Canterbury Cricket Week Marquee, St Lawrence Ground

Canterbury Cricket Week is one of the oldest cricket festivals in the world, first staged at the St Lawrence Ground in 1842. Held each August, it turns Kent's county headquarters into a week-long celebration of the game, with the outfield ringed by traditional hospitality marquees, club tents and members' enclosures that give the ground a distinctive festival atmosphere unique to English cricket.

The marquees themselves are part of the tradition. County clubs, regimental associations, Old Boys' teams and local businesses take pitches around the boundary, decking them out with flowers, bunting and flags. Members and guests watch play from deckchairs and long tables, and the week has kept many of the social customs, from Sunday lunches to hat days, that have faded elsewhere in the county game.

On the field, Cricket Week traditionally features a County Championship match and a limited-overs fixture, often against one of Kent's long-standing rivals. Tickets are sold by the day, with the ground busiest for the middle weekend when the marquees are in full swing.