16 Sep 2015
1. 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death
In commemoration of the 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's England will host a range of new exhibitions in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2016, as part of the celebrations of the playwright's legacy. These include a new immersive theatrical experience at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC); a reimagining of New Place (part of the five homes in Stratford-upon-Avon that are looked after by Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust and Shakespeare's final home) following a major restoration project; and Shakespeare's school room, open for the first time at King Edward VI School. Meanwhile, also at the RSC, a new exhibition will open, highlighting the work of the directors, writers, actors, designers and creative theatre makers who have shaped the RSC in its 130-year history.
While Nash's House & New Place are closed for the restoration the Elizabethan home Harvard House will be open to the public during this time. Here, experience what life was like 400 years ago – why not try out its Tudor Apprentice Trail and find out whether you could have cut it as a 16th-century butcher or glover?
2. Scotland's Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design
Following on from the successful Year of Food and Drink in 2015, the Year of Homecoming in 2014 and the Year of Natural Scotland in 2013, 2016 will celebrate Scotland's achievements in innovation, architecture and design with a 12-month programme of events. It's a great opportunity to visit cities such as Dundee in eastern Scotland, which has become the first UNESCO City of Design in the UK; this recognises the huge contribution the city has made to design worldwide, including leading biomedical research, comics, orange marmalade and video games including Grand Theft Auto.
Elsewhere, the city of Glasgow is a showcase for the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, one of the leaders of the Arts and Crafts movement in Scotland in the late 19th century. Visit the Mackintosh-designed Glasgow School of Art (currently undergoing restoration following a fire in 2014), the Willow Tea Rooms and House for an Art Lover.
3. Wales' landscape of adventure
Taking inspiration from the dramatic landscapes of Snowdonia and the area's distinct heritage, North Wales' reputation as an adventure playground will continue to grow, with more developments planned over the coming years. The beauty of the North Wales countryside provides an incredible backdrop for adrenalin-fuelled activities. A disused slate cavern houses the world's first underground trampoline playground at Bounce Below. Above ground, thrill seekers can experience a bird's eye view of the surrounding Welsh countryside as they fly through the air on the longest and fastest zip line in the northern hemisphere.
New additions to the adventure product in 2015 will include a combination of Bounce Below and Zip World – Zip Below, with zip lines set in a vast series of historic mine chambers and tunnels.
These experiences will also be joined in 2015 by the new surfing and water sports park at Surf Snowdonia. The giant surfing lagoon uses state-of-the-art technology to create waves up to two metres high to provide an exhilarating experience for both pro surfers and complete beginners.
4. Countryside is GREAT campaign
VisitBritain launched a three-year 'Countryside is GREAT' campaign in January 2015, which will position Britain's countryside as a place to enjoy modern culture, high-quality food and world-class accommodation in a beautiful landscape. VisitBritain research shows that a wide range of visitors already enjoy our countryside offer and the campaign aims to build on this interest and show potential visitors where to find great experiences and, most importantly, how to get there.
The regions featuring in the first year of the campaign are the Scottish Highlands, Peak District, Cotswolds, Cornwall, Pembrokeshire, North Wales, Warwickshire, Lake District and Yorkshire.
The first year of 'Countryside is GREAT' will focus on visitors from the USA and Germany. For the campaign, VisitBritain has joined forces with The National Parks, The Forestry Commission, The Canal and River Trust and Hertz Cars, as well as DCMS, DEFRA and the national tourist boards.
5. 300th anniversary of Capability Brown
In 2016 it will be 300 years since the birth of Capability Brown and there are a large number of events planned. As they're announced, you'll be able find out more on www.capabilitybrown.org. When the aristocrats of the 18th century were building their mansions, there was just one person they wanted to landscape their gardens – Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. Brown got his nickname by assuring the owners that their land had 'capability'. He then set about creating a landscape that looked natural, but was more perfect than nature could be. He built more than 170 gardens in Britain and most of them can still be seen and enjoyed today as idyllic places to relax, contemplate nature and picnic – just as Brown planned for the original owners.
One of Brown's most famous projects was at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, north England. Still owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, this estate in the heart of the Peak District National Park receives more than half a million visitors a year, many of them travelling especially for the spectacular gardens. Another famous Capability project is Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and a few gardens are now part of a luxury hotel, including Bowood in Wiltshire, west England, and Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire, an hour outside London.
6. Film-inspired holidays
Bond is back! The full cast and filming locations have been announced for Spectre, the latest film in the 007 series, and is due for release at the end of 2015. Daniel Craig has already been spotted at several London locations filming scenes, including Camden in north London and on a speedboat on the River Thames. Fans of 007 can gear up for his next outing by booking onto 'live like Bond tours' (like Brit Movie Tours), or else embarking on a high-adrenaline experience like a London RIB Voyage.
A new film of Tarzanwill be released in 2016, the plot of which has led to filming taking place in several British locations such as Windsor Great Park (around an hour's drive from London), National Trust-owned 18th-century mansion Kedleston Hall, close to the city of Derby, north England, and Dinorwig Quarry in Llanberis, north Wales, a former slate quarry and also home to the Welsh National Slate Museum. Then, in May 2016, Disney will release Through the Looking Glass, a sequel to Alice in Wonderland, which was originally written by English author Lewis Carroll. Oxford is considered the birthplace of the story as Carroll lived there for most of his life. You can also create your own Alice adventure in north Wales; download the app, Follow the White Rabbit, and follow a digital 3D audio-visual trail through Llandudno where the real Alice used to holiday.
7. 200th anniversary of the birth of Charlotte Brontë
The Brontë Society's contemporary arts programme has recently been awarded a grant to help with celebrations surrounding the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charlotte Brontë, more details of which will be released throughout the year. The Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Yorkshire, north England, was the Brontës family home and is now the home of a lively contemporary arts programme featuring major artists and writers (having hosted Maggie O'Farrell, Barbara Taylor Bradford and Joanne Harris in the past) that celebrate the Brontës creative legacy.
2016 will also see the release of the film The Brontës. Tracing the story of the famous Brontë sisters, details of an A-list cast and crew will be unveiled on April 21 2016 – the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë's birth date.
8. 150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter
Born in London in 1866, Helen Beatrix Potter was best known for her imaginative children's books such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Potter drew inspiration from the magnificent beauty and plentiful wildlife of the Lake District in Cumbria, north-west England, and fans of her enduring tales will be delighted with the World of Beatrix Potter in Bowness-on-Windermere, 90 minutes from Manchester by car. The attraction showcases Peter Rabbit's Garden, Jemima Puddle-duck's woodland glade and Mr Tod's underground home, plus you can visit Mrs Tiggy-winkle's kitchen. You can also visit Hill Top, near Sawrey in Cumbria, her 17th-century farmhouse that is a time-capsule of her life.
9. Exciting plans for museums and galleries
The National Museums of Scotland will open new galleries in 2016; the £14.1million project will create ten new galleries displaying National Museums Scotland's internationally important collections of Science and Technology and Art and Design. Showcasing more than 3,500 objects, display space for these exhibits will increase by more than 40%, with three-quarters of them not having previously been on permanent display for generations.
And beautifully located overlooking Porthmeor Beach in Cornwall in south-west England, Tate St Ives is undergoing refurbishment that will see the gallery space double and visitor experiences improved when fully completed in 2016. The gallery was set up to mark the legacy of the modernist artists who lived and worked in the town during the mid-20th century. The gallery and its programme attract more than 200,000 visitors a year and bring approximately £12million into the regional economy.
10. New on stage for 2016
Back To The Future will hit the West End stage next year, with a musical version of cult 1980s time travel film Back to the Future. And a more contemporary hit of our times will also be gracing the stage in 2016 as the Hunger Games musical comes to the capital. The theatre adaptation of Suzanne Collins' dystopian novels is due to arrive in London at a new purpose-built venue next to Wembley Stadium. 2016 will also mark the 40th anniversary of the prestigious theatre awards, the Olivier Awards.
11. 150th anniversary of London's blue plaques
The homes and work places of notable figures as diverse as Jimi Hendrix, Charles Dickens, John Lennon and Oscar Wilde have all been honoured with one of London's blue plaques, the scheme that celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2016. Founded in 1866, the scheme is believed to be the oldest of its kind in the world. The first plaque was unveiled in 1867 to commemorate Lord Byron at his birthplace, 24 Holles Street, Cavendish Square in London. This house was demolished in 1889 so the earliest blue plaque to survive – also put up in 1867 – commemorates Napoleon III in King Street, St James's. Since 1986, English Heritage has run the scheme, which now comprises around 880 plaques.
12. 125th anniversary of Agatha Christie's birth
Although it is October 2015 that marks the 125th birthday of the world's most popular crime writer, Agatha Christie, Britain offers many ways to celebrate into 2016, from taking a comprehensive tour of the locations that inspired the Queen of Crime, to even staying in her holiday cottage. The Agatha Christie Tour of Britain takes in an extraordinary breadth of landmarks around Britain associated with the world's best-selling author. Then find out whodunnit at Greenway House in Devon, her family holiday home. Other fun ways to celebrate 125 years since Christie's birth is to pay a visit to The Agatha Christie Festival, an annual event held in September in Christie's hometown of Torquay in south-west England, three hours by train from London, featuring vintage bus rides, murder mystery dinners, tea dances and vintage fayres.
13. New National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket
In 2016 the National Horseracing Museum will move to Palace House in Newmarket in east England, (around 90 minutes' drive from London) and will become the new National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art. As well as a national gallery of British sporting art and live thoroughbred horses in the Rothschild Yard and four-acre paddock, the centre will include a new museum that celebrates the sport and science of horseracing. The move to Palace House means the museum will occupy the last remaining element of King Charles II's racing palace in Newmarket, a town synonymous with the 'sport of kings' and which is also home to two racecourses, the Rowley Mile and July Course.
14. Looking ahead to 2017 – Hull will reign as the UK's City of Culture
Inspired by Liverpool's time as European Capital of Culture back in 2008, the UK City of Culture programme was launched the following year by the British government, designed to offer cities the opportunity to use culture to increase visitor numbers and media interest. The Northern Ireland city of Derry~Londonderry was awarded the first UK City of Culture status in 2013 and, for 2017, the honour has been awarded to the north England city of Hull.
Hull already has a strong cultural offering, a fascinating heritage, and has historically been a gateway location on the north-eastern coast of England. Plans for a packed programme of festivals, special events and major projects are already in full swing and visitors to the city can expect a number of themes to be incorporated within its year celebrating culture. These include 'Roots and Routes', exploring the city's migration history; the city's cultural heritage; its contribution to the freedom movement; and the city's off-beat sense of humour.
15. London's first purpose-built cruise terminal to open in 2017
London City Cruise Port will be able to accommodate vessels up to 240 metres in length and 8 metres draught when complete in 2017. Located on the banks of the River Thames in Greenwich, it will be London's only cruise terminal with alongside terminal facilities, and will be within easy access of the UNESCO Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site and The O2 venue.
16. Victoria and Albert Museum to open in Dundee, Scotland in 2018
The V&A is one of London's – if not the world's – best museums, so it's good news that Dundee in Scotland will be getting a new outpost of the museum there, with the main building likely to be completed in early 2018. Unlike the original museum, the new one will be uber-modern in design and is architect Kenzo Kuma's first British commission. It will showcase world-class touring exhibitions from the V&A – the only purpose-built galleries in Scotland large enough to show these shows in their entirety.
