With the Olympics, Paralympics, and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, you’d be forgiven for thinking England’s had its fair share of fun for a while.
But it seems the English have a taste for the good times as 2013 is set to be another celebratory year. Here are five things to look forward to in England in the next 12 months.
Queens’ Coronation Festival
To mark the 60th anniversary of The Queen’s coronation – held the year after she ascended the throne in 1962 – Buckingham Palace gardens will be staging a four-day celebration from July 11-14.
Around 200 firms with royal warrants will showcase their finest produce in an exhibition highlighting the Queen’s favourite brands during the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The Friday and Saturday nights will see galas featuring an eclectic range of home-grown UK music and dance talent as well as performers from across the Commonwealth.
Thursday, the 11th, is invitation only. Tickets for the following three days are available for £30 (day) and £80 (night).
Rebirth of an English Icon – Mary Rose Museum opens
The Mary Rose was King Henry VIII’s flagship. In 1545, after serving with distinction for more than three decades, she sank to the bottom of the Solent whilst leading the attack on an invading French fleet.
In 1982 she was salvaged from the seabed, starting a 30-year-long, £56 million preservation project. The project culminates this year, when the museum designed specially to house the remainder of her hull and the artefacts (among them cannons, gold coins, shoes and flagons) raised with her finally opens to the public.
Mr Darcy Turns 200
2013 marks the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice. A brand new trail has been laid out in Hampshire, the author’s birthplace and childhood home.
It begins at Jane Austen’s House Museum, where visitors can see the original table where she painstakingly crafted her novels by quill. The trail continues to the old Rectory site in Steventon where Jane was born, down to Portsmouth for the dockyards which inspired Mansfield Park, onto the city walls of Southampton where Jane regularly walked and finally back to Winchester Cathedral, her final resting place. Did you see our blog about Jane Austen locations around England?
Centenary year of the world’s most famous flower show
May 2013 marks the centenary of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show. This showcase of horticultural excellence has become one of the most celebrated annual events in the world and a key event in the English social calendar.
The show features cutting edge designs reflecting the fashions of the time – from rock gardens in the 1980s to today’s sculptural gardens.
With gnomes making an appearance for one year only(!) and a Centenary Concert planned at Opera Holland Park, this year’s Chelsea Flower Show is set to be the biggest and best in its history.
Go walkabout, Yorkshire-style
2013 marks the 75th Anniversary of Wainwright’s Pennine Journey.
In 1938 the renowned writer set off on a now legendary 247-mile circular walk from Settle in north Yorkshire. It took him 11 days to complete the now well-trodden path. Keen walkers can follow in his footsteps along the very same track, which is split into 18 manageable daily stages.
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
(Featured image: John Swannell / Royal Household / Camera Press)
