Quirky events, if you can’t beat em, join em
We English are known worldwide for our eccentricity. With events like this it's really no wonder. Well you know what they say...
The Straw Bear Festival
Whittlesey, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, January (catch it next year)
Teddy bears have a place in most children’s bedrooms. However, straw bears are a little more unusual. Once a year, at the Whittlesey Straw Bear Festival, you can see a real-life straw bear. He will be part of an elaborate parade around the town centre attended by a host of dancers and musicians including Morris Dance teams and two sword dancers. The bear is actually a man covered from head to toe in a straw costume.
More about The Straw Bear Festival
Annual Nettle Eating Contest
The Bottle Inn, Marshwood, Dorset, 13 June
Contestants are given two-foot long stalks of stinging nettles and have one hour to eat as many leaves as possible. The winner is the person with the longest length of empty stalk. The competition stems from a contest between two farmers in the mid-1980s as to who had the longest stinging nettles. A longest nettle night was established. One day, a contestant called Alex Williams brought in a nettle over 15-foot long and said if anyone had a longer nettle he would eat his. His nettles were subsequently beaten and he duly ate them giving rise to the annual nettle-eating contest.
More about the Annual Nettle Eating Contest
World Snail Racing Championships
Congham, Nr Kings Lynn, Norfolk, June tbc
Ready, Steady, Slow! For more than 25 years, the World Snail Racing Championships have been held at Congham, near King's Lynn, in Norfolk. More than 300 snails slug it out for the title of ‘Fastest Snail in the World’ at the World Snail Racing Championships. Anyone with a snail can enter and a number of heats are held before the grand final. The winner receives a silver tankard stuffed with lettuce.
More about the World Snail Racing Championships
Carrying of the Tar Barrels
Ottery St Mary, Devon, Saturday before 5 Nov
On Guy Fawkes Night there is the ritual of carrying the blazing tar barrels, which dates back to 1688. Men carry the flaming barrels on their shoulders until the weight or heat becomes too much for them and another person takes over. This carries on until the barrels start to break up and then they are allowed to burn out. Preparation of the barrels and coating them with tar starts early in the year and some can weigh over 50 pounds (22.68 kg). A gigantic bonfire over 30 feet (10 metres) high and crowned with Guy Fawkes himself forms an impressive background to the occasion together with a fairground and many other attractions.
More about The Carrying of the Tar Barrels
World’s Biggest Liar Competition
Bridge Inn, Santon Bridge, Holmrook, Cumbria, next date tbc
The World’s Biggest Liar Competition is a very popular contest to find the best ‘tall-storyteller’ and to award the title of ‘The Biggest Liar in the World.’ The ever-popular contest began in 1974 and continues to attract media attention from around the globe. Contestants travel great distances to pit their oral skills against an elite field of fibbers. Contestants must tell their 5-10 minute tall tales in front of the judges and the audience. There aren’t many rules to the competition but politicians and lawyers aren’t welcome!
More about World's Biggest Liar Competition
Olney Pancake Race
Olney, Buckinghamshire, Shrove Tuesday (catch it next year)
The unique Olney Pancake Race literally stops traffic as energetic local ladies in traditional housewife attire (including skirt, apron and scarf), run through the streets of Olney. The 415-yard dash is run from The Bull Hotel in the Market Place to the Parish Church of St. Peter & St Paul in Church Lane. The race is started by the church warden at 11.55am using a large bronze ‘Pancake Bell.’ Pancakes are tossed at the start of the race and the winner is required to toss her pancake again at the finish.
More about Olney Pancake Race
World Pooh Sticks Championships
Days Lock, Little Wittenham, Oxfordshire, March (catch it next year)
When Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin first dropped a handful of sticks from a bridge into a stream and rushed to the other side to see which came under first, who would have imagined this would start an annual tradition? The Annual World Pooh Sticks Championships organised by the Rotary Club of Oxford Spires attracts over 1,000 people. Individuals and teams of six compete in a knock-out style competition, with teams of six dropping different coloured sticks from each of the two bridges at the lock.
More about World Pooh Sticks Championships
Cheese Rolling
Coopers Hill, Nr Gloucester, 25 May
A passion for cheese is a must for this annual event, which involves daredevils hurling themselves down the steep, grassy slopes of Coopers Hill, near Gloucester, in pursuit of Double Gloucester cheeses. There are downhill races throughout the afternoon including ones for men and for women. The race starts with the master of ceremonies rolling a 7-8 lb (4kg) Double Gloucester cheese down the hill. Dozens of competitors run, roll and somersault down the hill after it. It’s impossible not to fall over due to the rough uneven slope with a 1:2 gradient. The winners take home the cheeses as well as a few cuts and bruises.
More about Cheese Rolling
Robert Dover’s Cotswold Olimpicks (Shin Kicking)
Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, 29 May
The Cotswold Olimpicks (Olympics) were started by a local barrister Captain Robert Dover in 1612 at Dover's Hill, above Chipping Campden. The annual event attracts thousands of spectators and features some well-known countryside games such as tug-of-war, obstacle races and wrestling as well as a few bizarre ones – the highlight being shin-kicking. The shin-kicking competition involves two contestants who first fill their trouser legs with straw to help reduce the pain. The players then hold arms and kick each other using steel toe-capped boots until one of the contestants is so bruised that he cannot stand the pain and gives in. Ouch!
More about Robert Dover's Olimpicks
Other festivals in England
