You will not see a tired and over-rehearsed routine of Good Knight versus Black Knight. Destrier perform a genuinely competitive Knight’s Challenge Tournament, with real armour, real lances, and real horses. Over half a ton of horse and rider at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour trying to shatter a wooden lance on the shield or armour of a similar Knight riding towards them at a similar weight and speed, an un choreographed performance with no preconceived outcome. It is spectacular, it is as real as modern safety rules will allow, but it can result in injury, and we may be unable to allow the Jousting to take place if the weather would make it unsafe, for example.

Chose your champion and come and cheer them on!

Falconry
They will be displaying and flying a variety of birds of prey, including Owls, Hawks, Falcons, and Eagles, and you can meet the birds throughout the day in their Marquee.

Market
Each of the festivals will feature a sizeable Medieval market, with Historic Traders and Specialist Craftsmen and Craftswomen from across the UK and Europe in authentic tents selling a surprising range of goods to tempt re-enactor and visitor alike. A full list of traders attending will be published on this site nearer the time, but you can expect to find everything from Tents, Furniture, Incense, Soap, Dried Meat and Fruit products, Swords and other Weapons, Bows and Arrows, Costume, Cloth, Shoes, Boots, Belts Bags, Leather, Wool, Braid, Looms, Spinning Wheels, Jewellery, Books, Recipes, Candles, Buckles, Woodcuts, Boxes, Shields, Spices, Toys, Baskets, Tankards, Pottery, Pilgrim Badges, Hats and Cloaks to Plate Armour and Chain Maille.

The Battle
The Medieval Period covers over 400 years, from 1066 through to 1485, when the bloody internecine strife of the War of the Roses between rival factions of the Plantagenet family ended at Bosworth with the death of Richard III and the accession of Henry Tudor to the throne of England and Wales. Each of the festivals will feature the recreation of a battle local to the festival by a professional team of re-enactors who are highly trained and skilled.

Dates:
June 3rd & 4th
The Loseley Medieval Festival, Loseley Park nr, Guildford, Surrey

June 24th & 25th
The Bedfordshire Medieval Fayre, Twinwood Airfield, Clapham, Bedford

July 15th & 16th
The East Anglian Medieval Fayre, Rougham Airfield, Bury St Edmunds Suffolk

August 5th & 6th
The Sussex Medieval Festival, Balcombe, nr. Crawley, West Sussex

September 2nd & 3rd
The Christchurch Medieval Festival, Town Quays, Christchurch, Dorset