Second Place Rosette: Poems about Britain by the Emma Press is a collection of poems about the quirky customs and rituals we Brits take part in throughout the year…
Archives for Review
An open air performance of The Pirates of Penzance
Illyria’s 2018 outdoor theatre season is under way, so we headed to Storrs Hall Hotel in Windermere for a performance of The Pirates of Penzance…
Book Review: Twenty Theatres to See Before You Die
We’ve always included a lot of small and unusual theatre productions on Contrary Life, and so on hearing that someone had written a book about the weird and wonderful collection of theatres around Britain, we were eager for a read…
Looking for some quirky last minute Edinburgh Fringe Festival ideas?
Last week Contrary Life popped to see some Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows. We bring you our recommendations for comedy, puppetry, and circus…
Foam pie fight at festival is a record breaker
Contrary Life headed along to Another Fine Fest in Ulverston to watch a World Record Pie Fight and enjoy quirky street performances…
Taking aim at the All England Stone Skimming Championships
The All England Stone Skimming Championships took place in the picturesque location of Fell Foot Park, along the shore of Windermere Lake, in Cumbria…
Contrary Life takes a trip to Uncle Monty’s
Picnic Cinema were showing cult film, Withnail & I, at Sleddale Hall. In the mood for a quirky camping trip, Contrary Life went along to chill out in the Cumbrian countryside…
Sherlock and Florence Nightingale among the heroes at Wray Scarecrow Festival
The Wray Scarecrow Festival is a popular annual event and Contrary Life decided to make a visit to the quirky village festival…
Taking a walk to find Manchester’s Hidden Gems
Contrary Life decided to take a ‘Hidden Gems’ guided walk in Manchester as part of the Manchester Histories Festival…
Toot toot – next stop Indietracks!
Indietracks is a small indie-pop festival in Derbyshire that is a little bit different to your usual music festival experience…
Some woolly behaviour in the sheep town
The weather couldn’t have been better for this year’s Skipton Sheep Day. The Skipton Sheep Day is an annual celebration of the town’s namesake (Skipton means sheep town)…
Contrary Life goes behind enemy lines at the Royal Armouries Museum
The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds is open daily with free admission. Contrary Life crept behind enemy lines to find out more about WWII spies…
Contrary Life gets a bit rock ‘n’ roll for Bowie exhibition launch
The White Cloth Gallery in Leeds is running an exhibition of Bowie photographs taken from the Duffy archive covering a period of 10 years in Bowie’s career…
You think you know the Lakes, but do you know about the Lakeland’s industrial past?
Alongside the river in Kendal’s Abbot Hall is the compact yet perfectly formed Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry…
Capers and conversation in Cockermouth
Until recently not many people had heard of Cockermouth. Then the floods came. But there is more to this part of Cumbria than water damage. The Cumbria Contemporary weekender offered a chance to experience the cultural and historical side of the town…