One May morning about 2,000 years ago, somewhere in Roman Britain, the sun
finally peeped out from behind the clouds – and an optimistic centurion,
realising that spring really did come to this overcast edge of empire,
hacked down a tree, decorated it with garlands and skipped around it,
thanking the goddess Flora for her munificence.
Thus began May Day – and it remains a time of dancing and delight nationwide.
Our bank-holiday festivities have moved on a bit since Roman times, though.
They still involve maypoles, but the castles are bouncy and the horses tend
to be attached to carousel rides.
Here is our last-minute guide to the sprightliest May Monday happenings across
the country, including not just morris men and May queens, but something for
everyone, even cheese-rollers.
SOUTHEAST ENGLAND
The big event: “an extravaganza of traditional Britain”, promises the poster
for Rochester’s
weekend-long Sweeps Festival – conjuring visions of tea and biscuits,
raffles and tombolas, hope and glory. Fear not: this is a really vibrant
affair, as the entire town is invaded by jangling morris men and sooty-faced
chimney sweeps, all marshalled by a mad-eyed giant called Jack-in-the-Green.
The festival revives a 400-year-old party to mark the chimney sweeps’ May Day
holiday. Tonight sees a mini music festival at hostelries across the town;
but the climax comes at 2.45pm tomorrow, with the grand procession of sweeps
to the castle gardens. Call 01634 843666.
Best of the rest: if that’s not olde worlde enough for you, try the May
Revels at Hever Castle (£11.50, children £6.30; 01732 865224, www.hevercastle.co.uk),
with a Tudor theme and another costumed giant – Henry VIII.
In London, it’s the Little Venice Canalway Cavalcade (07876 597941, www.waterways.org.uk),
with 100 or more vintage narrow boats in festive flotilla formation tonight
(9pm) and tomorrow (3pm). Hastings hosts its own Jack-in-the-Green Festival
(free; 0845 274 1001, www.visit1066country.com/hastings);
and in Henley-on-Thames, kids go quackers at the Duck Derby on Mill Meadows
(free; 01491 573192, www.visitthames.co.uk).
WEST COUNTRY
The big event: prepare for a mass throwing down of gauntlets and simpering of
damsels at the two-day Medieval Fair in Salisbury, beginning at 11am today.
In a daring move, the city’s cathedral has chosen to mark its 750th
anniversary with a bellicose clash of mace on shield, as 14th-century
knights do battle in a full-scale tourney in the cathedral close.
Meanwhile, a medieval craft fair will peddle everything from replica weapons
to hand-painted pottery – swords and saucery. The event is on tomorrow, too;
tickets cost £10/£4.50. Call 01722 320333 or visit www.salisburycathedral.org.uk.
Best of the rest: perhaps the most picturesque of all May Day
gatherings is on the harbour in St Ives (free; 01736 796297), with
brass-band concerts complementing the queen-crowning and maypole-twirling.
There are similar shenanigans in Devon, at the Stoke Gabriel May Fayre
(£1/50p; 01803 782340); while in Bath, the Spring Flower Show is in full
bloom (until tomorrow; £7.50/free; 0844 847 5256, www.visitbath.co.uk).
EAST OF ENGLAND
The big event: it could only be in England – Elvis, Andy Pandy and the Tin Man
tripping over each other as they attempt to push a cheese down the high
street, in gardening gloves, at high speed. The cheese-rolling championship
in Stilton, Cambridgeshire, is slightly more genteel than its breakneck
sister event at Cooper’s Hill, Gloucestershire (staged on May 26, by the
way) – but only slightly. Tomorrow’s races involve fancy-dressed foursomes
finagling their faux stiltons (they’re made of wood) along the high street.
The all-day madness also takes in mummers, a May queen, bouncy castles and
beer. It kicks off at 10am; call 01733 241206 or visit
www.stilton.org.
Best of the rest: for more sedate May Monday revelry – parades,
pole-dancing and the like – choose between Bircham Windmill, near King’s
Lynn, Norfolk (free; 01485 578393, www.birchamwindmill.co.uk)
and the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket, Suffolk (£6.50/£3.50;
01449 612229, www.eastanglianlife.org.uk).
Or build and fly your own kite at Layer Marney Tower, near Colchester (today
and tomorrow; £4.25/£2.75; 01206 330784, www.layermarneytower.co.uk).
WALES AND THE WEST
The big event: how do you fancy a go on a spruced-up set of 1920s “flying
chairs”? Or an original 1886 “galloper” steam carousel? Both are going like
the clappers this weekend at Llandudno’s Victorian Extravaganza, the
ultimate vintage funfair. Begun 20 years ago by grime-stained steam buffs,
it now fills the town with fire-eaters, escapologists, stiltwalkers and
policemen on chickens. Visitors are very much invited to join in: frock up
in your top hat or bustle and join the parades (today and tomorrow at noon).
Call 01492 876413 or visit www.victorian-extravaganza.co.uk.
Best of the rest: the May bank-holiday bash in Cardiff feels more
modern, with street theatre and music staged bang on the Bay Edge waterfront
(free; www.cardiffharbour.com).
And action heroes of all ages will love the “University of the Great
Outdoors” at Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire, which will be offering have-a-go
sessions in 29 sporty activities, from grass sledging to off-road driving
(£8/£5; 01531 633160, www.visitherefordshire.co.uk).
NORTH OF ENGLAND
The big event: this weekend’s most eye-catching waterside event is in the
Yorkshire Dales, where nearly 100 narrow boats have gathered for a floating
fancy-dress parade at the Skipton Waterway Festival. A marquee on the
canalside promenade is staging a three-day jamboree of music, majorettes,
magic shows and more, and it all bubbles up nicely to tonight’s headline
happening (9pm), when everyone gathers to oooh and aaah over an illuminated
procession of fairy-lit boats. It continues tomorrow (01756 795478, www.penninecruisers.com/festival).
Best of the rest: the National Trust’s Quarry Bank Mill (£9.50/£4.80;
01625 527468, www.nationaltrust.org.uk)
in Cheshire provides the perfect backdrop for the May Day Fayre, with its
maypole raised in the mill meadow. There are more ribbon-based revels at the
trust’s Wallington estate in Northumberland (£9.25/£4.65; 01670 773600, www.nationaltrust.org.uk).
SCOTLAND
The big event: learn how to jitterbug, dress as a soldier, build a lighthouse
and break a leg. There’s a bewildering battery of stuff to do this weekend
at Show Scotland, a bank-holiday “festival of creativity” hosted by museums
across the country. Highlights include a witty mix of the cerebral and the
silly at Aberdeen’s Art Gallery, which stages an art-based X Factor show for
all-comers.
Elsewhere, you can enlist for a second world war fashion workshop in East
Lothian, take your teddy for a picnic in Wanlockhead or scribble and sup on
a cartooning pub crawl around St Andrews. Visit www.showscotland.com
for full listings.
Best of the rest: there’s rather more grown-up fun at the Spirit of
Speyside whisky festival (today and tomorrow; www.spiritofspeyside.com),
which includes distillery tours and “tutored nosings”. You could hike away
your hangover at the Caithness & Sutherland Walking Festival (until
Tuesday; 0808 909 8774, www.walkcaithness.com),
or rock out at Big in Falkirk, Scotland’s starriest festival of street arts
(ends tonight; free; 0141 552 6027, www.biginfalkirk.com).
May day is on the first of the moving, so moving it to the fifth of the month does take the meaning away.
Clive, Dartford, Kent
surely anti-British?
George Angus, Edinburgh, Lothian
what about The Downton Cuckoo Fair, 7 miles from Salisbury? No mention of rural activities
Alison Phillimore, Ludlow, Shropshire
Why are you so negative? Are you anti English ?
"Traditional silliness "?
Why note "Traditional fun"?
Chris Ashley, Ely, England