Words: Charlotte Cox
Eating in the street, biking in the buff, drinking on the rooftops and partying up a mountain. It’s the weekend – why be dull?
EXHIBITION: Shoes: Pleasure & Pain at the V&A At the risk of sounding like Carrie Bradshaw: we couldn’t help but wonder, is there any better day out than admiring the most beautiful, extreme and downright ridiculous shoes ever created? The V&A’s dazzling new display, featuring 200 pairs from wince-inducing Chinese slippers through to lust-inducing Choos and Louboutins, and even the feathered Manolos worn by a certain Ms Bradshaw herself, gives us the resounding answer: No, there is not. If only Carrie’s musings were so simple, eh? 13 June 2015-31 Jan 2016; £13.50 V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL vam.ac.uk
EVENT: The Other Garden Party Take a quintessential English garden party – ah, lovely. Mix it with the Mad Hatter’s take on such a shindig – even lovelier. Now chuck in fantastical performance art, swing dancing, garden-party games and gourmet burgers and round the whole lot off with a Wonderland Ball hosted by masters of the weird and ‘wtf?’ Sink The Pink, and, ta da! You have the RA’s Other Garden Party. Go if only to find out exactly what ‘theatrical hat making’ entails. 13 June; £30, including exhibition entry and a cocktail Royal Academy Of Arts, 6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET royalacademy.org.uk
FESTIVAL: Meadows In The Mountains, Bulgaria There are many great things to be said for the big UK festivals (and we say 'em), but do you ever yearn for something different? More special? Say, up a mountain? If its yes, yes and yes and you're feeling spontaneous, hop on a flight to Bulgaria for this, Europe's most scenic festival. Still in it's early years but growing fast, you'll be one of just 1,000 friendly revellers in the hills above Polkovnik Serafimovo for three days of bleeding-edge beats, laid-back folk and jazz, inspiring art... And zip wires and massive hillside slides (just because). What are you waiting for? Passport. Now. 12-14 June; £120 Polkovnik Serafimovo, Bulgaria meadowsinthemountains.com
EVENT: World Naked Bike Ride So you want to make a make a stand against oil dependency? Then stop writing that strongly worded letter to your MP right now. Here’s a way more fun form of protest: a naked bike ride. In this mass cycle around London, riders strip off to celebrate the human body and represent the vulnerability of cyclists on the road. With six start points around the city and routes converging over Westminster Bridge, you can go the full monty, only bare as much as you dare, or simply turn out to cheer on the brave bikers. Riders, we wish you, and your bits, warm weather. 13 June; 1pm Various start points, see tinyurl.com/worldnakedbikeride
POP-UP: Midnight Apothecary Following in a fine tradition for merriment on London’s rooftops, that can be traced right back to Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, comes this al-fresco offering atop Brunel Museum. Here, Midnight Apothecary’s ‘Cocktail Gardener’ (now THERE'S a job title) serves up inventive new creations based on ingredients found in the museum’s roof garden, all around a cosy lantern-lit campfire. Food comes courtesy of Greek grillers I Should Be Souvlaki – if they cook as well as they pun, that’s pitta we want to try – and there’s a glorious sunset view over the Thames. All any good rooftop could want – short of dancing chimney sweeps. Until Sept 31; £5 in advance Brunel Museum, Railway Avenue, London, SE16 4LFO midnightapothecary/designmynight.com
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