★ MARS Badminton Horse Trials

01Why it matters

Badminton is the sport's benchmark, and its course design sets the standard other five-stars are measured against. In our reading its most unusual quality is scale relative to formality: a crowd the size of a Premier League weekend, in a private park, with no dress code.

02The week around it

The estate villages fill for the week and the market towns within half an hour take the rest. The shopping village of several hundred trade stands functions as a country fair in its own right.

03When to arrive

Saturday is the day: come for cross-country, arrive early, and plan to walk several miles across rough ground.

04Where to stay

There is nothing at Badminton beyond the estate: Tetbury and Malmesbury are the closest bases, around twenty minutes away, and camping on the estate is how a large share of the crowd stays.

05Access and hospitality

Admission is sold through the organizer's own box office, with day tickets and season badges; hospitality is sold in the Members' Enclosure, the Portcullis Club and the Lakeside Pavilions. Entry is genuinely open and the cross-country course is walked by everyone on the same terms.

06Where the social activity happens

The Lake, the Vicarage Vee and the other named fences, where the crowd stacks up several deep on the Saturday; the shopping village, the event's social spine; and the main arena stands on Sunday.

07Getting there

08Practicalities

09History

The 10th Duke of Beaufort created the event in 1949, opening his park so British riders would have somewhere to train after a poor showing at the 1948 Olympics. It has been held in the same place ever since and cancelled seven times for weather, disease and the pandemic.

10Who is there

The international eventing community — riders, owners, grooms and selectors from across Europe, Australasia and the United States; the British country-sports public in very large numbers; and the equestrian trade.