With a mini-heatwave in view, here’s how to celebrate with the best in theatre, film, fashion and days out





THE COUNTRYSIDE

Patrick Barkham

Does spring begin for you with a carpet of bluebells? The jinking flight of an orange-tip butterfly? Or the first swift screaming in the sky? There are many ways we can join this joyous explosion of life among the species witth which we share the world.

Spring may be late, but bluebells are unfurling across the nation. Wildlife charities provide plenty of ideas about where they can be spotted: National Trust suggestions include Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire and Winkworth Arboretum, Surrey; Woodland Trust recommendations include Crinan Wood, Argyll and Bute, and Coed Aber Artro, Llanbedr, Harlech; while the Wildlife Trusts have 100 hotspots from the splendidly named Twentywellsick Wood in Yorkshire to Sydenham Hill Wood in south London. My favourites include Finemere Wood, Buckinghamshire, Lady’s Wood, Cambridgeshire and Foxley Wood, Norfolk.

Spring butterflies are on the wing again, and late April to early May is the perfect time to spot two of our rarest species. The Duke of Burgundy flies on downland in the Cotswolds and Hampshire, such as Rodborough Common and Noar Hill, while the pearl-bordered fritillary enjoys sunny woodland rides in western Scotland and south-west England – ukbutterflies.co.uk has great location information.

You can hear glorious birdsong wherever you live. Your local Wildlife Trust will organise dawn-chorus walks, but you can do your own: rising at 5am is painful but you never regret an early morning orchestra of blackbirds and blackcaps.

Don’t overlook the joys of dusk either. April is ideal for watching badgers before vegetation obscures their setts: position yourself downwind of a sett an hour before sunset, scatter a few peanuts, and wait quietly. You’ll see owls and bats, too. BCN Wildlife Trust organises bat punt safaris on the River Cam in Cambridge: 90-minute trips every Friday from 11 May. Warwickshire Wildlife Trust has a bat walk at Brandon Marsh on 10 May; the Royal Parks and the Bat Conservation Trust have details of more bat walks.

DAYS OUT

Joanne O’Connor

With shorts and T-shirt weather on the way, it’s time to blow away the winter cobwebs on a coastal walk. Options? Chalkup21 is a new 17-mile architecture trail along the top of the white cliffs between Folkestone and Deal, Kent, which highlights contemporary buildings en route, such as the Battle of Britain Memorial building at Capel-le-Ferne and the timber and glass cafe at the end of Deal pier.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A brisk walk along the coast, then a warming cup. here at the pier cafe in Deal, Kent. Photograph: Alamy

If the change in temperature puts you in the festival mood, what could be more spring-like than one that celebrates cherry blossom? In Japan the arrival of the flowers is greeted with almost religious fervour. One of the best displays in the UK can be found at Brogdale farm in Kent. The home of the national fruit collection will be offering Hanami picnics until the end of April (booking essential) and a Japanese-inspired festival on 21 April with cultural demonstrations and food .

For a more formal floral display, the Harrogate spring flower show is one of the first big events in the gardening calendar – at the Great Yorkshire Showground from 26-29 April, with show gardens, floral displays and talks and demonstrations.

In Scotland the Celtic May Day festival of Beltane is celebrated with bonfires, torchlit processions, drumming and the arrival of the May queen on Calton Hill, Edinburgh, on 30 April. And in Wales you can witness the end of the lambing season at the RSPB Lake Vyrnwy organic farm in Powys. Tours of the lambing sheds will be available at weekends until the end of April (but booking is essential).

For a magical experience, why not try one of the singing with nightingales events in Cambridgeshire, Essex and Kent throughout April and May? Organised by singer Sam Lee of the Nest Collective, these are intimate woodland concerts held around a camp fire. If you’re lucky, the musicians will be accompanied by the sound of nightingales singing, and you will be able to celebrate this very African bird that takes its summers in England





THE GARDEN

Allan Jenkins

I almost hesitate to say the frost has gone (I was mugged in March after I’d sown early salad seed), but it is probably safe to say that you can start spring gardening now. So go to your local garden centre. Stock up on fresh compost and seaweed feed and a few early summer flowers. Open your shed or seed drawer; sharpen your tools. It’s been purgatory this year, frogspawn frozen, broad beans blackened by frost. But gardens are forgiving; almost everything can be fixed in an afternoon.

First, have a look at the flower seed sites. Roger Parsons for scented sweet peas, Higgledy Garden for colourful annuals (calendula, cornflowers and cosmos), Sarah Raven for something posh. Scatter grass seed in places where yours has worn thin.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest With warmer weather here, it’s time to attend to the garden. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

If you have room for vegetables, I rate Brown Envelope Seeds for organic and unusual varieties (why grow the same salads that are cheap and available in every supermarket?). Franchi are good for anything Italian such as basil, chards, chicories, courgettes and borlotti beans. Tamar also has a good range. The old gardener’s rule says that soil is warm enough to germinate if it’s comfortable to sit on in thin shorts. I just tend to see if the weeds are growing well.

You will need to dig, or at least to hoe. Turn in compost if you can: well-rotted manure is best of all (cow for vegetables, horse for flowers, if you can find it).

I know it is supposed to be warm this week but I would caution against sowing most flowers outdoors till May. That said, I’ve scattered nasturtiums and calendula. Start annual seeds off in trays and pots on a windowsill. Same with tomatoes. If you have room, sow a few rows of radishes, rocket and lettuce. If you haven’t, stock a kitchen window box with rosemary, thyme, chives and oregano.

Remember to find yourself a spot in the sun to sit and talk, have a cup of tea, a beer or a glass of wine. Gardening isn’t just about flowers and food, it’s also therapy and fun.

To order a copy of Morning by Allan Jenkins (4th Estate, £12.99) for £11.04, go to guardianbookshop.com

YOUR WARDROBE

Morwenna Ferrier

Spring is a reminder that you have legs so, for women, tights are a stone-cold no. Elsewhere, the only acceptable hat is a beret (think Dior, buy Topshop) and while you should slough off your coat, do keep a light jacket, ideally a trench, worn open (Céline), in checks (Burberry) or in lilac (Dries Van Noten). Men, try a short jacket as seen at Sandro but available at Cos, or a brightly coloured raincoat – anything from Vetements to Patagonia is fine.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Trench coats and muted ice cream hues are the look of spring. Here actress Li Bingbing wears a Burberry trench. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Spring 2018 is also about the nuance of colour. Muted ice cream shades such as lemon sorbet and strawberry are in abundance everywhere, from Victoria Beckham to Cos on both men and women, although neons are also appearing on the high street (particularly on T-shirts at Topshop and & Other Stories). Men should try the trend via a brightly printed shirt – Aloha versions were at Balenciaga and Ami, but really any foliage will do.

Spring suits for women are a good weatherproof addition. Matching, of course, in light pink or stripes. And frankly, on men too. Take inspiration (honestly) from Harry Styles’s Gucci and Palomo Spain tour outfits.

When it comes to shoes, women wear them with a low heel (spiky like Balenciaga or square like Topshop), and men can do anything (a loafer, a chunky boot or a trainer works). Definitely wear socks.

In other trend news, streetwear continues to dominate the catwalk at Fendi and Burberry and everything in between. If a full Adidas tracksuit feels a bit much, start sensibly with footwear.

Veja trainers are becoming the updated answer to Stan Smiths for women, but equally the much-derided ugly trainer – from Balenciaga’s Triple S to Fila’s chunky platform trainer – is all over the shops. Ideal if the weather turns damp again, which is highly likely.

THE ARTS

Sarah Hughes

At the National Gallery in London Monet and Architecture offers a new perspective on the impressionist master’s work, looking at his career through the buildings he painted, while America’s Cool Modernism: O’Keeffe to Hopper, with 35 paintings never before seen in the UK, runs at Oxford’s Ashmolean until 22 July.

In May the Barbican will partner with the Museum of London for London Nights, a major photography exhibition and film season celebrating the capital city after dark. The British Film Institute, meanwhile, marks the 30th anniversary of the anime classic Akira.

On stage, Alfred Molina discovers his artistic side in John Logan’s Red (Wyndham’s Theatre from 4 May); Ben Chaplin stars in Joe Penhall’s Mood Music (the Old Vic from 21 April); Maxine Peake tackles Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre (from 25 May) and Michelle Terry takes on the role of Hamlet in her first production since becoming artistic director of the Globe (from 25 April).

The movie blockbuster season will see Avengers: Infinity War and Solo: A Star Wars Story in cinemas this month. Those looking for a more understated experience should try Beast, Michael Pearce’s atmospheric crime debut, set in Jersey; Claire Denis’s sophisticated delight Let the Sunshine In and Lean on Pete, Andrew Haigh’s stirring take on “one boy and his horse” tales.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest We can look forward to the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story. Photograph: Jonathan Olley /Lucasfilm Ltd.

Spring’s TV highlights include the return of The Handmaid’s Tale (Channel 4, May); the final season of The Bridge (BBC2, May); and Abi Morgan’s glossy tale of warring divorce lawyers, The Split (BBC1, 24 April). Netflix airs Bobby Kennedy For President, its in-depth look at the candidate’s life and death, on 27 April, while Edward St Aubyn fans hold their breath as Patrick Melrose, Sky Atlantic’s take on his books, arrives on 13 May.

In the world of fiction, Jack Grimwood’s taut Nightfall Berlin is spring’s best thriller; Guy Gunaratne’s In Our Mad and Furious City offers an unputdownable look at London today, while Lissa Evans’s wise and witty Old Baggage asks what happens once you’ve tried to change the world. In non-fiction, Behold, America sees Sarah Churchwell turn her fierce gaze on the America First movement. Michelle Dean’s Sharp is an elegant dissection of literary lives.

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