That year’s Downton Cuckoo Fair was the 33rd anniversary since the village reinstated its great family day out. It is friendly, fun and free to come to.
The fair is held on the village greens in the picturesque village of Downton, situated six miles south of Salisbury on the edge of the New Forest. Every year they receive about 25,000 visitors. There are over 250 craft and other interesting stalls on the greens and in marquees along The Borough.
There is lots of fun for the family, including rural craft demonstrations, Punch and Judy, clowns, inflatables and roundabouts in the Memorial Gardens, and a farmers’ produce market in the junior school grounds. Entertainment during the fair includes maypole dancing, Morris and traditional dancers, street entertainers, Downton Brass Band, and live music and jazz at The Bull and The White Horse.
Downton comes alive for the whole weekend, and there are a number of excellent associated events leading up to the Cuckoo Fair and over the rest of the May Day holiday.
Shipseys Marquees have been associated with the Downton Cuckoo Fair for a quarter of a century. That year the teams erected two huge marquees for the stallholders and other uses.