secret Britain

Cwmorthin Slate Mine will host the deepest rave ever attempted on Thursday 15 October 2026, and you almost certainly cannot go. Roni Size plays 1,375 feet below the mountains of Eryri, the ballot to...

Devil's Stone Shebbear is a one-night custom in north Devon, held every 5 November at 8pm, when a crowd of bellringers and villagers heave a boulder over with crowbars to flush the Devil out. On...

Grassington antiques fair runs on Sunday 15 November 2026 from 9am to 4pm in Church House on the village Square, for £1, in one of the oldest buildings in the Yorkshire Dales' best-known market...

St Clement's Festival is a free one-day celebration in Malton, North Yorkshire, on Saturday 21 November 2026, built around the patron saint of blacksmiths and a town that calls itself Yorkshire's food capital. Everyone covering...

Calan Gaeaf Chirk Castle is a free folklore trail through a 700-year-old estate from 17 October to 1 November, built around the Welsh night when the dead were said to walk. Halloween has a pumpkin,...

Wakefield Lantern Parade 2026 is a free procession on Saturday 14 November, led by a towering Mother Nature figure, and a second, quieter parade follows a week later at the National Coal Mining Museum. Most...

Ottery St Mary gets the search traffic. Every year, the Devon tar barrel story is told there, and rightly so, because it is huge. Hatherleigh, a town of about 1,300 people, sets its own...

Most people think of Sussex Bonfire Night as Lewes. Rye does its own version, and it ends with a boat set alight on the bonfire. The popular story is the Gunpowder Plot. The Calendar Customs...