Winter Droving

For a few years now the Christmas festivities in Penrith have started with the Winter Droving Festival. It harks back to the fact that we are a market town where droves of livestock were brought to market on foot.

We were busy working at the holiday lodge all day so we only got into town for the evening. During the daytime there were stalls, street entertainment, dressing -up and competitions. The streets were packed when we arrived at 5.30pm and after 6pm the torch lit procession made its way through town. Animals were represented by huge paper lanterns made by the townspeople and kept from year to year but I don't remember seeing this rams head or the deer before.