While it's tempting to turn up the central heating and snuggle down into the sofa with just one more mince pie at this time of year, venture out around the UK and you’ll get to experience village life in our four nations in a way unseen at any other time of year.
That’s because it’s during the festive season that small communities come together for traditions that exist nowhere else, whether that’s madcap festivals of Victoriana, carol concerts in caves or with pie made from fish heads. They’re all very different, but you’ll leave each of these villages with a bit of Christmas in your heart.
Top 10 festive towns and villages in the UK
Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire
It’s easy to see why Robin Hood’s Bay was so popular with smuggling gangs of the 18th century. Its isolated location at the foot of high cliffs, protected by marshy moorland, made it ideal for landing contraband unseen, while the thriving fishing industry provided cover. The village’s smuggling days are done, but it’s still redolent with the independent spirit of that era.
Baytown, as it’s known by local people, is home to a diverse bunch of creative folk who love to pull together. The Robin Hood’s Bay Victorian Weekend (7–8 December 2024) is a case in point: shops, pubs and cafés are transformed to recreate a typical 19th-century village – evoking the period when the place first opened up to tourists with the arrival of the railway in the 1880s.
You’ll enjoy carols in the street, a sea shanty workshop and prizes for the best-dressed people, dogs and businesses, plus quirky events, such as a biscuit-dunking competition and a duck race down the beck that runs through the tunnels once used by smugglers.
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The rest of December is quieter, but the village is always a beautiful place for an atmospheric stroll and a glass of mulled wine – no wonder it's been used for filming romantic dramas. Those wanting to learn more about its history can book onto a Robin Hood’s Bay Smugglers’ Walk for a 75-minute tour of the village.
Around Christmas, community events kick off with singing around the tree in the harbour on Christmas Eve, followed by a well-attended midnight mass at St Stephen’s Church. Then gird your loins for a brisk Boxing Day swim in the North Sea at nearby Whitby.
Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales
This picturesque town on the border between Wales and England, famous for its literary festivals, is well worth visiting in December. Featuring performances, exhibitions, talks, workshops and tours, the Hay Festival Winter Weekend (28 Nov–1 Dec), is a wonderful way to start the season. Most events are ticketed but freebies include performances by a Welsh-language choir.
The switching on of the town’s Christmas lights (29 Nov) is a packed community event in Memorial Square featuring a host of quirky elements including a steam-engine Santa drive-by. Thanks to the town’s snow machine, Hay is one of few places in the British Isles – and the only one on our list – where a blizzard is guaranteed. Head to one of the town’s many enticing pubs to warm up afterwards.
With more than 20 bookshops, Hay is a great place to pick up presents for your literature-loving nearest and dearest. And sprawling markets during the Winter Festival and at the Christmas Fayre (14 Dec) offer gift-buying opportunities for everyone else in your life, with more than 100 traders setting up across the town centre and in Hay Castle.
Arundel, West Sussex
If you’re looking for a chocolate-box Christmas scene, then the town of Arundel should top your list. Some 300 illuminated fir trees decorate the High Street and Tarrant Street, making for one of the UK’s most festive shopping experiences.
The season kicks off on 29 November in the town square with the lighting of a magnificent tree donated each year by the Duke of Norfolk’s estate, which encompasses Arundel Castle, the fairy-tale edifice that sits above the town.
Live music from local schools and churches, plus a ‘reverse grotto’ – in which children give Santa gifts to be donated to families in need – set the scene for a month of festivities at venues across the town.
If you’re in Arundel on a December weekend, you’ll almost certainly find an art and craft fair or farmers’ market. Culture is a big part of the festive season here, too, with performances from local bands and theatre groups, as well as at the acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre. There are garden decor and wreath workshops at WWT Arundel, which also hosts weekend ‘Sail to Santa’ boat rides through the reedbeds to visit Father Christmas’s grotto (7–15 Dec).
Another tradition is the festive swim sessions at the – heated! – Arundel Lido (24 Dec–1 Jan). Don your Santa hat and take the plunge, then warm up with seasonal refreshments – non-swimmers welcome.
Mousehole, Cornwall
Mousehole (curiously pronounced ‘mow-zal’) is a charming spot to visit at any time – but at Christmas, the harbour of this Cornish fishing village is festooned with 7,000 Christmas lights forming 60-odd characterful displays.
The tradition dates back to 1963, when local artist Joan Gillchrest hung a string of coloured bulbs along the village quays to brighten them up for the festive season. Today, Mousehole Harbour Lights is a huge community endeavour, with individuals and businesses mucking in to fund and set up the lights. There’s even a live webcam for those unable to attend in person. This year’s lighting ceremony is on 12 December.
Another annual Mousehole tradition is Tom Bawcock’s Eve (23 December). This celebrates the fisherman who, according to legend, bravely ventured out in his boat in the midst of a particularly stormy winter, catching enough fish to save the village from starving.
That act is commemorated with the baking of stargazy pie, which originally contained the seven types of fish caught by Tom on that fateful day. Today it’s typically made with pilchards, their heads poking out from the crust – hence the quirky name. You can taste a forkful, in exchange for a donation to the RNLI, at The Ship Inn – but only after the pie has been shown around the pub by a local dressed as that heroic fisherman.
That evening, a community parade wends through the village past beautiful home-made lanterns, followed by singing on the beach. If you’re planning to attend, make sure you arrive early to avoid the rush at twilight; park outside the village and walk in, if possible.
Royal Hillsborough, County Down
The route from Royal Hillsborough’s Main Street to Hillsborough Fort is known as the Dark Walk – but it’s a veritable blaze of light on 13 December.
That’s when dozens of brightly lit art, craft, food and drink stalls line the path for Royal Hillsborough Christmas Market, with performances from local choirs and musicians in the grounds of the fort itself. The village’s many independent shops stay open late, too.
The fort, built in the 17th century by the Hill family, has a history of hosting lavish public events. One family wedding held there in 1837 involved more than 3,500 estate tenants plus 500 other guests, and was described in the Ulster Times as “a fête… almost without parallel in the kingdom”.
Hillsborough Castle, built by the Hills on the opposite side of Main Street, was sold to the British government in 1925, and became the official residence of the secretary of state for Northern Ireland in 1972.
It is still the official Northern Irish residence for the King and members of the royal family – hence the town’s regal name. The gardens are lavishly decorated for Christmas.
St Monans, Fife, Scotland
Independent food and drink businesses are thriving in Scotland; products ranging from farmhouse cheeses to handmade chocolate, ferments and wild beers make excellent Christmas gifts.
St Monans, a tiny fishing village on the Fife coast, is a great spot to stock up thanks to Bowhouse, a business championing local growers and producers. Its annual Christmas Market (13–15 December) boasts more than 70 Scottish food, drink and craft stalls. There’s also live music, gingerbread decorating and wreath making.
Lying on the Fife Coastal Path, St Monans is much beloved of walkers. You don’t need to tackle a big hike to admire the adorable 17th and 18th-century pantiled houses that line its harbour, though.
As well as fishing, the village was once a centre for salt production, and its salt pans are still in evidence today, as are the ruins of the buildings involved in that industry. The windmill that once pumped sea water to the salt pans – the last one in Fife – looks out across it all. Brave souls might venture a festive dip in St Monans Tidal Pool, near the ruins of the old saltworks.
Outwell and Upwell, Norfolk
These contiguous villages were once a single settlement known as Welle, until it was split following a dispute between the Abbots of Ramsey and Ely in the 13th century.
Long an inland port, the villages now offer pleasure boating, with public moorings on the Well Creek outside The Crown pub and Stott’s chip shop. Boat hire is tricky here at this time of year, but the moorings and local vessels make a pretty sight when lit up for Christmas. The waterside churches are lovely, too, with their own lights and nativities in the porches.
The Upwell and Wisbech Tramway – reputedly inspiration for the Thomas the Tank Engine stories, written by local author Reverend W Awdry – ran here until 1966. Railway enthusiasts should make their way to nearby Holt, where you can sometimes ride in a restored tramcar on the North Norfolk Railway.
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A little to the south is WWT Welney, winter home for thousands of Bewick’s and whooper swans. Wild swan feeds take place daily, viewable from the reserve’s heated hide; on Saturdays you can also book on to a guided dawn walk through the reserve, ending with a warming breakfast in the café.
Castleton, Derbyshire
The Christmas lights of Castleton appear all the more twinkly against their dramatic surroundings – moody Mam Tor on one side, the medieval ruins of Peveril Castle on the other, and the dark skies of the Peak District National Park above.
Christmas in Castleton is a time for bracing walks before enjoying good food and real ales in the village pubs; The George even sources ingredients from its garden down the road.
Tackle the climb up Mam Tor – known as the Shivering Mountain, because of the many landslips on its flanks – to reach the remains of the Iron Age hill fort at the top. (Be sure to carry a torch, compass, map and spare batteries.) A visit to Peveril Castle, managed by English Heritage, offers breathtaking views over the Hope Valley without the hike.
You can also experience this craggy landscape from beneath in one of Castleton’s four show caves, mined for various minerals over the centuries. Peak Cavern and Treak Cliff Cavern both host Christmas concerts, which typically sell out quickly – book well ahead, or plan for next year. There’s nothing quite like hearing the sounds of a traditional brass band (Peak Cavern) or Christmas carols (Treak Cliff Cavern) reverberating around these beautifully decorated spaces.
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St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales
You don’t need to be a believer to appreciate the majesty of St Davids Cathedral at Christmas – or at any time of year. Built in the 12th century on the site of a monastery founded by Wales’ patron saint in the sixth century, it’s been a place of pilgrimage for 800 years.
Thanks to its cathedral, St Davids is officially a city, albeit the smallest in Britain with fewer than 2,000 residents. But with its pretty streets, independent shops clustered around Cross Square and bucolic location in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, it very much has the feel of a village.
The cathedral’s packed calendar of events ranges from the Christmas Fayre (30 Nov), featuring handbell ringing, carol singing and local makers’ stalls, to a scratch telling of the nativity (22 Dec), a performance of Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols (14 Dec) and an interactive outdoor Angel Trail through an illuminated Cathedral Close (20 Dec–5 Jan). Events elsewhere include switching on the Christmas lights (30 Nov) and a Christmas Fair at the Oriel y Parc Gallery and Visitor Centre (7 Dec).
Cullen, Moray, Scotland
The Cullen Viaduct is the most imposing of four that have looped over this pretty Moray Coast village since the arrival of the railway in the late 19th century.
In the run-up to Christmas, the largest viaduct takes on a particularly cheerful demeanour, decked out in coloured lights that are reflected in the chilly waters of Cullen Bay. The viaducts, which mark the southern extent of the district known as Seatown, were completed in 1886 after the lady of the manor, the Countess of Seafield, refused permission for a Great North of Scotland Railway line to cross her lands.
Trains trundled over these viaducts until 1968; today you can cross them on the spectacular coastal footpath to Portknockie, or pedalling the largely off-road Moray Coastal Cycle Route – keeping eyes peeled for dolphins in the Moray Firth.
The Square is adorned with more Christmas decorations, their designs referencing elements of Cullen life past and present, including the old harbour lighthouse, a fishing boat and a train. The community lights switch-on event, which takes places on 23 Nov this year, will be enlivened by pipers and choirs. On 22 Dec, Cullen’s Santa Sleigh Run sees Father Christmas travelling around the village in a tractor-pulled sleigh. And on 23 Dec there’s more vehicular fun when the festive Tractor Run passes through on a circular route from Buckie.
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