Make the most of magical May
MAY is a magical month, and there are a host of events to help you enjoy it to the full. Here KATIE ROWE explores just some of them.
LANCASHIRE’S WARTIME WEEKEND
PULL on your glad rags and be transported back to wartime Britain over the late May bank holiday weekend. East Lancashire Railway’s awardwinning 1940s Weekend is a highlight in many a vintage enthusiast’s calendar, and this year’s event is expected to be the best yet with more activities than ever. Spot Captain Mainwaring lookalikes in the battle re-enactments, do your best lindy hop to the sounds of 1940s-style bands, ogle vintage cars and indulge in a cream tea on a steam train.
WANDER ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT
THERE’S no better way to discover the Isle of Wight’s many beauty spots than walking – and the island’s Walking Festival offers the ideal chance to pull on your boots and go exploring. The event is spread across two weeks from May 2 to 17 and there are over 200 walks to choose from, including a hike through the walled garden, pleasure grounds and terraces of Osborne House. Alternatively, you could join the Taste of Wight Walk to visit top gourmet spots while soaking up serene coastal views – or how about an exotic alpaca trek?
SEE THE ECCENTRIC COTSWOLDS
FOR English eccentricity at its very finest, head to the Cotswolds Olimpicks. Started by a local barrister, Captain Robert Dover, the world’s inaugural ‘Olimpick Games’ were staged on a Cotswold hillside in 1612. Today, the annual event near Chipping Campden – this year held on May 29 – attracts thousands of spectators as ‘athletes’ take part in obstacle courses and tugs-of-war, as well as the extremely peculiar sport of shin-kicking.
FRINGE BENEFITS IN BRIGHTON
NO ONE does flamboyance quite like Brighton, and you’ll see this unique city at its very best every May when the Brighton Fringe and Brighton Festival paint the place every colour of the rainbow. Cabaret, comedy, club nights, burlesque, street performance and theatre combine to make up an eclectic programme of events for the world’s third-largest fringe festival. And if that wasn’t enough, the Brighton Festival – the largest multi-arts festival in England – runs alongside from May 2 to 24. Highlights include appearances from ventriloquist Nina Conti and award-winning author Margaret Atwood.
A MASTERFUL DISPLAY IN NORWICH
WITH a plethora of highprofile exhibitions and festivals taking place in Norwich throughout spring and summer, the East Anglian city is proving to be England’s latest cultural heavyweight. You can see priceless Van Goghs, Cezannes and Picassos sitting side by side at The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art until July 26. Francis Bacon And The Masters is the biggest exhibition of its kind to take place in Norwich, showcasing 100 works, many of which are on loan from the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and have never exhibited in Europe before. Visit between May 8 and 24 and you’ll be able to enjoy everything from theatre in a country house to classical music in Norwich Cathedral as part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival.