Sidmouth Folk Festival

Now in its 72nd year, Sidmouth Folk Festival turns an entire Devon seaside town into a folk playground — ceilidhs on the seafront, singarounds in pub back rooms, and free dance displays spilling onto the prom alongside ticketed concerts. It runs into the first week of August, so there's still a full weekend of it left to catch.

If you only know folk festivals as muddy fields and wellies, Sidmouth is the gentler, more sociable version — strangers end up dancing together within the hour, and half the best music happens for free in the street.