Cotswold Olympicks
Weston Subedge, Chipping Campden GL55 6UW
When the British Olympic Association made their bid for the London 2012 Olympics, they noted that it was "exactly 400 years from the moment that the first stirrings of Britain's Olympic beginnings can be identified.” They were right. In 1612, the Cotswold village of Chipping Campden, was the venue of the first ever 'Cotswold Olimpicks', a sporting fair that honoured the ancient Games of Greece and continues to this day every year in June.
However, although this historic event claims to maintain the core Olympic ideals of celebrating sporting excellence, friendship and fraternity, unfortunately the similarity ends there. You can forget your regular Olympic sports; there’s no athletics, swimming or gymnastics going on here. Instead the event looks to celebrate more muscular activities – shin-kicking, hammer-throwing, shot-putting and of course a famous tug-of-war, which is as fiercely fought as ever.
This isn’t just a slightly eccentric sports event, however. With masses to do for the whole family – face-painting, arts and crafts, falconry, performing dogs, a fairground this is a top day out in one of the most beautiful villages in the Cotswolds. Whether or not you have tickets for the big event, it's worth coming along anyway.
