The 2011 Cotswold Festival

The Festival

This is the third Cotswold Festival since 2007, and this year it is bigger and better than ever before. 

The Theme for the 2011 Festival is "See Life in 17th Century Stow" which promises to provide lots of family fun & entertainment for all, as we celebrate Cotswold life, crafts and history. We hope as many people as possible will wear period costume, which is available to buy or hire. 

We hope to attract many local visitors and tourists to an exciting event providing family fun & entertainment for all. As well as the many special activities taking place during the Festival, we hope you will enjoy visiting our wonderful local shops. We expect that they will have many new visitors during the Festival, who will become regular customers having seen what excellent products and friendly service are on offer.

Proceeds from the Festival will support the following local charities:

• Stow Youth Club
• The Stow Branch of the Royal British Legion Welfare Fund
• North Cotswolds Voluntary Help Centre

The Festival will take place over three days:

• Antiques Day - Friday 16th
• SAT 17 Sept 9.30 - 17.00
• SUN 18 Sept 10.00 - 16.00

Please click on the links above to see details of the programme for each day.

Cotswold Festival Programmes will be available from the middle of August from Go-Stow, price £1.50. There will be a Lucky Programme number prize of £100 on both Saturday and Sunday, sponsored by Stow on the Wold Tescos.

English Civil War Re-enactment

The last battle of the first English Civil War took place near and in Stow in 1646. We are really excited about the Civil War Re-enactment which will take place on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the Cricket Ground.

Tickets for the Sealed Knot display are £5 for Adults (over 16), £2.50 children (5-16) and free for under 5s. A family ticket for £15 will admit two adults and up to 4 children aged 5-16. Tickets in the form of wrist bands can be bought from the Go-Stow Information Stall in Stow Square during the Festival weekend

Activities around Stow's Town Square

On both days, in The Square, there will be a street market, a Living History Exhibition and an an arena with live music from Stiff Upper Lip, Short and Sweet, The Stow Baptist Church Group and the Cotswold School Band, the Silver Bough strolling players & Morris dancing

Treasure Hunt

A Treasure Hunt will take you on a stroll round the byways of Stow, where you can find many interesting shops and eateries. A draw for the winner of the Treasure Hunt will take place on both Saturday and Sunday. The winners will receive a family ticket to Cotswold Farm Park plus £25 spending money.

Crafts and Memorabilia

There will be demonstrations of traditional crafts in St. Edwards Church and in St. Edwards Hall, there will be an exhibition of Civil War memorabilia with expert knowledge provided by the Stow Civic Society.

Barn Dance

On Saturday evening there will be a Barn dance in The Square to the music of the Silver Bough band and caller.


For more details, visit their website at http://www.cotswoldfestival.com/index.php

The 2010 Olimpicks Are Just Around the Corner...

If ever there was a sporting event worthy of a weekend mini-holiday, the 2010 Olimpick Games are it.  I am not wrong.  I haven't mistaken the 2012 London Olympics, nor have I misspelled the word.  It is the 400 year old Cotswold Olimpicks in Chipping Campden to which I refer!  Here, we watch grown men engage in the age-old art of shin-kicking rather than watching them run, jump, or swim.  Here are the rather vague details on this year's festivities...


Whilst the 2010 programme details are still being finalised please see the following details from last year's games.


From 7.30 Robert Dover opens the Games in front of his Castle. The Championship of the Hill with local teams and the Castle area. The Five Mile Race and the Junior Circuit begin there and the Shin-Kicking contest follows.


On the upper level areas there are exhibitions of 'Morris Dancing', Dog Displays, Falconry, as well as two bands. In the smaller arena there are displays of Backswords, Single-Stick contests and Tai Kwando (?!). Tug-of-War contests take place.


At 10.00pm the Scuttlebrook Queen lights the bonfire, fireworks colour the sky and then there is the moving Torchlight Procession to the Square in Chipping Campden where dancing in the Square concludes the evening.


Here's a little video from the 2007 Games to whet your appetite:





A Little History, Anyone?

The Games have a long history, possibly going back to the time when the hill was the site of the Kiftsgate Hundred Court.

Their present form takes much from the records of the Games in the early seventeenth century. Prominent is the picture of the Games published in 1636 with a collection of poems entitled Annalia Dubrensia (see Books on Dovers Games) in praise of the Games by reputable poets of the period. 

The title page describes this as 'Olimpick'. The picture depicts Robert Dover presiding over his Games. On the summit of the hill a castle structure has guns firing to start events, and there are representations of the different activities - dancing, backswords, coursing, throwing the sledge hammer, spurning the barre, pike drill, tumbling and even shin-kicking.

The poems by Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, Thomas Randolph, and others describe the excitement of the contest, the good-humoured rivalry, and, above all, the sense of good honest sportmanship which Robert Dover engendered.

A Traditional Cotswold Bonfire Night at the Fleece Inn

A Truly Unique Bonfire Night

If you are looking for a very unique and traditional Bonfire Night celebration, this one is certainly worth consideration.  The Fleece Inn in The Vale of Evesham, Worcestershire, is hosting a Bonfire Night & Festival of Light on Saturday, 7 November.  The event will feature vintage stationary engines, tilley lanterns, Black Jack Morris dancing, folk music, warming food and much more.  The event runs from 5pm - 11pm, and you may reach The Fleece at +44 (0)1386 831 173 or email them at thefleeceinn@nationaltrust.org.uk.

If you'd like to stay the night, click http://thefleeceinn.co.uk/temps/bb.html for details on the B & B, originally built in 1400AD and complete with it's own ghost!

The Fleece Inn is a public house in Bretforton, Worcestershire in the Vale of Evesham: the half-timbered building, over six hundred years old, has been a pub since 1848, and is now owned by the National Trust.






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