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Amazing aerial tour of Cornwall is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

But for those that don’t own any sports equipment, don’t have the skill or aren’t ready to commit to the training required to succeed in Olympic disciplines, England has plenty of less conventional competitive activities on offer. VisitEngland’s Chairman Lady Cobham says: “This year is a fantastic time to be in England, and not just for Olympic and Paralympic sports enthusiasts. The range of alternative sports taking place across the country is evidence of this – there is something for everyone and these unusual events really bring to the fore some of our country’s quirkier heritage and culture. In addition to these annual competitions, there’ll be hundreds of events and festivals taking place in a jam-packed cultural and sporting calendar. There’s really no better time to take a break in England!”

So grab your wellies, gravy-proof clothing and your pea shooter and get involved in some of the country’s alternative sporting events. Here, VisitEngland describes ten of the best…

1. Pancake Dashing - 21st February 2012 (Shrove Tuesday), Olney, Buckinghamshire

The unique Olney Pancake Race literally stops traffic as, once a year, energetic local ladies in traditional housewife attire (including skirt, apron and scarf), run through the streets of Olney. The 415-yard dash is started by the church warden at 11.55am prompt using a large bronze ‘Pancake Bell.’ Pancakes are tossed at the start of the race and the winner is required to toss her pancake again at the finish. The race has been run since around 1445 and since 1950, the contest has been an international event between Olney and the town of Liberal, Kansas in America. The race is run on a timed basis and the winner is declared after times are compared during a transatlantic telephone call.

2. Coal Carrying - 9th April 2012, Ossett, West Yorkshire

Held each year on Easter Monday, the World Coal Carrying Contest is a great test of strength and stamina in which participants carry 50kg (men) or 20kg (women) of coal over a mile-long uphill course. The World Coal Carrying Contest dates back to 1963 when a local coal merchant and the president of the Maypole Committee were enjoying a pint together. A friend burst into the pub and bet that he could race them with a bag of coal on their backs. Not to let a good idea go to waste, the secretary of the Maypole Committee decided to set the race for Easter Monday. The current world record, held by David Jones of Meltham, is 4 mins 6 secs. But will he hold onto it?

3. Shin-Kicking - 1st June 2012, Dover’s Hill, near Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire

Started by local barrister Captain Robert Dover in 1612, the annual Cotswold Olimpicks attracts thousands of spectators and features some well-known countryside games such as tug-of-war, obstacle races and wrestling as well as a few stranger events – including shin-kicking. The two contestants first fill their trouser legs with straw – to help reduce the pain – before holding one another’s arms and kicking each other wearing steel toe-capped boots. The loser is the competitor that gives in to the pain and bruising first. 2012 marks the Olimpicks’ 400th anniversary, so expect some special celebrations this year.

4. Cheese Rolling - 4th June 2012, Brockworth, Gloucestershire

A passion for cheese is a must for this annual event, which involves daredevils hurling themselves down the steep, grassy slopes in pursuit of Double Gloucester cheeses. The race starts with the master of ceremonies rolling a 4kg Double Gloucester cheese down the hill. On the whistle, competitors run, roll and somersault down the hill after it. It’s impossible not to fall over due to the rough uneven nature of the slope, which has a dizzying 1:2 gradient. The winners take home the cheeses as well as a few cuts and bruises. The event dates back to medieval times and is popular with international competitors.

5. Egg Throwing - 24th June 2012, between Helpringham & Swaton, Lincolnshire

In the annual World Egg Throwing Championships, contestants must construct a gravity-powered egg-hurling device to launch an egg to a waiting team member. To achieve points, the team member must either catch the egg unbroken or get struck by the egg. As the egg can be traveling at speeds of up to 120 mph this is particularly tricky and can be painful. Distances to be achieved start at 30 meters but can be extended up to 150 in the knock out competition. Event competitions include basic throwing, catching relays and egg roulette.

6. Pea Shooting - 14th July 2012, Witcham, Cambridgeshire

This international event brings challengers from as far as New Zealand and the USA to compete for the World Pea Shooting trophy. Accuracy, not distance, is the aim of this competition, with contestants shooting a pea through a 12-inch tube, 12 feet towards a 12-inch target. Competition is fierce and laser-guided shooters for specialists are not uncommon. Pea shooters and peas can be bought at the event.

7. Toe Wrestling - 25th August 2012, Fenny Bentley, Ashbourne, Derbyshire

Each August the Bentley Brook Inn in Derbyshire hosts the Ben & Jerry’s World Toe Wrestling Championship. The event was conceived in 1976 in a pub in Wetton, when the locals of ‘Ye Olde Royal Oak Inn’ thought it would be a great idea to hold a toe wrestling competition. Competitors locked their big toes together, and attempted to force their opponent’s foot to the ground. The organisers have big intentions for the sport, and applied in 1997 for its inclusion in the Olympic Games. Unfortunately for fans, it was not accepted.

8. Gravy Wrestling - 27th August 2012, the Rose & Bowl Inn, Bacup, Rossendale, Lancashire

The World Gravy Wrestling Championships take place annually as part of the Pennine Lancashire Festival of Food & Culture and celebrate their 5th anniversary in 2012. In this saucy challenge, teams slide around in lukewarm gravy and attempt to wrestle one another to the ground. Team members win points for pinning the opposition down in the gravy.

9. Black Pudding Throwing - 9th September 2012, Royal Oak, Bridge Street, Ramsbottom, Lancashire

Lancashire is famous for the production of this regional delicacy – along with tripe (cow’s stomach) and elder (steamed cows’ udder) – and so is a fitting home for the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships. The aim is to throw a black pudding that has been wrapped in a pair of ladies tights at a collection of Yorkshire puddings on a plinth 20 feet up a tower built in the middle of the main street in Ramsbottom. Whoever knocks down the most, wins!

10. Conker Knockout - 14th October 2012, Ashton, near Oundle, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire

The game of conkers has been a popular pastime for British schoolchildren for decades. The rules are simple. Each player is given a conker (horse chestnut) attached to a piece of string and they take turns to swing their conker at their opponent’s and try to break it. The World Conker Championships are held each year on the village green in Ashton, Peterborough and attract over 300 competitors attempting to become the King or Queen of Conkers. There are various categories for the knockout competition – ladies, men, teenagers and children. The world tournament came about after a group of local friends had to cancel their annual fishing trip one year. From the pub, they saw conkers falling from the trees onto the village green. They went out and had a game…

Who needs the London 2012 Olympics when we already have shin-kicking and gravy wrestling?! is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Simon Fujiwara is a young artist who grew up in Carbis Bay, just a mile from St Ives. He has been building a strong reputation over the last few years and returns to West Cornwall for his first major UK exhibition in which he has created powerful installations that mix fact and fiction to compelling effect.

The Daily Telegraph gives it 4 stars and writes “One of the most intelligent and entertaining new voices to emerge in British art for some time.”

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New Tate St. Ives exhibition is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

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Celebrating Northumberland’s snowdrops is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Big Ben was completed in 1859 and has been relatively stable since that time although it did experience some difficulties in 1979 when pendulum weights fell down a shaft and the clock mechanism exploded.  On that occasion, the clock was out of action for 9 months.  Now this new committee will have to decide on whether to the Palace of Westminster should locate to new offices to allow work to be done.

And… before someone comments… we know that Big Ben is actually the name of the bell, and not the tower.  A blog post with the title “The leaning tower of the Clock Tower” just didn’t have the same ring about it (to pardon the pun)…!

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The leaning tower of Big Ben is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

A big factor in this new revival is that the New York Times recently voted Birmingham (UK not Alabama) as number 19 in the top 45 places it recommends visiting in the world which has surprised quite a few in the travel world, except of course those in Birmingham itself.

So why is Birmingham so special?

London might have the majority of the Olympic events and quite an influence over the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this year, but it seems for a more culturally diverse holiday, the New York Times is recommending Birmingham. This might well be in part due to the massive changes which have taken place in the city over the past 20 or so years, with trendy bars, restaurants and shopping areas opening up especially along the Birmingham canal network.

Ask any pub quiz boffin and they will tell you that Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice which is strictly true, but 20 years ago you wouldn’t have wanted to go near the canals. Today, the well healed and wealthy flock to posh premises where they can be wined, dined and entertained with the canal boats chugging by full of tourists, rather than the coal of yesteryear.

Old and new: Possibly one of the biggest differences between Birmingham and the rest of the UK is the way it has embraced and merged the old with the new. A classic example is St Martin’s Church with Selfridges new store next door which strangely does seem to work (click the image above for a bigger version). Hundreds of years of history separates them, but somehow Birmingham rather uniquely pulls off this trick.

The new Jewellery Quarter also takes an old part of the city and brings a modern twist with a large collection of artists as well as of course jewellery shops brought together in what was until recently a pretty run down part of the city.

Dining out: We’ve no doubt all heard about the so called Balti Triangle in central Birmingham and yes, if you want an authentic Indian meal then Birmingham still leads the way, but there is a much wider selection of cuisine on offer from really good basic British dishes like fish n’ chips to posh restaurants and pretty much every other type of world food imaginable. Some experts do claim there is more cultural diversity in food in Birmingham than anywhere else in the world!

Who else did Birmingham go up against – London, Cardiff and Glasgow all appeared but the list was topped by such locations as Panama, Helsinki and Myanmar (aka Burma) so Birmingham is in some pretty high esteemed locations it seems.

Perhaps it’s about time Brits rediscovered their second city for themselves…?

More Birmingham Links:
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2012 will be the year of Birmingham at least for Americans is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Sixty Photographs for Sixty Years – The Drawings Gallery, Windsor Castle

Opening on 4th February 2012, an exhibition of 60 photographs of The Queen, including the work of leading press photographers of the past six decades, will go on display at Windsor. The exhibition presents a portrait of The Queen’s reign as captured in fleeting moments on both official occasions and at relaxed family gatherings. The exhibition includes pictures of Queen Elizabeth II on regional and international official visits, leading the nation on Remembrance Day, in the Garter Day procession at Windsor, hosting Heads of State and inspecting the graduating officer cadets at Sandhurst. It also records important personal and family milestones and her lifelong love of equestrianism and of her corgis. The exhibition will run until January 2013.

The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned at Hampton Court Palace

Running 5th April – 30th September 2012, this royal-themed exhibition tells a story about the fascination of love, glamour, celebrity, lust and power and involves some of the key characters that lived, loved and died at Hampton Court Palace – Charles II, James II, William III & Queen Mary II and Queen Anne. Beauty was a good thing: it was a reflection of divine perfection, an indication of virtue. This temporary exhibition will contain magnificent artworks to reveal the stories and scandals, and will include items from the Royal Collection and other public and private collections, many of which are not currently on display.

The World Comes to Windsor Castle

Held in the private grounds of Windsor Castle on the evenings of 10th, 11th and 13th May 2012, the Diamond Jubilee Pageant will pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II’s 60-year reign in a performance that brings together over 500 horses and 800 international performers. Dance, music, military and equestrian displays from around the world will feature in this major show: Around the World in 60 Years and 90 minutes. Visitors will be taken on a journey around the world, reflective of the Queen’s State and Commonwealth visits during her rain: starting out from London and visiting the Americas, Australasia, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and finally Great Britain. The seven acts draw from their respective continent, ensuring a colourful cultural display. Tickets available at

Bright, Shiny Diamond Jubilee Beacons – Various locations

England has a centuries-long history of beacon lighting to mark national events and the beacon is widely recognised as a symbol of united celebration. On 4th June 2012 beacons will be lit across the whole of the United Kingdom, as they were for the Queen’s Silver and Golden Jubilees. Locations already confirmed include the highest school in England, Flash Church of England school in Staffordshire (which has just 10 pupils); three of His Grace the Duke of Westminster’s estates in Sutherland, Cheshire and Lancashire; and 60 beacons along the length of Hadrian’s Wall – one for every year of the Queen’s reign.

Go Down to the (Diamond) Woods – Various locations

To celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, the Woodland Trust is helping millions of people to come together with their communities to plant 6 million trees. The Jubilee Woods Project, fronted by Patron HRH The Princess Royal, aims to create hundreds of Jubilee Woods across the country, and 60 special Diamond Woods, of at least 60 acres – to transform our landscape in a generation and provide a lasting legacy for many years to come. This includes the Trust’s new Flagship Diamond Wood in the heart of The National Forest in Leicestershire, a haven for wildlife and a monument to Her Majesty.

Partake in a Big Jubilee Lunch – Countrywide

Building on the established Big Lunch initiative, the Big Jubilee Lunch will encourage friends and neighbours to share lunch in their local neighbourhoods on Sunday 3rd June 2012. Based on the premise that a connected community is a safe and happy community, the Big Lunch Initiative was founded by the Eden Project in 2009 and provides the tools and support needed for members of the public to organise and encourage shared neighbour lunches once a year, and as a result to build lasting and valuable connections. The initiative hopes to double participation numbers in 2012, and to create an annual Thanksgiving Day of sorts, all of our own.

A Capital Celebration – London’s Exhibitions

In addition to the river pageant, London will be host to several exhibitions on the Royal Family and the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Showing at the V&A from 8th February to 22nd April 2012, Cecil Beacon’s Royal Portraits will include 60 photographs depicting the Royal Family at home and on official occasions. A new permanent exhibition opening at Kensington Palace on 26th March 2012, Victoria Revealed, will look at the life and reign of Queen Victoria – England’s longest-reigning monarch – while Tower Bridge will be re-presenting the Crown Jewels exhibition for the Jubilee year, with new displays showing the jewels like never before.

For more information on Jubilee events around the country, visit www.enjoyengland.com/jubilee

A Royally important year is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

For ladies:

- it will be compulsory to wear hats, not fascinators
- skirts or dresses must fall just beneath the knee or longer

For gentlemen:

- a waitcoat and a tie will become compulsory
- cravats will not be allowed

For a full dress code for Ascot and Royal Ascot, and for different areas within the racecourse (note that the above is just for the Royal Enclosure during Royal Ascot), click here.

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Ascot seeks to restore formality with new dress code is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Wensleydale – famous for its delicious cheese which you just have to sample, maybe with a good pint of real Yorkshire ale! This stunning valley is home to the awesome Hardraw Force waterfall and the beautiful Aysgarth Falls which attract numerous visitors throughout the year. Whatever the season there are wonderful walks throughout the countryside and pretty little villages to visit, or for a perfectly relaxing sightseeing trip there is always the Wensleydale railway.

Malhamdale – a busy area filled with lots of different things to see and do. Malham hosts several activity events throughout the year which include a mountain biking competition, fell racing and the famous agricultural show held in August. There are delightful walks throughout the dale and nature lovers can visit Malham Cove and the RSPB reserve where peregrine falcons can be observed. For an exciting activity day out there is also 4×4 driving, pony trekking, clay pigeon shooting and climbing available.

Ribblesdale and the Ribble Valley – lie between two of the famous “three peaks” and is a dramatic and picturesque backdrop for the famous climbing challenge. Surrounded by quaint market towns and wonderful areas of walking country, including the Pennine Way, it is a perfect place to spend some quality relaxing time. The Ribblehead Viaduct carries the Settle-Carlisle Railway line through the rugged countryside offering spectacular views. Close by and within easy reach is Bronte Country, with its cobbled streets and interesting shops, which are a favourite with tourists.

Swaledale - is famous for its round horned sheep, high quality woollens and delicious cheese. Swaledale lies to the very north of the dales and presents a stunning patchwork of limestone walls and lush green fields, interspersed by many small waterfalls. The area is a wildlife haven, with wild flowers, insects and small mammals in their thousands. Serious walkers can tread the famous Coast-to-Coast Walk or for a more gentle recreation there are many less energetic trails and pathways running between the traditional villages and towns situated here.

Teesdale – is home to the magnificent market town of Barnard Castle and the Bowes Museum. The upper part of the dale is designated as an important National Nature Reserve which supports a wide range of rare and unique flora including the Teesdale Violet. With clusters of medieval towns and villages offering numerous places to take refreshment or to do a spot of shopping visitors will always find something to please.  High Force waterfall is spectacular and well worth a visit as is historic Raby Castle.

The countryside of the Yorkshire Dales is a delightful place to visit at any time of year and whatever the weather. The above are just a few of the places not to be missed, but there is so much more to go out and explore!

John Shimeld is Managing Director at Stayin the Yorkshire Dales.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on the UKseries.com UK Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.

Enjoy the Yorkshire Dales! is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Surprisingly, there are lots and lots of bus tours out there from those using the traditional red Routemaster buses (with the door at the back) to the rather quirky London Duck Tours with their bright yellow amphibious vehicles.

Tip: A little tip when taking a bus tour is to make sure they offer hop on, hop off services so you can interupt the tour at various locations and rejoin another tour later on at the same place.

So to help out visitors from the UK and further afield, here are the best bus tours available in London this year:

1) The Original London Sightseeing Tours offer what many see as the London bus tour experience with a proper opened topped London bus and commentary as you wander around the sights of the capital.

Live commentaries are in English, but they also offer recorded commentaries in a number of other languages, plus they have hop-on-off services so you can use the bus as your personal transport to various famous locations and even free tickets for various other services.

Intro video for the Original London Sightseeing Tours:

2) Golden Tours Open-Top Bus Tour offers an open topped bus service around London in one of the most colourful buses seen in the capital. Hop on, hop off services are available as well as various extras such as discounted Thames river passes.

An introduction to the golden age of Golden Tours:

3) London Duck Tours take the London tour to a whole new level, transporting visitors from the London streets straight onto the River Thames which is quite a good way of avoiding all the traffic. Their bright yellow amphibious vehicles take in sights such as Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and Big Ben and then take to the water for a trip along this famous river.

Have a whale of a time with this Duck Tours preview:

4) Brit Movie Tours take a different approach to many of the other tours, by visiting famous London landmarks associated with TV and films such as Harry Potter, Notting Hill, James Bond and Bridget Jones film locations. There’s also a whistlestop tour option which takes in over 40 locations from 35 films.

Tours are also available in other locations – see preview video:

5) The Ghost Bus Tours uses on the classic Routemaster buses you see so much in the films about London, but takes visitors around some of the most haunted and scariest locations in London including haunted palaces and unmarked burial grounds. Definately not for the faint hearted!

A little taster of the Ghost Bus Tours:

More London Landmarks: If you’d like to make your own tours around London there’s plenty to see as the UKattraction guide to London will show.

Five of the best London Bus tours for 2012 is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog