The best of British seaside festivals and events for 2021: readers’ tips
From great food to fine folk music and art, these cultural and community events are all the better for a blast of sea air
House of horror: Bath opens the world’s first museum dedicated to Mary Shelley
This week the city finally embraced its gothic past – in honour of one of its most famous residents. And with it, a host of dark secrets
10 of the UK’s best seaside festivals and summer beach parties
Live music and comedy, firepit feasts, surf competitions and vintage theme parks are bringing our seafronts back to life
I will walk 500 miles … on an art trail along Essex’s lost coast
On the second leg of this artful odyssey, people come together to walk and exchange stories about this fascinating – and disappearing – coastline
Europe’s first kosher ecohotel opens in Kent
Environmental awareness and Jewish traditions are the focus of Sadeh Farmhouse, a family-friendly retreat near Orpington
New routes to recovery for Britain’s tour guides
Lockdowns saw tour guides lose 99% of their business, but many are now turning to more specialist or virtual tours to survive a second Covid summer
Skylarks, sunshine and solidarity on Winter Hill, Lancashire
From the first mass trespass to mass communications, the West Pennine Moors have always brought northerners together
A local’s guide to Malta: 10 top tips
The island has been at the heart of Mediterranean history and culture for centuries, and it can be enjoyed once more now it’s on the green list
Midsummer mystery on a walk in Herefordshire’s Twin Valleys
A new long-distance trail links ley lines, neolithic stones aligned for today’s summer solstice, churches and delectable views to the Black Mountain
10 of Britain’s best indie bookshops
We mark Independent Bookshop Week with an expert’s pick of 10 stores embedded in local life, from Edinburgh to Brixton
From Factory Records to Oasis: a musical tour of Manchester
A new exhibition on the seminal Manchester label is the start of a musical homage taking in the roots of Joy Division, the Smiths et al
We can be heroes: in Garibaldi’s footsteps from Arezzo to the sea
The great general of Italy’s unification undertook an epic march to Venice in 1849. Following his route today is less of a feat, but still brings majestic rewards
Five of the best nature and history walks in Britain
Turn a walk into a mission on trails that reveal pilgrims’ paths beside the North Sea, red kite in Hertfordshire, and bronze age Yorkshire
Roads taken: the Gloucestershire footpaths that were the making of Robert Frost
We follow the trails trodden a century ago by a band of revolutionary poets who fell for this corner of rural England
Five great British walks with a literary twist
From Boswell and Johnson bickering in Scotland to the coast that inspired Enid Blyton’s Famous Five