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Hogmanay is celebrated on New Year’s Eve, every year, usually in a most exuberant fashion in Scotland as hundreds of thousands of revellers take to the streets to see in the New Year. (more…)

The Snowdon Fiddle Fesival is set in the picturesque village of Nant Peris at the foot of Snowdon. Originally started to showcase traditional Welsh fiddling, folk come from far and near now. Last year featured fiddlers from Norway!

We suffer the long Winter months up until Easter without a single bank holiday then along comes May and we get two in one month! Perhaps it is as well we wait so that we can enjoy the coming of Spring.

On this day every year we have a community walk around the village boundaries, called ‘Beating the Bounds’. It is a revival of an old medieval custom whereby the boundaries of the parish were re-established. The course around our village is about 10 miles (the agony!) and takes us over fields, through blue bell woods and across the river Avon in a rather small boat!

An English man’s home may be his castle but it’s his garden which is his pride and joy! Our weather, being mild and relatively wet, is conducive to growing a wide variety of beautiful plants. The Summer months are scattered with flower festivals, vegatable growing competitions and the like, but the cream of the crop is the Royal Horticulture Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show, the World’s most famous flower show.

Every year in March the quiet town of Clun in Shropshire comes alive with the Green Man Festival. Clun has a Norman castle, a town hall (now a local history museum), almshouses and a 14th century bridge. It is here on the bridge that the battle between the Green Man and the Frost Queen takes place. They are fighting over whether Clun gets a Summer or not. Lets hope he wins!

This three day festival of music, dancing and street theatre takes place over the May Day bank holiday weekend.

The celebration of the 1st May dates back at least as far as the Druids for whom it was the second most important holiday of the year. It was when the festival of Beltane was held. It was thought that the day divides the year into half. The other half was to be ended with the Samhain on November 1. On those days the May Day custom was the setting of new fire. It was one of those ancient New Year rites performed throughout the world. And the fire itself was thought to lend life to the burgeoning springtime sun. Cattle were driven through the fire to purify them. Men, with their sweethearts, passed through the smoke for seeing good luck.

By the Middle Ages every English village had its Maypole. The bringing in of the Maypole from the woods was a great occasion and was accompanied by much rejoicing and merrymaking.

Read the whole May Day story

Speyside contains half of Scotlands’ 100 distilleries and is home to many famous single malts, such as Glenlivet. The region lies partly in Moray and partly in the Highlands of Scotland and is set around the River Spey which flows through it. Fabulously beautiful at any time, it also has the added attraction around this time of year of the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival.

St. George’s Day is on 23 April. St George is England’s patron saint, however, this day passes virtually unnoticed. Maybe this is because his connection to England is rather tenuous. Unlike St Patrick who lived in Ireland for many years and had a profound impact on Irish religous history, St George probably didn’t ever come to England.

St. George is believed to have been born in Cappadocia (now Eastern Turkey) in the year A.D. 270. He was a Christian. At the age of seventeen he joined the Roman army and soon became renowned for his bravery. He served under a pagan Emperor but never forgot his Christian faith.

When the pagan Emperor Diocletian started persecuting Christians, St. George pleaded with the Emperor to spare their lives. However, St. George’s pleas fell on deaf ears and it is thought that the Emperor tried to make him deny his faith in Christ, by torturing him. St George showed incredible courage and faith and was finally beheaded near Lydda in Palestine on 23 April, 303.

The popularity of St George in England stems from the time of the early Crusades when it is said that the Normans saw him in a vision and were victorious. St George’s emblem was adopted by Richard The Lion Heart and brought to England in the 12th century. The king’s soldiers wore it on their tunics to avoid confusion in battle

The most famous legend of Saint George is of him slaying a dragon. In the Middle Ages the dragon was commonly used to represent the Devil. The slaying of the dragon by St George was first credited to him in the twelfth century, long after his death.

Over 30,000 people join in London Marathon . The 26.2 mile course runs from Greenwich to The Mall (in front of Buckingham Palace). The event attracts serious marathon runners from around the world, but there are also many people who run for fun and to raise money for charity. This will be the 31st year.