Thousands flock to Penrith's Winter Droving 2023

The Winter Droving, known for celebrating the onset of the 'darker half' of the year, painted the town with shades of traditional English celebrations, full of animal masks, fire effigies, and plenty of entertainment along the way.

For more than a decade, fire, music, and masks have descended on the town centre each year.

The Winter Droving has become one of Cumbria’s iconic cultural events seeing 20,000 plus visitors attend annually.

Street performers entertain the crowds (Image: Stuart Walker Photography)

This year's festival, organised by Eden Arts, saw the town transform into medieval markets featuring hot chestnuts, traditional mulled wine, and an expansive array of local produce and quirky clothing.

The event, which ran on October 28, encouraged visitors to dress up and 'join the herd' by donning a mask, dressing up as a farmer and enjoying the entertainment.

At 12pm, the festivities kicked off with a fancy-dress competition for dogs.

And to follow, set across different stages the event featured everything from egg tossing, tug-of-war, competitive pint carrying, and mashed potato eating contests as well as stilt shows. 

Mashed potato eating contests being held during The Winter Droving (Image: Stuart Walker Photography)

There was also plenty of musical entertainment for everyone throughout the day, including folk blues and country sounds from AJ Potter,  ska band Guns of Naverone as well as return performances from stalwarts like Delagrave and Uncle Carbuncle.

All of this led up to the highlight of the day - a fire and lantern procession throughout the town, where thousands of onlookers watched the procession. 

Rounding off the evening was a high-energy performance from the well-loved Newcastle band Baghdaddies, providing ska and Latin grooves to keep the crowd dancing. 

Check out the full picture gallery here. Photography by Stuart Walker.