Curious Arts Festival (Benedict James Ltd)

Curious is a festival like no other. Taking place each July in the breathtaking grounds of Pylewell Park, it is dreamy, eccentric, fun and ultimately, irresistible.

It’s very English on the one hand – expect fabulous novelists, exceptional historians, poet laureates, dogs on leads, gin and tonics, and sitting on a deckchair with a view of the Solent although you are just as likely to find yourself on a secret midnight bat-walk, betting your life-savings on the snail-racing, reciting a sonnet on top of an elegantly restored old routemaster or listening to some of the UK’s most exciting musicians.

Curious is an experience not just a few tents in a field and is lovingly curated by a small team headed up by Clare Conville, Patrick Keogh and Rory Steel.