Full information about the following parks and visits can be found in the March 2005 issue of Practical Caravan. For back issues telephone 08456 777812. Admission Price and Opening Times were correct at the time of publishing. Please check for latest information before visiting.

Where to go: PADSTOW 'OBBY 'OSS

Location Padstow, Cornwall
Tel 01841 533449
Date of festival 2 May
 •  At midnight, locals gather outside the Golden Lion Inn, where they sing beneath the landlord's window to wake him with the news that 'summer is acomin' today'.
The day's festivities involve two monstrous cloth-covered, masked 'obby 'osses (hobby horses). One wears red ribbons and the other blue.
Each is accompanied by a teaser, who prods at the 'osses with a padded stick. A band of musicians and their followers sing the May Song, and are dressed all in white with buttonholes of cowslips and bluebells, while the beat of a Breton drum reverberates throughout the town.

Where to stay: TREWINCE FARM HOLIDAY PARK

Address St Issey, Wadebridge, Cornwall PL27 7RL
Website www.trewincefarmholidaypark.co.uk
Open 29 March-31 October

Where to go: HELSTON FLORA DAY

Location Helston, Cornwall
Tel 01326 565431
Date of festival 7 May
 •  Traditionally held the week after Padstow's 'Obby 'Oss, Helston's Flora Day is the Feast Day of the Apparition of St Michael, the town's patron saint.
A dramatic and dignified contrast to Padstow's boisterous and well-imbibed 'Oss processions, the centrepiece here is the Furry Dance, in which young men dress in top hats and tails and women don their finest dresses to weave their way in and out of shops in the town centre in a snake-like trail. It is a stunning spectacle, and onlookers vie for prized vantage points.
The town is beautifully decorated with the first greenery of spring.

Where to stay: PENGOON FARM TOURING CARAVAN SITE

Address Nancegollan, Helston, Cornwall TR13 0BH
Website www.pengoon.co.uk
Open All year

Where to go: SAILORS' HOBBY HORSE

Location Minehead and Dunster, Somerset
Tel 01643 702624
Date of festival 30 April-4 May
 •  Bearing striking similarities to the Padstow 'Obby 'Oss is this Somerset version, which, once again, features a brightly-coloured hobby horse.
The festivities start on 'Warning Night', when, at 6pm, the Original Sailors' Hobby Horse appears and a group of musicians plays its song. They proceed to the Hobby Horse Inn for extensive refreshments, with the horse dancing down the street, playfully harassing the bystanders as he goes.
On May Day itself, the horse once more proceeds through the town. The celebrations are repeated for a further two days, with visits to nearby Periton and Cher.

Where to stay: BURROWHAYES FARM CARAVAN AND CAMPING SITE

Address West Luccombe, Porlock, Minehead, Somerset TA24 8HT
Web www.quantumenterprises.co.uk Open 15 March-31 October

Where to go: ROCHESTER SWEEPS

Address Aerodrome Road, Hawkinge, Nr Folkestone, Kent CT18 7AG
Tel 01634 843666
Date of festival 30 April-2 May
 •  This festival draws on the tradition of young sweeps of yesteryear welcoming in the spring when they would clean chimneys after the winter's fires. On May Day, the sweeps would stage processions to collect money at a time of year when work was short.
Jack-in-the-Green (pictured below) – a symbol of nature – has always been the central character in their procession. Today, Morris dancers, street performers and musicians converge on Rochester to provide a marvellously colourful spectacle, complete with the sweeps' procession, sideshows and exhibitions.

Where to stay: PAINTERS FARM CARAVAN AND CAMPING SITE

Address Forstal, Faversham, Kent ME13 0EG
Tel 01795 532995
Open March-October

Where to go: DERBYSHIRE WELL

Location Villages throughout the White Peak
Tel 01246 345777/01629 813227
Date of festival Spring to late summer
 •  As the sustenance of all life, wells were venerated by our ancient Celtic forebears, who decorated them with pictures made from thousands of flower petals.
Villages throughout Derbyshire and the neighbouring counties decorate their wells between 1 May and September. They include Tissington (5-11 May), Newborough (2-10 May), Waingroves (7-10 May), Ashford-in-the-Water (15-20 May), Ripley (11-16 June), Marston Montgomery (12-19 June), Tideswell (18-26 June), Derby (18-23 June), Mayfield (18-24 June) and Chesterfield 10-17 September.

Where to stay: RIVENDALE CARAVAN AND LEISURE PARK

Address Buxton Road, Alsop-en-le-Dale, Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Web www.rivendalecaravanpark.co.uk
Open All year

Where to go: HOCKTIDE CELEBRATIONS

Location Hungerford, Berkshire
Tel 01635 30267
Date of festival 5 April
 •  Hocktide was once celebrated throughout England, but Hungerford is now the only place where this festival still takes place. Hocktide was traditionally a time for paying taxes, tolls and rents and for collecting any debts for the first quarter of the year.
The festival begins when the town crier blows his horn and summons the Hocktide Court to the town hall. Inside, all commoners living in the oldest house in the High Street must pay a fine to ensure their fishing and grazing rights. Elected 'Tuttimen' are then led through the streets by the 'Orange Man', calling at houses and demanding a penny from men and a kiss from women in exchange for an orange.

Where to stay: WELLINGTON COUNTRY PARK

Address Riseley, Reading, Berkshire RG7 1SP
Website www.wellington-country-park.co.uk
Open 13 March-7 November

Where to go: THE WRAY SCARECROWS

Location Wray, near Lancaster, Lancashire
Tel 01524 32878
Date of festival 22 April-2 May
 •  During the build-up to the Wray Fair on May Day, householders in this little village display more than 100 scarecrows in their gardens and on their roofs.
Although Wray has a population of only 450 people, the fair is phenomenally popular and draws up to 20,000 visitors. During the week, the scarecrows are judged and prizes are awarded for the best ones.
The fair has many country attractions, including duck herding, a torchlight procession and a fell race, alongside displays of rare breeds of farm animals, and birds of prey, rides, stalls and jazz bands. Scarecrow memorabilia is also sold.

Where to stay: MOSS WOOD CARAVAN PARK

Address Crimbles Lane, Cockerham, Lancaster LA2 0ES
Tel www.mosswood.co.uk
Open 1 March-31 October

Where to go: SPALDING TULIP FESTIVAL

Location Spalding, Lincs
Tel 01775 725468
Date of festival 30 April
 •  Thousands of tulips adorn floats in this annual event which was founded nearly half a century ago by local producers using flowers grown for bulb production.
More than 200,000 people attend the event every year. As well as the floats, marching bands, vintage bicycles and traditional characters all take part in the four-and-a-half-mile parade around the town of Spalding, which begins on 30 April at 2pm.
The floats are displayed at the festival site from 9am on the day and remain there for the duration of the Springfields Country Fair.

Where to stay: FERRY MEADOWS CARAVAN CLUB SITE

Address Ham Lane, Peterborough PE2 0UU
Website www.caravanclub.co.uk
Open All year

Where to go: TETBURY WOOLSACK DAY

Location Tetbury, Gloucestershire
Tel 01666 503552
Date of festival 2 May
 •  Every year, teams of four compete in pairs to carry a 60lb woolsack up and down Gumstool Hill between the Crown and the Royal Oak pubs in the fastest time – normally after much ale has been drunk.
But it's no wonder that a bit of Dutch courage is needed when you consider that the demanding course is 280 yards long with a one-in-four gradient. There is also a competition for individuals. The woolsack races form the central attraction of a charity fund-raising day out, which includes an all-day street market, an auction, a village fête, street entertainers, marching bands, plus stalls and sideshows.

Where to stay: HOBURNE COTSWOLD

Address Broadway Lane, South Cerney, Cirencester GL7 5UQ
Website www.hoburne.com
Open February-November

Where to go: JACK-IN-THE-GREEN FESTIVAL

Location Hastings, East Sussex
Tel 01424 781111
Date of festival 30 April-2 May
 •  Jack-in-the-Green makes his second appearance, this time in a Sussex festival. Around 1500 participants take part in a Bank Holiday Monday procession through the seaside resort of Hastings, the streets of which are lined by about 10,000 spectators, with 5000 also attending the grand finale in the castle where Jack is symbolically slain. While Jack-in-the-Green is a traditional figure, this event dates from a revival of old English customs by local Morris dancers in 1979. There are many sideshows and spin-off attractions, with live music performed as the celebrations continue over the bank holiday weekend.

Where to stay: HORAM MANOR TOURING PARK

Address Horam, Nr Heathfield, East Sussex TN21 0YD
Website www.horam-manor
Open 1 March-31 October

Full information about the following parks and visits can be found in the March 2005 issue of Practical Caravan. For back issues telephone 08456 777812. Admission Price and Opening Times were correct at the time of publishing. Please check for latest information before visiting.