To Cecil Sharp House in Primrose Hill, Grade II-listed home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, for their ‘exuberant folk arts festival celebrating spring’ – known as May in a Day.

Held in the large handsome main hall, the festival promised live music, craft workshops and traditional dance. We arrived late, damp from blustery showers, so missed the clog dancing demonstration, but were just in time for the Maypole dancing workshop. My eldest lost no time joining in, the youngest gave up after one circuit preferring to watch the pattern being woven round the pole.

My daughter and I headed downstairs to the studio rooms where the crafts were laid out. She tried crocheting for the first time, but much preferred weaving a headdress out of paper strips, serenaded by a lady drumming on the bodhrán.

We charged upstairs for the morris dancing; young enthusiastic performers – hoorah! – giving their all in reviving a fast-dying art. Their final number was a vigorous stick dance, including leapfrog and acting – at one point ‘beating’ their partner to the ground. Ceilidh dancing – we linked in a chain then promenaded right, left, twirled and clapped – was succeeded by a fabulous storyteller whose spirited tale of Nixt, Naught, Nothing captivated the children. The finale was a knitting song ‘In through the front door, once around the back’ sung over and over while we processed to and fro. We didn’t get to the singing workhop or learn how to play the spoons – next year… The kids (and my husband) loved it!

Images by Nadine Mellor