Dear Reader,

Summer stretches ahead, long and promising. Not much planned? We bring you some outside-the-box inspiration from our Great British Brands to help fill those days and evenings when you are not lying on a sun lounger….

SUMMER COURSES AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY
Aside from the highly anticipated Jean-François Millet exhibition, opening 7 August, The National Gallery runs a host of courses to get the creative juices flowing. Try your hand at Watercolour Summer Painting School (11-12 July), Modelling The Figure (15-16 July), which includes life drawing classes and working in clay, or the Van Gogh Summer Drawing and Painting School (27-29 August). Online courses in history of art and focus sessions on individual artists (Seurat, Klimt) also run throughout the summer.

FREE WEST END THEATRE TICKETS FOR CHILDREN
The Society of London Theatre (or SOLT) is running its Kids Week again this year. Throughout August, a child aged 17 or under can go to any participating West End show for free – as long as tickets are available and they are accompanied by an adult paying full price. Adults can also buy up to two more children’s tickets at half price and there are no booking fees.

When West End theatre can feel cripplingly expensive, this initiative – which was started in 1998 – is a way to encourage families to go to see London’s best shows over the summer holidays.

GARDENING DAYS AT DAYLESFORD
Daylesford hosts monthly Gardening Days at its farm in the bucolic Cotswolds, which include workshops and demonstrations from experts, a tour of Carole Bamford’s walled and cutting gardens, and a three-course seasonal lunch. Consider Sweet Pea Day (29 July), Dahlia Day (26 August) and Rose Hip Day (30 September).

There is also the monthly Daylesford Book Club, held in The Glasshouse at the farm, with books chosen in partnership with the Borzoi Bookshop in Stow-On-The-Wold (the next one is 30 July, and the book is the Women’s Prize for Fiction winner The Safe Keep by Yoel van der Worden) and the Notting Hill Pizza and DJ night (17 July, Daylesford in Notting Hill).

GO RACING AT ASCOT
The royal meeting may be behind us, but the King George Weekend (25-26 July) arguably offers better racing and without the need for sweaty top hats. The big race is the Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes, the summer’s middle-distance showpiece that attracts the very best horses and trainers from across Europe. More relaxed than Royal Ascot, there is still no shortage of Champagne and Pimms bars spanning the length of the world-famous course.

TRANSFORM …OR EVEN JUST TWEAK….YOUR GARDEN
….if you just want to stay home, let Marian Boswall – queen of regenerative garden design from sprawling country estates to community allotment projects – inspire you. She has plentiful ideas, from the best outside lighting to how to improve your soil so your plants, veg and herbs can thrive.

Her book The Kindest Garden is a practical how-to of regenerative gardening best practice, and Marian is in conversation with artist and writer Anna Chapman Parker at Chelsea Physic Garden on 26 July.

See you next month, and in the meantime, enjoy the sunshine!

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