Britain's weirdest village events
Bog snorkelling, nettle eating, welly wanging. Britain's villages compete at things no sane country would invent, and they are gloriously serious about it. A field guide to the strangest.
1. World Stinging Nettle Eating Championship
Contestants eat as many two-foot lengths of raw stinging nettle as they can in one hour at the Bottle Inn in Marshwood, while a separate competition crowns the grower of the longest nettle within ten miles of the pub.
See it on Villagly →2. Swaton Vintage Day and World Egg Throwing Championships
A Lincolnshire village vintage show with over 250 classic vehicles, a Lancaster Bomber flypast and the 19th World Egg Throwing Championships, where international teams hurl eggs for distance, accuracy and sheer spectacular mess.
See it on Villagly →3. World Welly Wanging Championship
On the last Sunday of June, the Yorkshire Dales village of Upperthong crowns a world champion welly boot thrower: the only official championship for this deeply Yorkshire sport, invented here with a maximum run-up of exactly 42 paces as specified by Douglas Adams.
See it on Villagly →4. World Bog Snorkelling Championships
Competitors snorkel two lengths of a peat bog trench without conventional swimming strokes, in Britain's smallest town.
See it on Villagly →5. World Stone Skimming Championships
On Easdale Island, accessible only by foot ferry, competitors skim slates across a flooded quarry pool on the last Saturday of summer, in the world's only skimming championship held on a Scottish island with no cars and a population of around 60.
See it on Villagly →6. Royal Swan Upping
The King's Swan Marker and Livery Companies row six traditional skiffs upstream from Sunbury to Abingdon over five days, counting and marking every mute swan on the Thames in a ceremony unchanged since the 12th century.
See it on Villagly →7. Black Shuck Festival
Named for the spectral black dog that terrorised St Mary's Church in 1577, this brilliant folklore festival fills the town with art, parade, storytelling and a ritual burning of demons.
See it on Villagly →8. Seaview Village Regatta
A three-day seaside spectacle in the tiny village of Seaview complete with a greasy pole over the sea, tug of war, swimming races, diving and a fireworks display over the Solent.
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