A literary outing

There are some fine anniversaries from fiction to enjoy in 2017…

To mark 75 years of The Famous

Five the RHS are holding ‘Five go on a Garden Adventure’ trails across four of its gardens during May and a picnic party on 11 August 2017 (Blyton’s 120th birthday). Jane Austen fans can mark the 200th anniversary of her death (18 July) with events this year across her home county of Hampshire, and in Bath and Kent, from Regency picnics to a sculpture trail of artist-designed BookBenches; janeausten200.co.uk. It’s 50 years since the death of Arthur Ransome, author of the

Swallows and Amazons series - mark the occasion by booking a sailing experience aboard the legendary yacht from Woolverstone Marina on the Shotley Peninsula, Suffolk. Other notable dates are the 150th anniversary of Arnold Bennett’s birth with events around his native Potteries, and a series of orchestral screenings of Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s

Stone (11–21 May) to mark 20 years since JK Rowling's first novel as well as an exhibition at the British Library (from 20 October). visitengland.com/literature.