Yorkshire Events to Enjoy

There’s always something to do in Yorkshire

Book for Opera North, Northern Ballet and Hull Truck Theatre Company. Or see dynamic drama at Bradford’s Alhambra, the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds (right), Sheffield’s Crucible and Scarborough’s Theatre in the Round, home base of Alan Ayckbourn.

Fine classical events include highlights such as the Leeds International Concert Season. A brilliant season of festivals ranges from early music in Beverley and York and folk in Whitby to contemporary music in Huddersfield. And don’t miss our Pennine brass bands.

Explore the outstanding collections in the Ferens Gallery, Hull. Meet the contemporary challenge at Barnsley’s Cooper Gallery and the Mercer Gallery, Harrogate.

There’s the Northern Antiques Fair in Harrogate, the Huddersfield Canals Festival, the Jorvik Festival in York, and the Edwardian Festival in Filey. Meet the locals at Kilnsey Show or Harden Moss Sheep Dog Trials. Cheer on the ancient Haxey Hood Game, watch the Calder Valley’s Pace Egg Plays and don’t miss the strongmen and women at Ossett’s Coal Carrying Championships.


Yorkshire is great sporting country with a calendar ranging from test and county cricket at Headingley to the gruelling Three Peaks Fell Race. Go racing at York, one of Britain’s premier courses, or Doncaster, home of the classic St Leger, plus no less than six other fine courses throughout the region.

See top-class football and rugby clubs throughout Yorkshire. Watch international rallying in Dalby Forest and motor cycle races in Scarborough. Or enjoy sea-fishing at Filey.

The pinnacle of the on-screen year is the Leeds International Film Festival. For an exploration of all things audio-visual visit the National Media Museum with its new ‘Experience TV’ gallery and giant IMAX cinema, or watch nostalgic telly from the vast library in ‘TV Heaven’.

Eminent writers, past and present, have drawn inspiration from the region, such as the Brontës of Haworth, JB Priestley, Laurence Sterne, Phyllis Bentley, Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes. Ilkley Literature Festival is the North’s largest and most prestigious literary festival, attracting international literary names.

For sculpture and art lovers, follow the fishes through maritime Hull on a pavement sculpture trail. Honour the master’s role in the arts at Leeds’ Henry Moore Institute. Look once, think twice at the stunning Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield (right). No less controversial is Bradford-born David Hockney. The 1853 Gallery in the grand Victorian setting of Salt’s Mill at Saltaire provides a brilliant showcase for his talent as well as a great day out shopping.