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October Festival and Events Roundup
An overview of events and festivals throughout the UK during October

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Oct 7 2009

October - The Golden Harvest

October, like most of the year in the UK, is changeable and unpredictable. It's noticeably cooler and wetter with the first real chance of frost in the air. If you are lucky and the weather is dry (a big "if"), you can expect lovely, crisp days, occasionally heated up by a surprisingly warm sun. Nights and mornings are chilly so bring layers to wear. Leaves turn golden - with the most spectacular autumn color in Scotland and it's the time of year for apple harvests, harvest festivals and ghosts.

October Weather Averages

England:

High - 56°F (13.6°C)
Low - 44°F (6.6°C)
Average daily hours of sunshine - 3.27
Average monthly rainfall - 3.3" (83.7mm)

Scotland

High - 51°F (10.8°C)
Low - 41°F (4.9°C)
Average daily hours of sunshine - 2.4
Average monthly rainfall - 6.4" (162.8mm)

Wales

High - 55°F (12.8°C)
Low - 44°F (6.5°C)
Average daily hours of sunshine - 2.91
Average monthly rainfall - 6" (153.2mm)

October Daylight

The extremes of daylight hours between summer and winter are very marked this far north and during October, the plunge toward winter darkness begins to accelerate. Across the country, there is a span of about 11.5 hours between sunrise and sunset on the first of the month and that shrinks to about 9.5 hours by the end. Sunset occurs at about 6:50 p.m. at the start of the month and by the end, the sun is setting at about 4:30 p.m.

October Highlights

Ghost Walks and Scary Places for Halloween
Oxford Castle Ghost Fest
The Horse of the Year Show Britain's largest indoor equestrian event. A must for horse and horseshow lovers.
Fall Foliage Let's be frank here. Autumn leaves in the UK are a rather mild pleasure. No place puts on the kind of spectacular foliage show that you can expect in New England and Eastern Canada. But the National Forestry Commission has some good ideas about where to find more subtle signs of the changing seasons. Check out their Autumn Woods website.

Music and Performing Arts

The Canterbury Festival
In the City, Manchester's major New Music event.
Manchester Comedy Festival
Reading Comedy Festival
Stratford upon Avon Music Festival
Bath Film Festival
Glasgay, Glasgow's 20 year old celebration of queer culture.
The BFI London Film Festival

Literary Festivals

Heritage Festivals

The Royal National Mod Scotland's annual Gaelic culture competition and festival.
Lowender Peran Celtic Festival in Cornwall
October Plenty and Apple day at Borough Market An Autumn harvest festival on Bankside, in London, near Shakespeare's Globe. A mixture of ancient seasonal customs and theatre with contemporary festivity, joining with Apple Day celebrations at nearby Borough Market.
Hastings Bonfire Celebration
Nottingham Goose Fair
Chesterfield Market Festival

Arts and Antiques

Food and Drink

Falmouth Oyster Festival
Manchester Food and Drink Festival
Herefordshire Food Festival
Beer Festivals The harvest time of October is a wonderful season to try fruity, flavorsome beers and hoppy brews. Ciders and perries (made of pears) come into their own this time of year as well and UK beer festivals abound. CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale lists 13 different beer and ale festivals throughout the month, including one in Falmouth, right after the town's wonderful Oyster Festival.
Find a beer festival along your route.