The Great Hitchcox

May Day Shindig

2 May 2026 from 3pm to midnight

There’s always a moment at events like this where you realise something has properly come to life.

This year’s Great Hitchcox May Day Shindig had a few of those moments.

Somewhere between the maypole dancers stepping through the orchard beneath the blossom and the first glow of the fires later that evening, the whole place settled into exactly what we hoped it would become. Traditional by day. Festival spirit by night. The kind of gathering that felt both nostalgic and timeless all at once.

Even the rain played its part. It arrived briefly, sending people beneath the tipi with plates of food and drinks in hand, while the fires crackled nearby and music carried on regardless. Nobody seemed too concerned. If anything, it added to the atmosphere. Canvas roofs, warm drinks, glowing fires and rain tapping overhead somehow felt entirely fitting for a British May Day celebration.

Throughout the afternoon, the orchard was full of movement. Children disappeared between games, crafts and maypole-making while the Orchard Therapeutic young people helped lead the activities across the grass. There were flower crowns, muddy boots, dogs on leads weaving through the crowd and that gentle sort of chaos that comes with people genuinely enjoying themselves.

The traditional dancers were a real highlight of the day. Ribbons, colour and music moving beneath the pink blossom gave the orchard a feeling of stepping briefly into another time. It was joyful, slightly eccentric and exactly the sort of tradition that deserves keeping alive.

As evening settled in, the fires burned brighter, the lights around the orchard began to glow and the tipi filled with warmth, music and conversation. The AristoUkes brought the perfect soundtrack to the evening with familiar songs given their own playful twist. By then, people had stopped worrying about the weather, stopped checking the time and simply settled into the night.

That was perhaps the best part of the whole event.

Nobody seemed in a hurry to leave.

People gathered around the fires, stayed for one more drink, danced when they swore they wouldn’t and watched the orchard slowly change from spring afternoon into full May Day evening.

May Day has always marked a turning point. The arrival of lighter evenings, warmer air and the beginning of the season stretching ahead.

Standing beneath the blossom with smoke drifting through the orchard and music carrying out into the dark, it felt like we welcomed that season in properly.

To everybody who joined us, thank you for helping make it such a memorable day.