Page 32 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - England's South Coast

30  INTRODUCING ENGLAND ’ S SOUTH C O AST

Average Monthly Rainfall Rainfall Chart
The West Country’s
MM Inches oceanic climate
100 8 produces an average
of 83 mm (3.25 in)
80
6 of rain per month,
60 compared to the rest
4 of the South’s 62.5 mm
40 (2.5 in). Upland areas,
2 such as Dartmoor
20 or the South Downs,
usually receive
0 0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec higher rainfall.
Falmouth Oyster Festival
(mid-Oct), Cornwall. This festival
celebrates the start of the
oyster-dredging season.
Canterbury Festival (third
and fourth weeks), Kent.
Music, drama and the arts.
Apple Day (21 Oct), nationwide,
especially in Kent, Devon and
Somerset. A celebration of apples
and orchards, with tastings
and cider-drinking events.
Participants in the Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run
November
readings and discussions Bonhams London to
Autumn in the town where Austen Brighton Veteran Car Run
All over England on 5 November, lived for five years (first Sun). Pre-1905 cars
bonfires are lit and fireworks let (see p92). make up the entrants at
off to celebrate the foiling of an this annual motoring
attempt to blow up the Houses October event, with drivers and
of Parliament by Guy Fawkes Harvest Festivals passengers dressed in
and his co-conspirators in 1605 (whole month), period costumes.
(see p36). Cornfields become nationwide, especially Lewes Bonfire
golden, trees turn fiery yellow in farming areas. (5 Nov), Sussex. The
through to russet, and orchards Gifts of fruit and biggest and wildest
are heavy with apples and vegetables are celebration of Guy
other autumn fruits. In churches made in church and Flowers and produce Fawkes Night with
throughout the country, school ceremonies adorning a church font parades, bonfires and
thanksgiving festivals mark to give thanks for for the Harvest Festival firework displays.
the harvest. The shops stock the harvest. Christmas Market
up for the run-up to Christmas, Winchester Poetry Festival at Winchester Cathedral
their busiest time of the year. (early Oct), Hampshire. (mid-Nov–mid-Dec), Hampshire.
Readings, workshops and German-style Christmas market
September literary discussions. with a large open-air ice rink.
End of the Road Festival
(early Sep), Larmer Tree Gardens,
near Blandford, Dorset. This
music festival focuses on
alternative music, mostly
folk, and Americana.
Agatha Christie Festival
(mid-Sep), Torquay, Devon.
Special events are held in
honour of the famous crime
book author at her birthplace
of Torquay (see p138).
Jane Austen Festival (mid-Sep),
Bath, Somerset. This ten-day-
long festival hosts parades, A parade at the Bonfire Night celebrations in Lewes, East Sussex

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