Best Days Out for June

Best Days Out for June

21 July, 2008
by: Sherbet

If the thought of lining up in long queues just to get to the bathroom is a little daunting and you're sick of having to pre-register and sit on a computer all day just to secure a ticket to the multitude of music festivals around Europe, then this is for you. Here we present the best non-music-focused days out London has to offer.

Promising no hassle or costly ticket prices, there's something for everyone. The best thing is... they're mainly free.

Spitalfields Festival

A festival of ancient and contemporary music. Ten or so East London venues open their humble doors for a series of free lunchtime and evening performances, walks and educational talks. With a host of international and local musicians and artists, the festival organisers hope to highlight the cultural diversity of London.

Best for: learning a bit more about London
Christ Church Spitalfields
2nd – 20th June 2008
Concerts £5-£35; others free

English Ceilidh

It's time to recognize that England has its own history and traditions instead of piggybacking on American or European ones. A family-friendly event featuring all things British including arts, crafts, food, entertainment. Perfect if Morris dancers are your cup of tea.

Best for: English patriotism
Bernie Spain Gardens, Southbank
Saturday 2nd June 2008, 1pm-7pm
Free

Graduate Fashion Week

The annual Graduate Fashion Week at Earls Court is always a pretty important event in every fashionista's Asprey button diary (the ostrich skin is super-hot right now). This is the major opportunity for graduate fashion folk from across the country to show what they (or rather their clothes) are made of.

Best for: finding the next Christopher Bailey
Earls Court Exhibition Centre
8th – 12th June 2008, Sun-Tue 11am-7.30pm; Wed 11am-6.30pm
£5-25

Celebrating Sanctuary

Now in its ninth year, Celebrating Sanctuary, in conjunction with the Coin Street Festival, is part of the National Refugee Week. The festival gathers established and emerging refugee musicians, dancers and artists to celebrate their wide-ranging contribution to the arts. There's spoken word, workshops for children and food stalls selling tempting cuisine from all over the world.

Best for: variety is the spice of life
Bernie Spain Gardens, Southbank
Sunday 15th June 2008, 2pm-7pm
Free

London Sculpture Week

Now in its fifth year, London Sculpture Week is less a festival than a collaboration between the cream of Mayfair Galleries. As you'd expect from the broad variety of galleries involved, a wide range of periods, genres and styles are on show: from Himalayan pieces at Rossi & Rossi to Egyptian and Classical at Rupert Wace, London Sculpture Week has something for everyone. Unless of course you hate sculpture, which would be somewhat irrational.

Best for: um, sculpture?
Venues involved: Fine Art Society; Alexia Goethe; Rupert Wace; Rossi & Rossi; Daniella Luxembourg; Sam Fogg; Daniel Katz; Robin Katz; Trinity Fine Art
13th – 20th June 2008
Free

Greenfest: West London

First it was the red scare. Then flower power, space travel, terrorism, global warming, fair trade and now eco-friendly products are the latest craze to hit the world. Promoting the message of sustainability and ‘greenness', Greenfest contains around 50 environmental groups highlighting the benefits of wildlife gardening , eco-living, recycling, saving energy, solar heating, cycling and other ways to be green.

Best for: eco-friendly citizens of the world
Furnival Gardens, Hammersmith
Sunday 15th June 2008, 1pm-5pm
Free

London Festival of Architecture

If you hadn't already realised this (or even if you had) it's definitely worth checking out the LFA this year. For 2008 it's bigger and better than ever before with a whole smorgasbord of events across the capital: parties, exhibitions, cycling tours, street shows, films, lectures... you can even have breakfast with Janet Street Porter if you fancy it. The hub of the whole thing is an exhibition called ‘FRESH!' at New London Architecture. This lasts the duration of the festival and tells you everything you need to know in order to plan which things you want to go to, and trust us, there's a lot.

Best for: breakfast with JSP
London-wide
20th June – 20th July 2008
Mostly free

Spitalfields Tea Dance

On the last Friday of every month, the Covent Garden Dance Orchestra is hosting a series of old fashioned tea dances in Crispin Place. With the aim of bringing back the tradition of social dancing to London, you'll find yourself compelled to join a series of foxtrots, quicksteps and tangos. Dancers with two left feet also welcome.

Best for: Impressing the ladies with your 1-2-3s
Spitalfields Market
27 June; 25 July; 29 August; 26 September; 31 October 2008 1-3pm
Free

Carnival de Cuba London Festival

Carnival De Cuba is a free music and dance festival celebrating all things Cuban. Throughout the day there will be a range of drumming workshops, Yoruba dance classes and an enormous conga procession led by Guillermo Davis. This year's theme is Cuba's roots in Africa and throughout the day you can sample, at a small cost, coveted Cuban cigars, tropical cocktails and authentic coffees. For reggae lovers, there will be a special showcase with the likes of Kid Afrika, Leximan and Tumbao Tivoli.

Best for: sampling Cuban Cigars- something the Yanks can't do.
Southwark Park
28th June 12pm-8pm; 29th June 12pm-7pm
Free

Keen for more? See more about:

London Fairs
London Parks
London Events

Sherbet