It doesn’t get cheddar than this on a bank holiday weekend – uphill cheese racing on the steep Hovis street.

Dozens of men, women and children lugged 55lb truckles up the cobbles of Gold Hill – made famous by Ridley Scott’s 1973 bread commercial – for the annual Cheese Run Sunday afternoon.

The weather wasn’t anything to smile about but crowds still packed themselves in either side of the 236ft course to watch the races and relays.

Local cheesemonger Charlie Turnbull came up with the idea as the centrepiece of the Shaftesbury Food and Drink Festival in Dorset, which this year marks its 20th anniversary.

Each of the 14-inch wide cheeses is locally made with 500 pints of milk.

But it wasn’t the only cheese-themed celebration to enjoy yesterday.

In Randwick, near Stroud, Glos, three Double Gloucesters were honoured and blessed during an ancient festival at the village church’s spring service. Then they were “mystically” rolled “widdershins” – or anti-clockwise – around the churchyard.

Again, locals had to brave the rain as they bore witness to British eccentricity.

However, the May Day bank holiday weather was kinder elsewhere, with a rare bit of blue sky.

Clouds and showers darkened the far North, and there was drizzle across the South, but parts of central England, including Wallingford, Oxon, enjoyed spring sunshine.

Met Office forecaster Kathryn Chalk said a “sliver” of the country stayed dry and bright all day, with temperatures reaching a high of 19C.

Today the picture is generally cloudy and damp, too, with outbreaks of heavy rain in the South and showers in the Midlands and Wales. But where the sun does break through it will reach up to 19C again, which is above average for the time of year.

From tomorrow it will be drier and more settled across the country, with temperatures rising slightly.