The month of June brings thoughts of quintessential summertime relaxation: tennis and croquet, strawberries and pimms, cricket on the green and bells pealing from a nearby church. Discover the delights of Kent, Surrey and East & West Sussex in the company of one of our talented Blue Badge Guides.
We’ve just seen a key world championship in Hastings – the World Crazy Golf Championship takes place every year and this year attracted nearly 300 competitors. You too can play the same holes – just for fun – any day on Hastings seafront. The International tennis tournament returns to Eastbourne this month as the lawns at Devonshire Park play host to Wimbledon-hopefuls.
Glyndebourne opera season is in full flow, the gardens and marquees full of well-appointed picknickers as they enjoy the Sussex countryside and the delights of world-class opera. Just along the road the annual Love Supreme Festival celebrates jazz and soul over a weekend in early July.
Music and open-air cinema are popular features of summers in the south east: from classical music events at Leeds Castle or Rochester Castle to tribute acts and brass bands on the bandstand at Eastbourne or at Dreamland, Margate. Touring theatre companies such as the Rude Mechanical Theatre Company visiting towns and villages across the area.
The longer days of June may be the time to consider long-distance walks. With the South Downs Way stretching from Eastbourne to Winchester, there is plenty of variation to be found, from chalky downland and white cliffs to wooded hillsides. The Sussex Border Path, another way-marked route skirts around Sussex and takes in the coast and countryside and all the delights of summertime in the southeast counties. The Pilgrims’ Way is an ancient track between Winchester and Canterbury – an historic pilgrimage route to Canterbury Cathedral, home of the shrine of the martyred archbishop, St Thomas Becket. For much of its length it is coincident with the St Swithun’s or North Downs Ways. The King Charles III England Coast Path in the South East offers fabulous coastal walking through changing landscapes full of wildlife. Explore coastal towns with long sandy beaches, Roman sites, Napoleonic Martello towers, the White Cliffs of Dover and many wartime remains.
After all that exertion, it may be time to put your feet up and relax with a glass of local sparkling wine and a catch of the day. Local food and drink producers are celebrated up and down the region, focusing on organic, sustainable farming, low food miles and unrivalled quality.
Enjoy a trip to south east England in the company of a Blue Badge Guide to make the most of your time here.