Some recommendations arrive with such a pleasing local stamp of approval that you have to pay attention.
Peregrine Circus came our way via the team at Pobl Bakery, which already gives it excellent credentials. People who understand good pastry are rarely wrong about joy. We will be accepting no further questions on this matter.
Peregrine's show, Belly of the Whale, is currently at Llandrindod Lake, and it sounds like exactly the kind of odd, beautiful, slightly otherworldly thing we started Marches & More to find.
Peregrine Circus is a North Wales-born travelling troupe of acrobats, artists and musicians, built around live performance, myth, movement and music. No animals, just people doing astonishing things with their bodies, instruments, imaginations and, presumably, a terrifying level of core strength.
Belly of the Whale is an immersive theatre and circus production set in an oceanic dreamscape, with live music and performances that drift between story, spectacle and something a bit stranger. The company describes it as a place where the ordinary doesn’t follow you in, which is frankly a relief. The ordinary has been a bit much lately.
There are international performers, a ship’s orchestra, aerial work, acrobatics, rollerskates, teeterboard and the kind of big-top atmosphere that manages to feel both intimate and huge. Good for children, yes, but not only children. This has proper grown-up “I forgot live performance could make me feel like this” potential too.
A lake, a circus tent, live music, myth, acrobats, and a recommendation from Pobl Bakery. Strong signs from the universe.
Where: Llandrindod Lake, LD1 5HU Upcoming performance: Thursday 30 July, 5.30pm to 7pm, with more slots on Friday 31 July, Saturday 1 August and Sunday 2 August
Lakefest lands at Eastnor Castle Deer Park next week, which is handy for anyone who wants a proper festival without accidentally ending up six counties away, covered in glitter and wondering who packed the tent pegs.
Personally, I’d be heading straight for Soul II Soul on the Friday, because some things are simply correct. But the whole line-up has that useful cross-generational chaos that makes Lakefest such an easy one to recommend: The Charlatans, EMF and The Bluetones on Thursday, Example, Soul II Soul and The Undertones on Friday, Madness and Scouting for Girls on Saturday, then Bananarama, Lightning Seeds, Elvana and Chesney Hawkes on Sunday.
The setting does a lot of heavy lifting too. Eastnor Castle is one of my favourite places to take my four-year-old: big grounds, proper castle drama, room to roam, and enough “look at that!” energy to keep small people moving. It also has a neat bit of cultural sparkle, having appeared in Succession as one of those outrageously grand locations where terrible rich people do terrible rich people things. Around here, we call that “a nice day out near Ledbury”.
There’s plenty beyond the Abbey Main Stage: DJs, cabaret, films, food demos, kids’ rave bits, family activities and all the campsite theatre that happens when adults try to appear relaxed while privately hunting for wet wipes.
Lakefest works because it doesn’t ask you to choose between family-friendly and actually fun. Children can be entertained. Grown-ups can dance. Someone can eat something excellent from a van. Everyone can pretend they’re being spontaneous, despite having packed snacks with military precision.
Go for the big names. Stay for the castle setting, the daft dancing, the family chaos, and the smug little feeling of doing summer properly.
There are a thousand ways to get pulled into a book now. A BookTok recommendation. A Goodreads review. A prize list. A friend saying, “I think you’d love this,” with the dangerous confidence of someone who knows your entire personality.
But going to a proper bookshop is different.
At Elderwood Books in Brampton Bryan, you get the old pleasure of wandering. Falling for a cover. Reading the back. Feeling the pages. Picking something up because it promises a world you did not know you wanted until it was suddenly in your hand. Yes, they can order books in for you. Useful, grown-up, sensible. But the magic here is the sheer sweep of new and second-hand books waiting to be found.
Elderwood has taken over the much-loved former Aardvark Books site at The Bookery, Manor Farm, and it feels like a place beginning its next chapter. Polly and Rachel have been freshening things up, bringing in fresh food, a new sparkling coffee machine, events and a bit of life back into the building. They’ve cleared and opened the space so the barn itself can show off again, which it has every right to do.
The Bookery was created from a nineteenth-century farm building on the historic Harley Estate. Before books took over, the barn had been a grain store and a turkey farm. Since Aardvark moved here in 2007, it became one of those proper book-lover pilgrimage spots, with tens of thousands of new, second-hand and rare titles. In April 2026, Elderwood Books took over with a plan to continue it as a bookshop, café and events space for Brampton Bryan, North Herefordshire and the wider Marches.
And the location matters. Brampton Bryan sits close to the Shropshire and Welsh borders, with old stone, castle history, village life and the kind of landscape that makes a bookshop feel even more like a portal. I’m currently working my way through a romantasy series, so I’ll be swinging by for coffee, cake and the very reasonable feeling that there might be fae, assassins or some morally complicated winged man just round the corner.
There are events too, including supper clubs, book groups, kids’ events, author talks and flea markets. So yes, go for the books. But also go for the building, the coffee, the stories in the walls, and the lovely possibility that your next read might choose you before you’ve even taken your coat off.
Wye Knot’s Women’s Wilderness Adventures feel like the sort of thing you book when your nervous system has started making dial-up internet noises.
The idea is simple and very good: small weekends for women, held outdoors near Hereford, with river time, bushcraft, campfire food, fresh air and enough support that it doesn’t feel like being thrown into a field and told to become Bear Grylls by lunchtime.
The weekends are based at Hancock’s Meadow Farm, where rich pasture meets the River Wye, which already feels like a strong start. Across the two days, guests paddleboard, learn outdoor skills, cook farm-to-fire meals and spend time around the campfire. Groups are kept small, with no more than ten women, and the weekends are led by experienced female outdoor guides.
What I like is that Wye Knot understands adventure. This is not about arriving with expensive trousers and a suspiciously confident relationship with knots. It’s for women who want to feel capable, calm, brave, muddy, held, or simply away from the noise for a bit.
There’s a strong local thread too. Wye Knot talks about using local instructors, food producers and craftspeople, and their wider work includes community workshops, paddleboarding, movement, play and wellbeing projects across Herefordshire. So this isn’t wellness parachuted into a field for Instagram. It feels rooted here.
Good for women craving adventure, fresh air, confidence, quiet, friendship, river water, fire food, and the deep spiritual reset of having no one ask where the spare charger is.
Runs: Selected weekends until 6 September Price: £300 per person, including food, equipment, activities, coaching and camping Good to know: small groups of up to ten women. The site is outdoors with uneven ground, woodland terrain and riverside access, so contact them directly about access needs.
We all know Tenbury Countryside Show is a good one. It’s big enough to fill a day properly, local enough to still feel like it belongs to the people who make it happen and rooted in the farming and horticultural life of the Teme Valley in a way you can’t fake.
This year’s show is back on Saturday 1 August, set in the meadows beside Tenbury Wells, with the usual full-show rhythm: livestock, horses, horticulture, trade stands, food, shopping, rings, competitions and the slow happy drift of bumping into someone you know every fifteen minutes.
The stand-outs are strong. Tenbury is home to the National Show of Hereford Cattle, the RFBS National Show of Ryeland Sheep, and this year also hosts the National YFC Tug of War Finals, which have been held at Tenbury since 2013 and always draw a crowd.
I have a soft spot for tug of war since watching two pubs on opposite sides of Corve Street in Ludlow take each other on across the road. No fuss. Full commitment. Everyone suddenly very invested. Tenbury has a pretty intense version with a Steam Engine Tug of War, which is quite literally a stand-off between you and a steam engine. Anyone can have a go, apparently. That is exactly the sort of excellent nonsense I support.
Also worth clocking: The Sheep Show, sheep shearing, birds of prey, ferrets, pigs, rabbits, heavy horses, classic vehicles, tractor pulling, gun dogs and the Grand Parade. Gates open at 9am, with the Countryside Ring from 10am and the Main Ring from 1pm.
A proper Saturday show. Go early, wear the right shoes, and don’t pretend you’re above getting emotionally involved in a tug of war.
When: Saturday 1 August 2026 Look out for: National YFC Tug of War Finals, Steam Engine Tug of War, The Sheep Show, National Hereford Show and Ryeland Sheep
Abergavenny Street Food & Craft Night Market Street food, crafts and a very decent Thursday night excuse to wander round Abergavenny Market Hall instead of pretending hummus is dinner. Booking not required.
The Valley of Ravens at Hay Castle Barbara Erskine launches The Valley of Ravens at Hay Castle, which is exactly where you want cursed cottages, Welsh secrets and a bit of gothic book drama: Book here.
Ludlow Summer Artisan Fair Ludlow Assembly Rooms is hosting a Summer Artisan Fair this weekend, for anyone planning a “quick browse” that becomes ceramics, jewellery and coffee: Book/info here.
Pizza at the Farm Silver Circle Distillery near Monmouth is doing wood-fired pizza, cocktails and farm views on Friday, which feels like a very sensible use of summer: Walk-ins are welcome, but booking ahead guarantees your place.Book here.
Wye Valley Sculpture Garden Contemporary sculpture in a three-acre Tintern garden, for people who like their art with plants: Book here.
