"A boat-shaped horse decked in ribbons tours the town and harbour from May eve, accompanied by drums."
Minehead Hobby Horse
"One of England's oldest surviving May Day pageants, dating from 1864, where the streets of Knutsford are decorated with coloured sand mottoes before a costumed procession crowns the May Queen on the Heath."
Knutsford Royal May Day
"One of Britain's oldest and most exuberant calendar customs, in which two rival hobby horses and their retinues dance through Padstow's harbour streets from midnight to midnight on May Day, drawing tens of thousands of spectators and Cornish exiles home from across the world."
Padstow Obby Oss
"One of England's oldest continuous May Day traditions, traced to 1561, featuring a half-mile procession from Northill, a decorated hoop competition, Morris dancing, and the crowning of a May Queen on Ickwell Green."
Ickwell May Day
"A penance ritual dating to 1159, the Penny Hedge sees a woven hazel and willow hedge planted in Whitby's Upper Harbour at 9am on Ascension Eve, built to survive three tides, with a hornblower crying 'Out on ye!' to close the ceremony."
Whitby Penny Hedge
"Five wells are dressed with intricate pictures pressed in clay from flower petals, the best known of the Peak custom."
Tissington Well Dressing
"Couples in top hats and gowns dance the Furry Dance in and out of houses to welcome spring to this Cornish town."
Helston Flora Day
"Revived from medieval origins in 1972, the Randwick Wap sees a Wap Queen and Mayor carried through the village in costume before Double Gloucester cheeses are rolled downhill and the Mayor is ceremonially dunked in the pond."
Randwick Wap
"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
"One of England's oldest surviving fishing-village customs, children carry flower-covered garlands through Abbotsbury on Old May Day (13 May) to collect for charity, continuing a tradition first recorded in 1867."
Abbotsbury Garland Day
"A horse fair and street festival dating to a 17th century charter, the last surviving May fair in Ireland."
Ballyclare May Fair
"The Anglesey Vintage Equipment Society's show at the Agricultural Showground in Gwalchmai is one of North Wales's largest events of its kind, with vintage tractors, steam engines, classic cars and heavy horses filling a showground surrounded by the flat hedged fields and long coastal views that make Anglesey unlike anywhere else in Wales."
Anglesey Vintage Rally
"A King clad entirely in flowers rides through the Peak District village before his garland is hoisted up the church tower."
Castleton Garland Day
"Villagers claim ancient rights to gather wood, then process to Salisbury Cathedral to shout Grovely."
Grovely and Oak Apple Day
"One of Staffordshire's oldest continuous well-dressing traditions, begun in 1843 as an act of thanksgiving after Endon's spring uniquely survived a devastating regional drought, the festival pairs intricately flower-petalled well panels with a May Queen crowning, maypole dancing, and the competitive sheaf-tossing contest."
Endon Well Dressing
"A centuries-old Oak Apple Day custom in which the Garland King rides horseback through the village encased to the shoulders in a vast bell-shaped floral frame, before the crowning bouquet is hoisted to the top of the church tower."
Garland King Day
"One of Britain's last surviving tree-dressing customs, the village black poplar has its flags ceremonially renewed each May in a tradition unbroken since 1786 and rooted in Oak Apple Day."
Arbor Day
"A masked hobby horse and grenadiers hunt a costumed Earl through the village before casting him into the sea."
Hunting of the Earl of Rone
"Runners carry heavy woolsacks up and down the one-in-four Gumstool Hill, recalling the Cotswold wool trade."
Tetbury Woolsack Races
✦ Weird & Wonderful"Teams roll wooden cheeses down the old Great North Road in the village that gave the cheese its name."
Stilton Cheese Rolling
✦ Weird & Wonderful"One of England's oldest unbroken Morris traditions, three Bampton sides dance through the streets from early morning until dusk on Spring Bank Holiday Monday, accompanied by fiddle and pipe and tabor."
Bampton Morris Dancing
"Dozens of competitors hurl themselves down a near-vertical Cotswold hillside chasing a 7lb Double Gloucester cheese, a tradition that has drawn crowds to Brockworth every Spring Bank Holiday for centuries."
Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake
"Wellow is Nottinghamshire's only permanent maypole village, and each Late Spring Bank Holiday Monday its 17-metre painted maypole becomes the centrepiece for the crowning of a May Queen chosen by secret village ballot, maypole dancing with red, white and blue ribbons, and a free open-air celebration on the village green."
Wellow Maypole Celebrations