Arty beach break, Norfolk
Summer and autumn
The idyllic traditional seaside town of Wells-next-the-Sea has a long beach, colourful huts, crab fishing in the harbour and, opening early September, Wells Maltings a cultural hub and gallery in a tall brick and flint building. One of its first shows, Connection: Open 2018, will feature artists connected to East Anglia. The Albatross, an 1899 sailing boat moored at the quay, is now a floating boozer, with food and B&B rooms. The Blue Skies campsite (pitch £14 plus £4 per adult) is a couple of fields from the coast path, and the Coasthopper bus stops outside.
Eco-friendly music and arts festival, near Bridgend
31 August-2 September
Festivals are often maligned as bad for the environment, but new non-profit event Between The Trees aims to counter that. As well as providing a good old knees-up soundtracked by contemporary folk acts such as Rob Lear, it strives to reconnect younger generations with the natural world through talks, debates and films. Tents and stages are dotted through the woods at Candleston Castle Campsite just a mile from the sea near Merthyr Mawr nature reserve and Bridgend.
• Adult £55, 5-17s £25, under 4s £1, betweenthetreesfestival.co.uk
Walking and arts, County Durham
Sculptures until 14 October, Kynren until 15 September
A surprise awaits walkers venturing into the forest near Low Force waterfall, in Upper Teesdale, part of the wonderful North Pennines AONB. Sculptor Rob Mulholland has created a temporary work, Natural Creation, a group of highly polished metal figures and shapes that act as mirrors reflecting the woodland scenery. Walk to the sculptures from Bowlees Visitor Centre, then carry on to High Force waterfall, with a 21-metre drop into a plunge pool. The circular trail is almost five miles. The Rose and Crown in Romaldkirk (doubles from £140 B&B) is close by, and handy for taking in Kynren – An Epic Tale of England (from £25/£12.50) the outdoor history show with a cast and crew of 1,000, at Auckland Castle.
Swim in England’s deepest lake, Cumbria
As long as the sun lasts
Swimming in Wastwater, England’s deepest lake at 79 metres, is an awe-inspiring experience, with Red Pike, Kirk Fell, Great Gable and Scafell Pike encircling its almost seven miles of shore. On its northern side, where the road runs up to Wasdale Head, several little beaches and flat rocks are the perfect place to jump into the surprisingly warm (this summer anyway) water. Finish with a local ale by the stream at the Wasdale Head Inn.
• Camping at the inn £5pp, double rooms from £118 B&B, apartments sleeping 2/3 from £270 for a long weekend, wasdale.com
Wander the shingle, Dungeness, Kent
Year-round
If you haven’t ticked off Dungeness yet, now is the time. The usually desolate shingle headland looks positively cheerful in the sun, its wildlife thriving. There are walks in the nature reserve and Romney Marshes, and Derek Jarman’s garden to visit. Host Unusual, has many a zany place to stay on its books, including the Fog Signal Building, a fittingly stark former foghorn testing station topped by a steel tower. Sleeping two, it has been reborn as a stylish open-plan living space, with glass doors on to the beach.
• From £375 for two nights, hostunusual.com
Eclectic music festival, Portmeirion, Gwynedd
6-9 September
The candy-coloured Italianate buildings of the fantasy village of Portmeirion and its surrounding woodlands again form the surreal site for Festival Number 6 – though it’s taking a break after this year. The The, the Charlatans, Friendly Fires, Andrew Weatherall, Django Django, Anna Calvi, and the Lovely Eggs play this year, while the kids’ area boasts the Daft Funk Kids Rave, plus Welsh Mountain Zoo Animal Encounters, family yoga and campfire karaoke. The Guardian and Bangor University host a No 6 Academy of classes on topics such as creative writing and building an Instagram following. Dull moments will be in short supply.
• Weekend from £180pp, festivalnumber6.com
Literary festival, Wigtown, Dumfries & Galloway
21-30 September
This year marks the 20th anniversary ofWigtown, in Scotland’s south-west, close to Cumbria and the Lake District, becoming Scotland’sNational Book Town, thanks largely to its annual festival. This year’s event features intimate readings, talks and discussions with authors such as Lucy Mangan, Damian Le Bas, Imogen Hermes Gowar and poet Hugh McMillan, and land artist Andy Goldsworthy. There’s a Book Town Tour of the streets, plus live music from Louis de Bernières and the Bookshop Band – he plays the mandolin!
• Tickets free-£9, wigtownbook-festival.com, site has links to accommodation listings
Guided river swims, East Sussex
8, 9, 22 & 23 September
Of course you can swim by yourself, but those who prefer the safety and sociability of a group, especially when attempting a long swim, could hook up with SwimQuest. Its guided river swims include a 6km one in East Sussex, starting in Alfriston and following the River Cuckmere under chalk hills and arriving at the Cuckmere Inn near Seaford for lunch. Or join its 6½km River Arun swim from Arundel to Bury. Groups are no bigger than 25, and accompanied by guides in kayaks.
• From £70pp including breakfast, swimquest.uk.com. See alfriston-village.co.uk for B&B and cottage listings
White sand beaches, North Uist, Outer Hebrides
September
With the sea warmed by the long summer and the midges dying down, September is a magical time to visit the Outer Hebrides. North Uist, one of the most unspoilt, has miles of powdery white beaches, such as Clachan Sands, Hosta and Traigh Udal. There’s also a terrific new place to stay (pictured): Uist Forest Retreat (from £120 a night sleeping two, hostunusual.com), in the Claddach Valley, has two custom-built cabins with dramatic curved floor-to-ceiling windows and bath-tubs with more stellar views.
Ethical festival, Looe, Cornwall
21-23 September
With a forward-thinking, ethically responsible ethos and a distinct lack of mud, the Looe Music Festival, in the Cornish fishing town, flies against the norm. It’s committed to a 50:50 gender balance in its lineup by 2022 (this year’s is 44% female), and aims to boost the local economy at a time of year when tourist numbers typically fall. Some 90 acts over the weekend include the Stranglers, the Waterboys and songstress PP Arnold, plus many with Celtic and Cornish origins. Festivalgoers stay in nearby B&Bs.
• Adult £99, 16/17 years £44, under-16 £29, looemusic.co.uk
Watermill walk, with tea, Ilfracombe, Devon
Daily in August, weekends in September
It’s the local accolades that count the most, and as four-times winner of Best Tea Room in Devon in the Devon Life awards, Hele Corn Mill can be relied on to turn out a decent scone. The organic wheat in its delectable cakes is ground opposite the cafe by the baker’s husband at the only working watermill in North Devon (dating from 1525). The couple own two cottages, sleeping four each, from £95 for a weekend. Follow the South West Coast Path for three miles east from Ilfracombe to reach it, then continue east to the beach at Combe Martin.
• helecornmill.com
Wild sleep-out, West Sussex
September and October
The Knepp rewilding project is one of the largest of its kind in lowland Europe, where wild ponies, cattle, deer and pigs roam free on 3,500 acres, and has a campsite that feels properly wild (though Horsham isn’t far away). The project’s safaris book up fast, but there’s space on itsrewilding workshop on 18 and 28 September and 3 and 23 October. Camping pitches have firepits and barbecue grills, perfect for cooking longhorn and venison sausages from the on-site shop. Too posh to pitch? Opt for a shepherd’s hut, bell tent, yurt or treehouse.
• kneppsafaris.co.uk, £17pppn
Family foraging, Abergavenny
1-2 September, 6-7 October
Finding free food in our rural landscapes is the basis of a weekend in Abergavenny, when a foraging session led by local expert Adele Nozedar is included in a package at the Angel Inn. A food writer and founder of Brecon Beacons Foraging, she knows all about sources of fruit, nuts and fungi. The forming coaching inn is decorated, appropriately, in dark plum and moss tones, with bedrooms in smart neutrals.
• £239 for two including breakfast and one night’s dinner. Extra child £26 a night in certain rooms, angelabergavenny.com
Camp in a cherry orchard, Kent
Until the end of September
With pitches in the gaps between rows of cherry trees and Botany Bay’s lovely sweep of sand a 30-minute drive away, Hatchers Farm near the village of Preston, east of Canterbury, is an idyllic spot. Tall hedges of alder and hawthorn shield the campsite’s lawns, there’s a jolly local, the Half Moon and Seven Stars, over the road, a nice river swimming spot at Grove Ferry picnic site, and hiking on the Stour Valley Walk or Saxon Shore Way.
• Adults £10, 3-14 years £6, hatchers-farm.business.site
Canoeing, River Thames
While autumn lasts
Drifting along bucolic stretches of the Thames by kayak offers a link with an England of yesterday, with Wind in the Willows scenery, and grassy banks for picnics and pints at historic pubs. Henley Canoe Hire arranges rental and trips. Its two-day Henley to Windsor break covers 24 miles; Cholsey to Henley is 23 miles. Both cost £165 (including a night in a bell tent on the Henley to Windsor stretch). Or kayak the length of the Thames from Lechlade, through seven counties to Gallion Point marina just beyond the Thames barrier, from £350 for two for a week’s kayak rental, including delivery and collection.
Hiking heaven, Cumbria
Any time
The Howgill Fells offer easy-to-tackle walking with gentler peaks than the neighbouring Lake District. One of the shortest is a two-miler to impressive Cautley Spout waterfall from Sedbergh, a little town with lots of great of bookshops and pubs. Due to open there in early September, the Black Bull (doubles from £125 B&B) occupies a 17th-century coaching inn.
• Cautley Spout walks at walkingbritain.co.uk
Celebrate the ash, Kent
Until 20 October
The Ash Project is a celebration of the UK’s 150 million ash trees, which are under threat from ash dieback. Events around Kent include an outdoor screening in Folkestone of The Ash Tree – the 1975 BBC adaptation of an MR James ghost story – with live music; and a touring exhibition of the Ash Archive, a collection of ash-inspired artworks and objects made from ash wood. Workshops include “tree listening”: using microphones to listen to the roots pulling up water and other inner workings of the tree. Then there are organised walks, such as a stroll around the ash trees in Oxney Bottom wood, between Deal and Dover.
• theashproject.org.uk
Hot art, Hastings
Until 9 September
Artist Henry Krokatsis’s work, SaunaKabin, draws on the architecture of structures such as bandstands to create a beautiful working sauna made from burnt wood, carved by hand. It’s in the courtyard of the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings for a couple more weeks. Book free tickets to use it then, to cool down, take a dip in the sea. Mark Wallinger, winner of the 2007 Turner Prize, has a show there, too, until 7 October, using kite lines and mirrors for a piece inspired by the gallery’s seaside setting. St Benedict – a Victorian B&B (doubles from £105 B&B, victorian-bed-and-breakfast.com) goes for its theme full-throttle, with OTT interiors.
Peak attractions, Derbyshire
Until 21 October
A host of interesting exhibitions around the Peak District draw to a close soon, so catch them while you can. At the Chesterfield Museum and Art Gallery (to 29 September) Val Hunt’s acclaimed Reincarnated Rubbish has works made from litter, while Chatsworth Renewed: The House Past, Present and Future (to 21 October, adult £21, child £12.50) celebrates the grand estate’s restoration. Sunday 26 sees the Peak District Highland Games in Matlock Farm Park (strong men pulling tractors and other such feats) and the end of August is also the last chance to see traditional well-dressing in 80 Derbyshire villages. Newly revamped boutique inn the Cow at Dalbury has a two-night B&B deal for £245 this Sunday and Monday night, £135 a night other times.
Creative break, Somerset
Mid to late September
Somerset is lovely to visit any time, but from 15-30 September it’s Somerset Open Studios , with 300 artists opening their doors across the county. There’s no shortage of gorgeous holiday cottages to make a weekend of it. Helpful Holidays has availability at Castle View in Dunster village (two nights from £325, sleeps five). Near Illminster, Westport Farm Cottages (from £515 a week for two, discount for short-notice bookings) has three cottages sleeping two or four.
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