along a trail that funds the future-proofing of St Leonard's church."
Flamstead Scarecrow Festival
"More than 70 scarecrows on a single themed trail wind through a Pendle Hill village each August Bank Holiday, with hot food, children's quizzes and a raffle raising funds for the local hall and church."
Higham Scarecrow Festival
"Every other August Bank Holiday since 2000, this compact Bedfordshire market town throws a four-night community extravaganza of music, food and outdoor entertainment that the whole village runs."
Party on Potton Big Weekend
"A Leicestershire village fills its gardens, drives and lamp posts with over a hundred themed scarecrows each August Bank Holiday, inviting visitors to walk the trail and vote for their favourite over three days."
Desford Scarecrow Festival
"A small and cherished late-August fete in one of Dorset's quietest hill villages, combining the Gardening Club's annual show with stalls, homemade teas and the particular peace of a village afternoon that has barely changed in decades."
Halstock Fete
"A tiny Northumberland hamlet between Alnwick and Craster springs to life each August Bank Holiday with a scarecrow trail quiz, tombola, sausage sizzle and refreshments raising funds for the village hall and church."
Rennington Scarecrow Festival
"Artisan stalls line Bronllys Road and the Great Barns fill with live bands before the whole town gathers to cheer the famous duck race down the River Ennig."
Talgarth Festival of the Black Mountains
"The whole of this painted Georgian harbour town tips into the streets on Bank Holiday Monday, with a carnival parade from Cadwgan Place, live music and the fishing harbour as a perfect backdrop."
Aberaeron Carnival
"Ireland's oldest fair fills a Causeway Coast town for two late August days of horse trading and market stalls, and two things you eat nowhere else, dulse seaweed and the hard toffee called yellowman."
Ould Lammas Fair
"One of the oldest carnivals in the UK dating to 1888, Ryde's illuminated procession closes the Island's summer carnival season with a spectacular parade of floats, marching bands and samba groups."
Ryde Carnival
"A fair running since 1888 in honour of a farmer who baked an enormous apple pie from his windfall apples, still serving apple pie and cream alongside falconry and a novelty dog show."
Marldon Apple Pie Fair
"A traditional illuminated village carnival parade winding through the ancient coastal settlement of Porlock on the edge of Exmoor."
Porlock Carnival
"A free all-day village fete on Bray's village green, built by the community for the community, with live music, food, family games and village tradition in one of Berkshire's most picturesque Thames-side villages."
Bray Village Fete
"The Dartmoor fair of the Uncle Tom Cobley song, still run on the second Tuesday of September with sheep, ponies, bale tossing and a downhill race, in a village that wears its own folk legend lightly."
Widecombe Fair
"A long-running Somerset village carnival bringing illuminated floats and community procession to the streets of South Petherton each autumn."
South Petherton Carnival
"A traditional village fete held each September in the small West Suffolk village of Barnham, raising over four thousand pounds annually split equally between the local church, school, and village hall."
Barnham Village Fete
"One of Somerset's most distinctive named carnivals, the Axbridge Blackberry Carnival celebrates the season with a procession through this handsome medieval market town."
Axbridge Blackberry Carnival
"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
"Wellington's annual illuminated carnival procession closes out September in style, drawing crowds to the streets of this small Somerset market town beneath the Blackdown Hills."
Wellington Carnival
"Ilminster's annual carnival kicks off October on the Somerset circuit with a lively illuminated procession through the town centre."
Ilminster Carnival
"Wincanton's carnival lights up this quiet Somerset market town on a Friday evening in October with floats, music and community spirit."
Wincanton Carnival
"The joint carnival of Castle Cary and Ansford fills the streets of one of Somerset's most characterful small towns with illuminated floats each October."
Castle Cary and Ansford Carnival
"Chard's annual carnival procession brings dazzling illuminated floats to Somerset's highest market town on a shared October Saturday."
Chard Carnival
"The illuminated carnival procession through Ottery St Mary three weeks before Tar Barrel Night, with floats, fancy dress and the whole town building momentum toward its most extraordinary annual tradition."
Ottery St Mary Carnival
"A street fair dating to a 13th century charter, once a pony fair, now stalls and rides through the Devon town."
Bampton Charter Fair
"The UK's oldest carnival sends a mile of dazzlingly illuminated carts through town before ranks of squibbers light hundreds of fizzing fireworks overhead in unison."
Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival
✦ Weird & Wonderful"Blazing tar barrels are dragged through this West Devon town on sleds at dawn, followed by a torchlit procession of tractor-pulled tableaux and marching bands."
Hatherleigh Carnival and Tar Barrels
✦ Weird & Wonderful"A lantern parade winds through the colourful hilltop town as independent Welsh shops throw open their doors for a sparkling pre-Christmas weekend."
Llandeilo Festival of Senses
"North Petherton's carnival is a proud fixture on the Somerset Guy Fawkes circuit, lighting up this village with spectacular hand-built illuminated carts every November."
North Petherton Carnival
"An associate member of the famous Somerset Guy Fawkes circuit, Midsomer Norton's carnival brings the tradition of illuminated West Country processions to the Mendip foothills."
Midsomer Norton Carnival
"One of the eight spectacles on the Somerset Guy Fawkes Carnival circuit, Shepton Mallet's midweek parade of enormous illuminated carts is a unique West Country tradition."
Shepton Mallet Carnival
"England's smallest city hosts one of Somerset's most atmospheric Guy Fawkes processions, with illuminated carnival carts rolling past the medieval cathedral close."
Wells City Carnival
"This tiny Peak District village glows with one of the most famous festive light displays in the country as Santa parades in by tractor."
Castleton Christmas Lights Switch-On
"The grand finale of the Somerset Guy Fawkes circuit, Glastonbury's Chilkwell Carnival brings dazzling illuminated floats to the streets of this legendary town each November."
Glastonbury Chilkwell Carnival
"Lavenham Village Hall fills with more than forty local makers and artisan crafters across a November weekend, with the award-winning Lavenham Farmers Market running outside on the Sunday."
Lavenham Two Day Christmas Craft Market
"Each late November, Bourton-on-the-Water places a decorated Christmas tree in the River Windrush and gathers villagers on the green for a carol-led lights switch-on, making it one of the Cotswolds' most distinctive festive traditions."
Bourton-on-the-Water Christmas Lights Switch On
"Burford's historic high street and medieval St John the Baptist Church host a combined Christmas market with over 20 craft stalls and a festive lights switch-on at The Tolsey, drawing the whole town together on the last Saturday of November."
Burford Christmas
"A two-day arts, crafts and local produce fayre in the historic East Neuk fishing village of Crail, drawing makers and community together in the Community Hall each late November with free entry and a choir performance."
Crail Christmas Fayre
"Costumed Dickens characters, carol singers and guaranteed snow flurries fill the old high street beneath the Norman castle and cathedral."
Rochester Dickensian Christmas
"A Lune valley village fills its lanes with themed scarecrows for two weeks, ending in a fair on the green."
Wray Scarecrow Festival
"A revival of Spalding's tulip-country tradition dating to 1959, where volunteer-built floats covered in thousands of fresh tulip heads parade 2.94 miles through the town accompanied by marching bands and entertainers."
Spalding Flower Parade
"A horse fair and street festival dating to a 17th century charter, the last surviving May fair in Ireland."
Ballyclare May Fair
"Top of the Pups dog show, hog roast, cream teas, and a licensed bar on the grounds of a Cotswolds manor. The afternoon is the point."
Cowley Village Fete
"The largest gathering of Gypsies and Travellers in Europe, where 10,000 Roma and Traveller families bring hundreds of horse-drawn caravans and 1,000 horses to the Eden Valley town of Appleby for a week of trading, washing horses in the river and living traditions unchanged for centuries."
Appleby Horse Fair
"One of Scotland's oldest surviving civic traditions, Lanark Lanimers commemorates the riding of the town's marches each June, with a week of events building to Lanimer Day when the decorated horse parade and crowning of the Lanimer Queen fills the Royal Burgh with colour."
Lanark Lanimers
"A long-running Renfrewshire village gala in which a themed parade marches from the Auld Simon pub to the public park for the crowning of a Gala King and Queen, live bands, a dog show, and a silent disco."
Lochwinnoch Gala Day
"The South Lanarkshire fruit-growing town of Carluke marks its annual summer gala with a procession, the crowning of the Queen and a community street party that has gathered the whole town together on the second Saturday of June for generations in one of Scotland's most cheerfully persistent summer traditions."
Carluke Gala Day
"A Devon village drapes its lanes in scarecrows each June, closes with Songs of Praise in All Saints Church, and throws the Roger Conant Duck Race down the village stream for two days of family fun."
East Budleigh Scarecrow Festival
"A traditional Berkshire fete on the Thames at Pangbourne, with the river as backdrop and a Guinness World Record attempt woven into an afternoon of village stalls, games and family fun."
Pangbourne Village Fete
"The East Lothian town famous for the 1745 Jacobite victory and its extraordinary tapestry recording the battle holds its annual gala each June, a community day of crowning, games and procession in a town that has turned its industrial and military history into a source of considerable civic pride."
Prestonpans Gala Day
"A traditional free-entry fete on a Surrey village green, with a Fun Dog Show, plant stalls and local entertainment on one of the prettiest commons in the Surrey Hills."
Shamley Green Village Fete
"Ten days of Cornish midsummer magic rooted in the ancient Feast of St John, with processions, Morris dancers, sea shanties, a torchlit serpent dance on the Eve of Midsummer and the massive Mazey Day street party filling Penzance each June."
Golowan Festival and Mazey Day
"A harbour town that comes properly alive in midsummer, stalls on the quayside, live music, and the smell of the sea all day."
Emsworth Summer Festival
"One of Cheshire's best-preserved black-and-white timber-framed villages runs an annual scarecrow trail through its lanes and cottage gardens, where the handmade figures compete for prizes and the village itself, looking entirely unchanged since the Elizabethan period, provides a backdrop that no other scarecrow trail in England can match."
Great Budworth Scarecrow Trail
"A long-running Surrey carnival on the A23 Recreation Ground, with a traditional parade, family entertainment and local community stalls drawing the whole town together on a June Saturday."
Horley Carnival
"Over 70 sea-themed scarecrows fill a Wiltshire village each June, with musicians, stalls and the Elizabeth Coles charity prize; the festival has raised over £120,000 for good causes since it began in 2000."
Kington Langley Scarecrow Festival
"The Surrey village built around the ornamental lake created for George III holds its annual summer fete each June, a classic English village event on the edge of the Royal landscape of Windsor Great Park where marquees go up on the village green and the smell of cut grass and coconut shy mingles with the lake beyond."
Virginia Water Village Fete
"An annual mid-summer fayre with roots dating back to a medieval charter granted by King John, held each June in the quiet North Norfolk village of Aldborough."
Aldborough Village Fayre
"The world's first Fairtrade town fills its independent high street with fairy-tale scarecrows placed by residents themselves, finishing with a funfair finale at the sports club."
Garstang Summer Festival and Scarecrow Trail
"A volunteer-run village carnival revived in 2023 that draws over 1,000 people to Fisher Road for a grand procession, live music, and fairground rides celebrating community spirit."
Bishop's Itchington Carnival
"The whole village tips out onto the leisure centre lawns for parkour displays, local craft stalls and an afternoon of street food in the rolling Essex hills."
Danbury Village Summer Fete
"40 floats parade through Farnham on a Stage and Screen theme, followed by a fayre in Gostrey Meadow from 2pm, organised by the Hedgehogs of Farnham since the 1900s."
Farnham Carnival
"A quintessential summer fete held in the grounds of Kingston Bagpuize House, a handsome manor garden with unusual planting that doubles as one of Oxfordshire's most charming outdoor settings."
Kingston Bagpuize Village Fete
"A cherished Kent village parade through decorated streets ending at the recreation field for a traditional fete with arena events, with all entry proceeds going to charity."
Knockholt Village Carnival
"A Norfolk market town throws its biggest party of the year with a thumping music stage, a growing carnival parade and three days of community fun on the recreation ground."
Attleborough Summer Carnival and Party on the Park
"A genuinely traditional village fete held in the walled gardens of Sotwell House, combining a competitive flower and produce show with coconut shy, bottle tombola, silver band and homemade teas."
Brightwell cum Sotwell Village Fete and Flower Show
"A rain-or-shine community procession from Hale School Field to the Green Recreation Ground, with float judging and a beloved village tradition kept alive entirely by local volunteers."
Hale Village Carnival
"A traditional village carnival on the edge of Bodmin Moor bringing together the local community each summer."
St Breward Carnival
"An annual procession of floats, walking groups and classic vehicles travelling from Eaton Bray through Edlesborough to the village green, themed around Countries of the World in 2026."
St Mary's Village Carnival