Summer is upon us and festival season has already begun. But this round-up of festivals is a far cry from Glastonbury’s musical extravaganza or the Hay-on-Wye annual celebration of literature. From gurning to wormcharming, welcome to the wonderfully strange world of eccentric festivals.  

This article was published in the March/April 2023 issue of IQ, the magazine exclusively for Mensa members.  

1 Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake 

Believed to be more than 600 years old, this annual event held near Gloucester on the spring bank holiday attracts thousands of spectators keen to watch contestants chase a large cheese wheel 180 metres down a steep hill. The first person over the line wins the cheese, and multiple races are held on the day. But take care – the cheese can reach speeds of up to 70mph, and there have been many injuries. The origins of this odd event are lost in the cheesecloth of time but may be connected to pagan traditions or an assertion of grazing rights. 

2 Blackawton International Festival of Wormcharming 

A much more recent tradition emerged in 1983 when a customer at a rural Devon pub was caught short on his way home and was astounded when his emergency visit to a field encouraged worms to rise from the soil. An eccentric idea was born and all-comers are now welcome to this spring event in the village of Blackawton (near Dartmouth), where you will be given a small plot of land and required to ‘charm’ as many worms to the surface as you can within a time limit using your own ‘potion’. The current record, set in 1986, is 149. 

3 World Stone Skimming Championships 

Every year, serious (and not so serious) stone skimmers gather on the tiny Easdale Island near Oban in Argyll, Scotland. The concept is simple: skim your Easdale slate stone the furthest distance to win. The current world record, set by Dougie Isaacs, is 121.8 metres. The event is due to return this September after a break, and there’s even a ‘Pre-Skim Party’ in the local pub the night before. 

4 The Gurning World Championships 

Why the funny face? This is actually part of one of the world’s oldest events, the Egremont Crab Fair, which dates back to 1267 and was once a boozy three-day Cumbrian festival at which beer could be sold without a licence. Gurning contests have been part of the fair for a long time, and were described as a local tradition by local newspaper the Cumberland Paquet as far back as 1852. Now billed as the Gurning World Championships, it’s an opportunity to witness some truly extraordinary face pulling. 

5 The World Black Pudding Hurling Championships 

The War of the Roses was a series of battles between the Plantagenet houses of Lancaster and York grappling for control over the English throne. Legend has it that at one of these battles, at Stubbins in Lancashire in 1455, the two armies ran out of ammunition and began throwing Lancashire black puddings and Yorkshire puddings at each other. Today you can re-enact that unlikely scenario by gathering outside a pub in Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester, on the second Sunday in September to knock Yorkshire puddings from a plinth by hurling a deftly aimed black pudding. 

• As these events tend to be organised by volunteers, please consult your favourite internet search engine to ascertain the latest details of dates, times etc.