Widecombe Fair

Widecombe Fair takes place on the second Tuesday of September each year (Tuesday 8 September in 2026, 9am until late) in Widecombe-in-the-Moor, a sheltered valley on the east side of Dartmoor. The fair's own website says it is run entirely by volunteers to raise money for local good causes. It is held in a large field south of the village, known locally as the Fair Field, with nearby fields used as car parks and the lanes turned into a one-way system for the day.

The earliest written record is in the Plymouth Gazette in 1850, which describes a cattle fair. In its early years it grew to take in sheep and Dartmoor ponies, and it was held in several places around the village, including the village green. It was cancelled for the First World War (1915 to 1918) and became a sports day for local schoolchildren in the 1920s. Stalls selling rural arts and crafts were added in 1933.

The fair was suspended during the Second World War and reinstated in 1945 with a gymkhana and a tug of war, the profits going to the local Welcome Home Fund. In 1989 the pony classes were cancelled after an outbreak of equine flu, and terrier races took their place and are still held. It was cancelled again in 2001 (foot and mouth disease) and 2020 (the coronavirus pandemic).

Today's fair has livestock displays, a dog show, horse and pony classes, local produce, vintage farm machinery, crafts, traders and caterers, and bale tossing. A local resident dressed as Uncle Tom Cobley rides a grey mare, a nod to the folk song Widecombe Fair, in which Uncle Tom Cobley and his friends ride to the fair.