Celebrating the heritage of herding livestock from the high fells, this free, award-winning festival transforms the streets with a riot of fire, live music, and community spirit. From the bustling food markets to the jaw-dropping twilight torchlight procession with giant animal lanterns, it is a must-see spectacle for families and dog owners looking to experience unique Cumbrian culture.

The Penrith Winter Droving festival that aims to celebrate animals, happens every year around the end of October. Originally the Winter Droving was the act of  bringing the herds of sheep early winter from the pastures to the markets where they were sold. We could compare this to the transhumance festivals that are still celebrated in the Hautes Pyrénées in France. Here there are no real animals but representations of animals made of paper.

This year’s festival was a two-day festival with a parade through the streets of Ullswater on Friday night and an all-day art festival in Penrith followed by a parade on Saturday. So it was on saturday afternoon despite a freezing weather that we decided to go to this festival.

The centre of the village became pedestrian for the occasion and contained stands of food, drinks, crafts of all kinds and four scenes in different places where were held mini music concert. The spectator was invited to wander around the streets of the city to discover all the artists. In addition to local music bands performing on stage, other artists and musicians were walking around the streets to perform some shows.

Around 7pm the parade began in the streets. The illuminated paper animals invaded the streets, accompanied by the most extravagant human disguises. The party continued all night in the pubs of the city but for us it was time to go home to warm up.

We absolutely loved this festival which is a real treat for the eyes and ears. The family atmosphere is very nice and we did not have the feeling of being clumped together even though there were a lot of people. It’s a show for the whole family that will delight young and old. It is also possible to visit Penrith at the same time if you do not know this beautiful village. In the future we want to return to Penrith  to visit the museums and castles around while waiting for next year festival.

Find more information here.

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