Take Five

The Joys Of Summer by Judith Schrut

Joyful British summertime! featuring Ava, Jonah & Max, photo by Sarah Stanton Plotkin

Country fairs and village fêtes, scones and clotted cream in a quaint tearoom, fish and chips on a pebble beach, Wimbledon, cricket, pond dipping, birdwatching, be it in cottages, tents or under umbrellas, come rain or shine, nothing compares to summertime Britain.

You’ll find the upcoming season packed with summer joys: shows, concerts, festivals, sports and other summerlicious treats. Let us help you make the most of these glorious long days and late, light nights, with our Take Five summer preview.

1. Awesome Anniversaries

Make a date with history this summer as Britain toasts a truck load of birthdays and anniversaries, such as illustrious Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.

The world witnessed its first Quidditch match 25 summers ago, when the first Harry Potter book was published. This year also marks the 100th birthday of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and the 150th of George Eliot’s Middlemarch. The British Broadcasting Corporation - our beloved BBC - turns 100, as does that most British of condiments, Branston Pickle. This year is memorable too for fans of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose 150th birthday will be fêted with many performances of his works including rarely heard tuba and oboe concertos.

Whether you’re new to the UK or have been around since the Queen’s Coronation, visiting historic houses, castles and stately homes is an unmissable and uniquely British experience. From perfectly restored fairytale fortresses to crumbling medieval wrecks where much is left to the imagination, these are attractions you definitely can’t get Stateside.

Waddesdon Manor, one of my favourite’s, is a stunning French-style château, splendidly set in Buckinghamshire countryside and just an hour’s train or car ride from London. Waddesdon has a distinguished history, most notably as home to banker, politician, philanthropist and art collector, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild. This summer Waddesdon presents “Alice’s Wonderlands”, a salute to the Baron’s little sister Alice on the centenary of her death.

The Baron’s young wife and only child died in childbirth, so at his death he bequeathed Waddesdon to Alice. Alice (18471922) was a strong, smart, independent and free-spirited woman, a passionate art collector and gardener, who soon gave Waddesdon a memorable stamp of her own. Alice’s fascinating story has long been overshadowed by her brother’s, until now. Charming, enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff are on hand to guide you around Alice’s extraordinary life, collections and legacy.

Leave plenty time during your Waddesdon visit to explore its wondrous grounds, gardens and Rococo aviary teeming with exotic birds; to sample its vast wine cellar including top notch Rothschild wines; and to savour a sumptuous Afternoon Tea or traditional Sunday lunch in its awardwinning Manor Restaurant. Throughout the year, Waddesdon hosts music, theatre, open air movies and other events, indulgent food and wine tastings, seasonal fairs and the UK’s annual Chili Fest.

But it’s only natural that the year’s biggest celebrations are reserved for our devoted, long serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.

Across the UK and throughout 2022, we’re honouring Her Majesty’s 70th year on the throne, the first time in history that any British

Happy 70th to You Ma’am! HM Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Platinum Jubilee, credit Jacob King, PA Wire, PA Images

monarch has celebrated a Platinum Jubilee. So, join the nation as it shouts “Long Live the Queen!” and Her Majesty generously shares her love of horses, corgis, marmalade sandwiches and pageantry with her subjects for one heckuva party.

Royal revels continue above and beyond June’s big Jubilee Weekend. The 16th Queen’s Baton Relay, carried by thousands of selected baton bearers, each with an inspiring background story, completes its thrilling journey across 72 Commonwealth countries with a whirlwind sprint through 180 UK cities, towns and villages. The journey ends on 28 July in Birmingham for the start of the XXII (22nd) Commonwealth Games.

The Queen’s Green Canopy project also continues. This timely planting scheme invites people from across the UK to “Plant a tree for the Jubilee” and will dedicate and preserve 70 Ancient Woodlands and 70 Ancient Trees to mark Her Majesty’s 70 years of service.

Grab a ticket for Buckingham Palace’s annual summer opening and see great treasures from the Royal Collection and visit the lavish State Rooms – where the Queen and Royal Family entertain guests on state and ceremonial occasions. A dazzling display celebrates the Queen’s Accession of February 1952, including the Queen Mary’s ‘Girls of Great Britain and Ireland’ tiara. Queen Mary gave the tiara to her granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth, as a wedding present in 1947. Companion exhibitions take place at Windsor Castle and Edinburgh’s Palace of Holyroodhouse.

St Paul’s Cathedral’s exhibition, “The Monarch and the Changing World”, apprises the Jubilees of four British monarchs, George III, Victoria, George V and Elizabeth II, while Sotheby’s exhibits rare royal manuscripts, jewellery and portraits. The Royal Mint Experience explores the Queen’s reign through coins. Historic Royal Palaces proudly shows off “Superbloom”, a spectacular summer garden in the moat of the Tower of London, sown from more than 20 million seeds.

Last but not least, Heinz have produced limited editions of two of the nation’s favourite condiments, HP Sauce and Salad Cream, rebranded as “HM Sauce” and “Heinz Salad Queen”. Not to be (pardon the pun) outgunned, Virgin Records has re-released the Sex Pistols’ notorious 1977 single “God Save the Queen”.

Further information: Alice’s Wonderlands, Waddesdon Manor, to 30 October 2022, waddesdon.org.uk The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022, platinumjubilee.gov.uk The State Rooms and Garden at Buckingham Palace, 22 July-2 October 2022, www.rct.uk The Queen’s Green Canopy Project, queensgreencanopy.org

2. All That Jazz

We think summer and jazz are natural partners. This season you’ll find jazz galore on village greens, riverside barges, pub gardens and other chilled out venues across the UK, from long-established stardraw fests like Glasgow Jazz Festival and Edinburgh Jazz and Blues, to intimate indie gigs in London cafés and small clubs from Mood Indigo Events, to Europe’s biggest outdoor jazz festival, Love Supreme.

Making an exhilarating return after two years’ pandemic postponements, Love Supreme is set for its 8th and most fabulous festival yet, at its gorgeous country house space near Brighton. Whether you’re a seasoned jazz vet or a jazz’n blues newbie, you’re sure to love this relaxed, weekend extravaganza. We look forward to three days of fresh air, green fields and Sussex Downs

Jazz-Americans Gregory Porter and Eryka Badu, Headlining Love Supreme Jazz Festival 2022, photo courtesy Baxter PR

backdrop along with the very best of jazz, soul, R&B and beyond. American talent is generously represented by jazz superstar, gentle giant and previous American in Britain interviewee, Gregory Porter, the electrifying Erykah Badu in her only UK show of the year, triple gold sax royalty, Charles Lloyd, Gary Bartz and Rudresh Mahanthappa, and solid silver Soul from Sister “We are Family” Sledge.

Expect soulful sets too from EthioJazzfather Mulatu Astatke and rising Blue Note saxophonist Melissa Aldana, plus an exclusive double act from two leading lights of the UK jazz scene, Nubya Garcia and Sons of Kemet.

Love Supreme’s other offerings include a wellness and yoga area, secret swimming and guided hill walks across the stunning Sussex Downs. Wake up your day with a bout of Reggae Aerobics, witness top hoofers at Tap Jam and rev your rhythm with a Swing Dance lesson. Eat your heart out at Darby Kitchen’s long table restaurant or chill in the Jazz Lounge, with its artist interviews, talks, and film screenings. If you’re not exhausted after all that, why not boogie the night away in the secret woodland setting of the Blue in Green Bar?

As part of its In the Black Fantastic season, London’s Southbank Centre mounts an evening of Jazz Legends, “an exciting collaboration that celebrates true titans of black sonic experimentation and imagination”. Appearing will be American sound icons Sun Ra Arkestra, jazz drummer and arranger Norman Connors and the Starship Orchestra, R&B legend Jean Carne and many more.

Further information: Love Supreme Jazz, 1-3 July 2022, lovesupremefestival.com In the Black Fantastic, 29 June-18 Sept 2022, www.southbankcentre.co.uk Mood Indigo Mondays, Jazz on the Plaza & Riverside Arts Jazz, moodindigoevents.co.uk Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, 15-24 July 2022, edinburghjazzfestival.com

3. Groovy Gardens

Summer’s a ravishing time for garden lovers. If you’re a member of that club, you’re in luck: Britain is blessed with an infinite variety of gardens open to view, at stately homes and medieval castles, urban parks and neighbourhood allotments, all keen to show off their rainbow wares.

Amongst my many favourites are the subtropical paradise of Glendurgan Gardens, Cornwall, Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire, with its matchless collection of trees and breathtaking treetop walkway, and Studley Royal Water Gardens, Yorkshire, reverberant with comforting, cascading water sounds. For gardens dripping with roses of every variety, hue and scent, visit Nymans Rose Garden, Sussex or Mottisfont, Hampshire. You’ll find magical sunflower and wildflower meadows at Rhosili Bay and the loveliest lavender fields at Cotswolds’ Hill Barn Farm.

Bloomsbury fans should make their way to Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex and Sissinghurst Castle Gardens in Kent.

At various times a Saxon pig farm, Elizabeth mansion, prison and Victorian poorhouse, Sissinghurst was transformed by Vita Sackville-West in the 1930s to its current magnificence, attracting garden lovers from all over the world.

Charleston is the former home of 20th century artists, lovers and creative partners Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. It’s a unique and unforgettable chance to get up close and personal with Bell, Grant and the wider Bloomsbury circle (which includes Bell’s sister, Virginia Woolf), as you tour Charleston’s fabulously decorated interiors and astonishing gardens, created by the artists as a living painting, voluptuously filled with plants, sculpture, mosaics, tile-edged pools and touches of Bloomsbury humour.

In summer the gardens are in full glory, especially in mid-July when Charleston hosts its annual Festival of the Garden, celebrating the natural world through walks, talks, demos and more.

Charleston is also the setting for three exhibitions by artists Langlands & Bell. Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell have been in a vibrant creative partnership for over 40

Rhosili, Wales, photo National Trust images Isn’t that Vanessa Bell in the Straw Hat? Charleston, photo credit Lewis Ronald, Charleston Trust

years, working on imaginative ventures in a range of media. Their lifelong fascination with how buildings, design and the space interact with our lives is apparent in their Charleston shows. Ideas of Utopia explores the intriguing concept of utopias - idealistic communities - real and imagined, from 18th century Yorkshire cloth halls to the Headquarters of Facebook and other tech giants. In Absent Artists, L&B have curated a thought-provoking display, through photographs, prints and other media, of artists’ studios - minus the artists themselves. It’s as if Hockney, Hogarth, Picasso or Bonnard have stepped out of their studios, to return shortly, leaving us to take a private look. The third show, Near Heaven, is an installation in Vanessa Bell’s attic studio, allowing us an intimate peek into a part of Charleston House rarely open to visitors.

Further information: Charleston Farmhouse: Langlands & Bell to 29 August 2022; Festival of the Garden, 14-17 July 2022, charleston.org.uk Sissinghurst Castle, Glendurgan Gardens, Mottisfont, Studley Royal Water Gardens, the Vile, Rhossili, Nyman’s Rose Garden (all with free entry for National Trust members), nationaltrust.org.uk

4. The Wonderful World Of Womad

Roll up for the 40th anniversary edition of WOMAD! The greatest international music festival on the planet makes a jubilant comeback, after two silent summers, on the last weekend in July, bringing together dozens of performance artists and thousands of world music fans to its beautiful open air site in the heart of rural Wiltshire.

This year’s gargantuan global line-up includes Gilberto Gil, Godfather of Brazilian music and his family of musicians, multi award-winning musical polymath Nitin Sawney, swinging juke-joint jivers King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys, and the WOMAD debut of Ukrainian folk band Folkney. There’ll be powerful homegrown beats from Johnny Kalsi and the Dhol Foundation, Afrorock royalty Osibisa, and Joji Hirota’s thrilling London Taiku Drummers, and a rainbow of strong woman sounds from West Africa’s Les Amazones Afrique, top Gambian kora artist Sona Jobarteh and Europe’s only all-female mariachi band, Mariachi Las Adelitas.

But WOMAD is much more than a chance to surround yourself with a wall-to-wall feast of sound from the four corners of the globe. It’s also the place for dancing and drumming the night away, communal singing in a Bedouin tent, soaking up wordly wonders at the World of Words and Hip Yak Poetry Shack and savouring music-inspired cooking at Taste the World.

WOMAD is famously family friendly, free for Under 13s and packed from dawn to dusk with joy-filled workshops and activities at its dedicated World of Children.

Although WOMAD’s a big place, you’re never far from its glorious Global Market, where you can eat and drink your way around the world as well as browse the tempting range of crafts, clothing, musical paraphernalia and worthy causes on display.

Wonderful WOMAD, the Sunday Children’s Parade, photo credit Trevor Eales, courtesy Borkowski Arts & Ents

And when you’re in need of a break from the hullabaloo, relax in style at the Womad Spa, or slip into the World of Wellbeing, a cool, calming oasis among the trees of the Arboretum where you can sample body and spirit delights such as laughter yoga, didgeridoo healing, gong baths, sound meditation and some outstanding tea and cakes.

Further information: WOMAD, 28-31 July 2022, womad.co.uk

5. Family-Flavoured Fun

Families with school-agers will want to make the most of Britain’s shorter-than-US summer vacation time, and I’ve got some great ideas on how to do just that.

UK’s family fun is distinctly natureflavoured this summer, with everything from forest bathing and star-gazing to bat walks and moth mornings.

The folks at UK’s Wildlife Trusts are passionate about getting us all outdoors. They offer hundreds of wild family events around the country, such as Nature Tots, Little Bugs and Wild Babies sessions, forest schools, rockpooling, minibeast workshops and more.

Little ones will especially love the Superworm Trail at Westonbirt Arboretum and close encounters with pigs, goats, donkeys and llamas at Mudchute Farm, East London, while older kids may prefer an amble with alpacas at Abbots View Alpacas in Buckinghamshire, a beekeeping experience at the Bee Centre or an adventurous shepherding walk at Borough Farm, Devon. There’s breathtaking falconry displays for all at Leeds Castle.

Fancy hanging out with bats? Dozens of enthusiastic local bat groups put on amazing hands-on events dedicated to these fascinating creatures, including bat paddles on the River Avon, bat walks in Highgate Woods and bat-detecting boat trips in Kent.

For a wonderful way to introduce your youngsters to classical and other great music, choose from several family focussed BBC Proms this summer. There’s an Earth Prom presented by naturalist and natural treasure, Chris Packham, and a magical, ocean-going adventure with CBeebies’ Journey into the Ocean Prom, plus free family workshops and Prom Extras, where you’re encouraged to bring instruments and voices and join in, whatever your age or ability.

Summer Screens brings favourite family friendly movies to choice outdoor venues around the UK including Bristol Zoo, Coventry Cathedral Ruins and University Museums, Oxford.

Speaking of museums, if you’re on the lookout for something completely different this summer, why not treat your brood to a museum sleepover? There’s DinoSnores at London’s Natural History Museum, AstroNight at the Science Museum, Archaeology Adventures at the British Museum or Kip in a Ship on the Imperial War Museum’s HMS Belfast. If you prefer daylight frolics, how about Snorkel Safari, Ocean Todds or Aquarium Boat Trips at Plymouth’s National Marine Aquarium or Children’s Stories: Family Walking Tours from the Bodleian Library in Oxford?

Young visitors to Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum can enjoy a circus-themed Family Art Week, Science Detectives Day, dedicated children’s tours and storytelling sessions as well as kids-only Nature Yoga in Cambridge University Botanic Garden.

For the best in ‘udderly’ fabulous, family friendly theatre, circus, cabaret, music and comedy, follow the herd to the huge Purple Upside Down Cow and the return of the Underbelly Festival. Taking place at multiple venues in London and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Underbelly proudly presents affordable live entertainment for all ages, along with buzzing bars and mouth-watering street food. This year’s highlights include Circus Abyssinia, Amazing Bubble Man, Comedy Club 4 Kids, and the Gruffalo, the Giant and the Mermaid featuring author Julia Donaldson. You’ll also find side-splitting musical comedy from Fat Rascal Theatre’s Unfortunate: the Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch, and magnificent monsters and terrifying beasts in Dragons and Mythical Beasts.

Further information: The BBC Proms, 15 July-10 September 2022, bbc.co.uk/proms Summer Screens, 22 June-17 September 2022, summerscreens.co.uk The Wildlife Trust, wildlifetrusts.org Underbelly Festival, London/Edinburgh, underbellyfestival.com, underbellyedinburgh.co.uk

Take Five is our quarterly feature bringing the best of British to Americans in Britain. Have you been to any of our featured places or events? If so, I’d love your feedback. Get in touch with me at judith0777@gmail.com.