Get set for a summer of seaside fun
FROM a new, state-of-the-art waterpark to one of the biggest fringe festivals in the world, there are so many reasons to escape to the English coast this year. Here, KATIE
ROWE looks at some of the best.
LAUGH OUT LOUD IN BRIGHTON
Brighton’s flamboyant side comes out to play when the Brighton Fringe paints the city every colour of the rainbow. Cabaret, comedy, burlesque and street performance all make up an eclectic programme of events for the world’s third largest fringe festival from May 6 to June 5. This year sees the addition of Republic, a brand-new beachside venue featuring all-male burlesque troupe Briefs and comedian Debra Stephenson.
IMMERSE YOURSELF IN DORSET’S JURASSIC PAST
Travel through 150 million years of history at The Etches Collection, a multi-million-pound museum opening in Kimmeridge, on Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck, this summer. It will showcase a vast array of fossils, the life’s work of local collector Steve Etches. You will learn the fascinating stories of the prehistoric creatures that once existed along the Jurassic Coast, as CGI projections transform the exhibition space into a time-warp aquarium at the blink of an eye.
A FLUME WITH A VIEW IN SCARBOROUGH
Alpamare’s exciting new waterpark makes a splash in the seaside town of Scarborough this summer. Get set for an exhilarating day out as you shoot down lofty waterslides, spin around flumes and dive into crashing waves. Need to catch your breath? Spend some time in the family-friendly water playground, indulge yourself in the spa and feel re-energised while gazing out to sea in the iodine outdoor whirlpool overlooking North Bay.
SHELL OUT FOR A TASTY TREAT AT CRABFEST
Thanks to the area’s nutrient-enriched waters, South Devon is one of best places to gorge on seafood, and where better to celebrate the area’s crustacean credentials than Salcombe Crabfest? Join Mary Berry on May 1 in the charming harbour town as she opens the event and shares her favourite recipes. There’ll also be hands-on activities such as crab picking and crab pot making, live demos from local chefs and wine-tasting.
WALK ALONG ONE OF THE WORLD’S COOLEST PIERS
In mid-April, Hastings Pier will reopen after a £14.2 million redevelopment. It’s now being billed as one of the ‘coolest-looking piers in the world’, and will host circus shows, plays, film festivals and farmers’ markets. It will join a growing number of hip hangouts in East Sussex, including the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings and multi-art venue the De Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea.
MARKET MAGIC... AND TAKE A DIP INTO THE PAST
A cinema dating from 1911 is being carefully transformed into Margate’s Old Kent Market, a soon-to-be hotspot for local produce. Expect street food served from a Routemaster bus, artisan cheesemongers and pop-up weekends from April onwards. Elsewhere, on Margate’s Blue Flag beach, you’ll soon find the UK’s only traditional sea bathing machine, courtesy of local natural fragrance and skincare shop Haeckels. Sweat it out in the built-in sauna and use the ocean as your plunge pool – pulled into the waves by a vintage tractor – when this crowdfunded project, featured on Channel 4’s Amazing Spaces, opens in late July.