Britain has a long and fascinating history as a melting pot for myriad cultures. Food and drink, history, music, sport, arts and sciences and unique British eccentricities are celebrated at events and festivals across England, Scotland and Wales. As part of our Best of Britain series, we've chosen those that shouldn't be missed.
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show (22–26 May) is a highlight of the horticultural calendar and the green fingered flock into west London from miles around. The show gardens are a visual delight and the emphasis is on innovative design, and this year, health and well-being.
Liverpool's UNESCO World Heritage waterfront is the perfect backdrop for Tall Ships Liverpool, the opening weekend of the hotly anticipated Three Festivals Tall Ships Regatta (25–28 May), when the historic fleet sails from Liverpool to Dublin and finally, Bordeaux. Over the late May bank holiday weekend Liverpool plays host to the tall ships and is laying on a festival and street party. Read our guide to Liverpool here.
Writers, artists, academics, thinkers and performers gather each year for the Hay Festival (24 May to 3 June) in Hay-on-Wye on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. This 11-day event has spread all around the world, but the original concept is still what was dreamed up around a kitchen table in Wales in the 1980s. Festival-goers choose from the eclectic programme of events.
Every summer weekend there’s a Highland games happening somewhere in Scotland. Often part of a traditional clan gathering, Scottish dancing is as fiercely contested as the hammer throw, tug o’ war and caber toss. If you’re keen to see the famous Highland Fling, the Cowal Highland Gathering has some of the best performers competing for world titles. Combine your Highland Games trip with one of Scotland's hidden highlights.
Stonehenge is a pretty special place. The standing stones are prehistoric and shrouded in mystery and Pagan lore. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year (21 June) and thousands of people gather to watch the sun rise and welcome the summer.
Vibrant Newcastle already has a lot to offer weekend visitors, but the northern powerhouse city has stepped it up again with this year's summer-long Great Exhibition of the North. Visitors can celebrate all things northern at venues across NewcastleGateshead – great hubs include BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Arts, Sage Gateshead and the Great North Museum.
In 2018, the Goodwood Festival of Speed celebrates 25 years of burning rubber and the gathering of the finest competition and road-going cars and motorcycles in the world. The festival (12–15 July) is a flagship event that takes place in July at Goodwood Estate at the foot of the Sussex Downs.
The Liverpool Biennial (14–18 July) is an exciting festival of contemporary visual art that utilises public space all over the city. Lara Favaretto’s Momentary Monument – The Stone was an installation on Rhiwlas St, Toxteth for the 2016 Biennial, and 2018 promises to be another ground-breaking event, with a theme based around social, political and economical turmoil. Spending the weekend there? Read our guide to Liverpool here.
The gorgeous Green Man Festival (16–19 August) was launched by folk duo It's Jo and Danny back in 2003. It has grown into a major international arts and music festival that's held each August, and you are encouraged to buy a "settler's pass" and stay for a week to explore the the surrounding Brecon Beacons National Park.
Europe's largest annual balloon event, the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is held over a weekend in August (9–12 in 2018) at Ashton Court Estate. There are colourful mass lifts and as dusk settles you can watch the "nightglow" as balloons light up the sky to a soundtrack. And it's all totally free – unless you want to arrange your own balloon ride.
Scotland's capital city hosts a series of much-loved festivals throughout the year and chief among them is Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which sees pubs and bookshops, as well as theatres, staging events throughout August. The streets buzz with performers vying for your ticket money. Read our tips for surviving the Fringe here.
Loads of British towns and cities celebrate LGBTQ+ culture with Pride events, but Brighton is the biggest and best. Held at Preston Park, Brighton and Hove Pride (3–5 August) is a fundraiser as well as a massive parade and party – the August 2018 line-up includes Britney Spears and Nile Rodgers.
Military parades and pomp and ceremony night not usually be your thing, but the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo (3–25 August) is a unique spectacle not to be missed. More than a thousand performers from the Commonwealth and across the world take part and the sky over Edinburgh Castle is lit up each night with an immense fireworks display (even bigger on the Saturday night performances). Read our guide to the city here.
The 33rd World Bog Snorkelling Championships takes place on Sunday 26 August 2018 in a peat bog a mile from Llanwrtyd Wells. Competitors – many in fancy dress – snorkel a water filled trench to try to beat the world record time of one minute and 22.56 seconds set by Kirsty Johnson in 2014.
The biggest and brashest street party in Britain is the annual Notting Hill Carnival held over two days on the bank holiday weekend at the end of August. A massive celebration of all things Caribbean hits the west London streets with floats and banging sound systems and the tantalising smell of barbecued jerk chicken.
Bournemouth Air Festival (30 August to 2 September) is Britain's biggest air show – a free family friendly four-day event staged along Bournemouth’s seafront. The Red Arrow display and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight are watched by hundreds of thousands of people and there are also dusk displays and spectacular pyrotechnics.
Abergavenny is a medieval market town in Wales famous for its annual food festival (15–16 September) that showcases the very best in British produce. Farmers, food producers and chefs (including Tom Kerridge and Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall) flock to the September celebration of all good things to eat and drink.
Across Britain, 5 November marks the foiling of Guy Fawkes’ Gunpowder Plot, and near the south coast in Lewes (pronounced loo-is) they also commemorate 17 Catholic Martyrs burned at the stake. Lewes Bonfire Night isn't just one single event, but a number of societies with their own processions, bonfires and fireworks displays. It’s crowded and it’s loud. Read our local's guide to Lewes.
The Great British tradition of wild swimming in winter has been going for nearly 50 years in Tenby, southwest Wales. Thousands of spectators line the resort’s north beach to cheer on the brave souls taking the plunge to raise money for charity at the annual Boxing Day Swim.