The most eccentric British festivals

Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival

Enniskillen Co Fermanagh Northern Ireland http://happy-days-enniskillen.com The playwright’s birthplace plays host to 10 days of spectacularly off-the-wall theatre every summer (this year, Waiting for Godot was performed in both French and Yiddish). There are also Beckett-themed baked goods for sale around town, and for the really brave, the local barber offers Beckett-inspired haircuts. August 2015

Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race Brawby North Yorkshire www.theshed.co.uk/boatrace Yes, those are real Yorkshire puddings you’ll see floating across Brawby’s pond, made of flour, water and eggs. Competitors bake gigantic puddings, coat them with boat varnish to stop them going soggy, then climb in for this annual race. June 2015

World Nettle Eating Championship

The Bottle Inn Marshwood West Dorset www.bottle-inn.net What began as a bet between local farmers has grown into a genuine tourist attraction. Each year, dozens of competitors gather outside the thatched Bottle Inn in Marshwood to strip and eat as many nettles as they can. This year’s winner, chef Philip Thorne, chomped his way through 80ft of them. June 2015 

Clovelly Herring Festival Clovelly Devon www.clovelly.co.uk In honour of its history as a herring-fishing centre, the residents of Clovelly get together each year to fly the flag for the ‘Silver Darlings’. This time around, visitors can take a look at the ‘Kipperland’ exhibition, devoted to the history of the herring, as well as watching cookery demonstrations, tastings, live sea shanties and crafts. November 16, 2014

International Bognor Birdman

Bognor Regis West Sussex www.birdman.org.uk Each year, the proud owners of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-style ‘human-powered flight machines’ fling themselves off Bognor’s pier and glide into the sea, with the one that travels the furthest being judged the winner. Dates TBC for 2015

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