It’s often said that the British have a festival for everything and it really is quite true. From the biggest gather of literary stars to the best beers – there’s a festival for everyone in Britain.  He’s a list of the coolest that I could find.

Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival

Hay-on-Wye is an interesting place in itself – it’s literally a village completely made up of bookstores. Antique books, collectible books, detective books, sci-fi books – Hay-on-Wye has it all thanks to the eccentric bookstore owner in town, Richard Booth. Hay-on-Wye has other 30 bookshops – including fields of books under tarps.

Having become a center for Bibliophiles in Britain, the town has now become home to the annual Guardian Hay Festival of Literature & Arts – often called the Woodstock of the mind which brings in the biggest stars of the literary world.

This year’s Hay Festival will be held from May 27th to June 6th.   More Information on the Hay Festival Website.

Edinburgh Fringe

This festival is rather hard to describe. It’s the world’s largest arts festival but what exactly does that mean? It means that for 3 weeks in Scotland anything goes as far as art is concerned. During the festival you can experience a mixture of theatre, comedy, music, dance, exhibitions and much more.  What many don’t realize is that there are also two other huge concurrent festivals happening in Edinburgh at the same time, the Military Tattoo and the Edinburgh International Festival.

This year’s Edinburgh Fringe will be held from August 6th to August 30th. More Information on the Fringe Website.

Great British Beer Festival

In America our national pastime is baseball. In Britain it’s beer. Drinking and appreciating beer, usually down at the ‘local’ – that’s pub for those that don’t know. So, it only makes sense that the Brits have an entire festival dedicated to everything beer.

Join beer lovers from all over Britain and sample over 500 beers, ciders and perries and various other international beers (yes, even continental ones).

This year’s Great British Beer Festival will be held from August 3rd to August 7th. More information on the website.

Great British Cheese Rolling Festival

Once a year, the brave and the bold gather for what is possibly the strangest festival on the British Calendar. They gather to chase a roll of cheese down a hill. And it’s quite competitive and quite dangerous!

Check out this video for proof:

Looks a little too painful for this Anglophile! This year’s Cheese Rolling Festival will be held May 31st.

The Great Dorset Steam Fair

Long before the gas engine became part of our daily lives, the world ran on steam and not just in trains. Steam Engines were used throughout Britain and they changed agriculture, industry and daily life.

The Great Dorset Steam Fair is the largest gathering of genuine antique working steam engines. It’s a grand day out and a great way to appreciate amazing British engineering.

This year’s Great Dorset Steam Fair will be held from September 1st to September 5th.

English Heritage Festival of History

If knights in armor, GI’s in uniform or people dressed as Victorians interest you – then this is the place to be. The English Heritage Festival of History is the largest gathering of historical re-enactors in Britain and brings together more than 1,000 costumes enthusiasts for a great day out.

This year’s Heritage Festival will be held on July 17th and 18th.

More Festivals, including music and culture, and the top 10 for 2010 are coming up on Transatlanticism.org.

Contributor – Jonathan Thomas, Anglotopia

This ain’t Reno.  It’s Wiltshire, England.  There’s a groovy retro photography exhibit called “Icons of the Highway” at the Fox Talbot Museum at Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire.  Think motels touting electric neon signs for weary travelers, flamboyant over-sized automobiles, aluminum Air-Stream caravans, colorful burger shacks, bustling 24-hour diners, and rich red brocaded cinemas of old Hollywood glamour.  Just good ole’ Americana in England.  Who knew?

The  images on display are the works of Dorset-based photographers Tony and Eva Worobiec.  Not to sound too romantic here, but Tony and Eva’s photos really do take visitors back in time on a classic 1960s American road trip.  The exhibtion opens on January 9, 2010 and runs until June 27, 2010.

And here’s a tip if you’re planning to go.  Members of The Royal Oak Foundation get into the museum and all other National Trust properties for free.

It was back in March when there was all that hoopla surrounding Katie Holmes and hubby Tom planning a camping trip across America.  To share with little Suri the wonders of Mother Nature.  To get back to the basics.  To ‘rough it’ in the great outdoors. 

Well TomKat, if you’re reading this and want to camp some more, why not try an eco-friendly camping adventure in Britain.

We here at Unlabelled Britain are constantly on the look out for the cool and quirky.  Drumroll please.  We present to you the camping pod. 

No need to pitch a tent here.  These green camping pods are made of locally sourced timber (yay!) and insulated with sheep’s wool.  And starting next year, there will be more of them popping up throughout the UK. 

The UK-based Camping and Caravanning Club has sites in England and Scotland.  Pods go for around $60 and sleep up to four people.  That comes out to…carry the 1…$15 per person.  Not too shabby.

The Scarlet is a new adults only hotel on England’s north Cornish coast.  It’s been generating a lot of buzz here in the US and there are loads of reasons why.  This area of Cornwall is known for its surf’s up attitude with dashes of style with places like the Scarlet.

What stood out for me was its art collection.  Eighty percent of the pieces are from local artists and almost all of them are made from recycled material.  The hotel looked more like an art gallery than a hotel.  There’s one piece of a life size man made enitrely of tree bark.  Another sculpture that caught my eye was made of chestnuts that sits on a table in the lobby.

Take note of the furniture.   It’s modern without being stuffy.  There’s a room with cozy bean bags scattered around.  This may sound weird but the bathroom urinals are cool.  Apple red circular bowls.  Never seen anything like it.  I’m sorry to say that I didn’t get a chance to whip out my camera while I was in the john.  Head outside and you’ll see hot tubs that are heated by open fire.  Eek!

I can’t end this post without addressing the lengths the Scarlet goes to to be eco-friendly.  It has sea thrift growing on the roof and a pool filled with harvested rain water.  Mother Nature is smiling as we speak.