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The Giant's Causeway captured in ethereal light. Northern Ireland.
Celebrate with the stones … the National Trust will host a guided walk of the Giant’s Causeway for the summer solstice. Photograph: Alamy
Celebrate with the stones … the National Trust will host a guided walk of the Giant’s Causeway for the summer solstice. Photograph: Alamy

Top 10 summer solstice events across the UK

This article is more than 7 years old

From sunsets to sunrises, yoga relaxation and stone worship to music festivals, there are solstice celebrations, events and talks across the UK over the next few days

UK wide

The National Trust is putting on events across the UK, including a talk and tour by Time Team’s Dr Sam Newton at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk (£12, 7pm-10pm, on 20 June, 01394 389714) and a guided walk on the Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim, Northern Ireland on 19 June from 6am (£7, 028 2073 3419). In Wales, early birds keen to welcome the longest day can join a guided dawn walk at Chirk Castle in Wrexham, setting off at 4am to watch the 4.45am sunrise (£5, 0844 249 1895); or for a more relaxed end to the day, Penrhyn Castle in Gwynedd is hosting yoga on the lawn from 8.30pm-10pm, led by a local instructor and suitable for beginners (free, 01248 353084). And in the north-west, visitors to Little Moreton Hall in Cheshire, can join Tudor dances, a parade of giants and puppet making.

Stonehenge festival, 18-21 June, Wiltshire

The Stonehenge Campsite, in WIltshire

Stonehenge Campsite, the closest campsite to the standing stones, is holding a four-day festival with music, an on-site bar, food and a yoga workshop each morning. The pods are fully booked but there is still availability for motorhome and tent pitches. There are buses (from the campsite) to Stonehenge, a shuttle service, or you can walk the 4.5 miles across country. Admission to Stonehenge, to greet the new dawn at 4.52am on 21 June, is free of charge.
£25pppn, pus pitch fees, stonehengecampsite.co.uk

Sun salutations, 21 June, Hastings

Hastings Pier. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

There’s more yogic fun on the newly opened Hastings Pier, where the longest day will be celebrated with 108 sun salutations: 108 is considered a sacred number in Hinduism and yoga. The sleek, modern wooden pier reopened in April following a £14.2m restoration project.
£10, 6.30pm–9.30pm, visit1066country.com

Summer solstice festival 2016, 18 June, Leeds

A festival in action at the Left Bank Leeds centre, a former church.

For a solstice with a difference, tuck into curry, chai and Indian classical music during an all-night festival organised by South Asian Arts at Left Bank Leeds, an arts venue in a Grade II-listed former church. There will be tabla and mridangam, Hindustani vocals around sunset, the haunting sound of the sarangi and a duet of sitar and cello at sunrise.
£40, 7.30pm-5am, saa-uk.org

After-hours tour, 17 June, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Not Vital’s sculpture House to Watch the Sunset. Photograph: Jonty Wilde

Join an exclusive after-hours curator-led tour of the first major exhibition in the UK by renowned Swiss artist Not Vital. A leading sculptor, who has studios in Switzerland and Beijing, China, and homes in Rio de Janeiro and Niger, the exhibition reflects Vital’s nomadic life, including indoor pieces made from plaster, silver, gold, marble, glass and coal, and outdoor sculptures in stainless steel and bronze. The arrival of summer is celebrated at sunset in James Turrell’s Deer Shelter Skyspace, inspired by Vital’s sculpture House to Watch the Sunset.
£8, 8.30pm, ysp.co.uk

Butser Ancient Farm, 20/21 June, Hampshire

Butser Ancient Farm. Photograph: Alamy

Butser Ancient Farm has iron age buildings, rare breed animals and crops from prehistory. In addition to various family activities – including chalk crushing, wattling, archaeology, mosaics, feeding the animals and a quiz – the farm puts on events to demonstrate iron age life. Its solstice event on 20 June will start with drinks at the bar, followed by a lecture by Dave Woods from Hants Astro and a short ceremony to celebrate the Rose Moon led by a Wiccan High Priestess. Want to keep the ancient spirit going? Then sleepover by reserving a space in a roundhouse or the villa, suitable for a group of friends who are happy to share.
£10 for 10pm until midnight, additional £18 for overnight, booking essential on 02392 598838; bring your own sleeping bag/mattress and food and drink, butserancientfarm.co.uk

Honister slate mine, 20 June, Lake District

A view from Honister slate mine. Photograph: Jon Parkes Photography/Getty Images

The activity centre, which features two via ferrata routes and a cable bridge at this working slate mine in the Lake District, is opening overnight for the first time of the evening of 20 June. The site will be lit as visitors set off at they scale Fleetwith Pike, before reaching the summit at midnight for views across the lakes of Buttermere, Crummock and Loweswater, and a glass of champagne.
From £37.50 per adult, honister.com

Ben Nevis sunrise, 19 June, the Highlands

Ben Nevis. Photograph: Linda Mckie/Getty Images

End your mountain excursion, which will have started at 10.30pm, by watching the sunrise from the highest point in the UK. But don’t fret, this night walk adventure is one that you take in the company of experienced guides and uses the Pony Track, otherwise known as the tourist track, for getting to the summit.
£40, call for availability on 07753 325649, richmountainexperiences.co.uk

The mysteries of the universe, 25 June, Dumfries

Crawick Multiverse. Photograph: Charles Jencks

The mysteries of the universe … you may not get all the answers but you’ll get a chance to grill experts on sun flares, the earth’s magnetic field, radiation the ozone layer and similar phenomena at a day of science talks led by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and featuring professors from the fields of applied mathematics, physics and more. The talks will be held at Crawick Multiverse – the outdoor art attraction designed by landartist Charles Jencks – in Dumfries.
£3 (for individual talks), £5 (all talks), crawickmultiverse.co.uk

Archaeology in Angelsey, 18 June

Solstice celebrations at Bryn Celli Ddu in 2015. Photograph: Alamy

Meet archaeologists at Bryn Celli Ddu – the prehistoric burial chamber on Anglesey – who will be explaining the site and showing excavations at a nearby rock art outcrop. You can also bring your own archaeology finds along too for experts to analyse.
Free, 11am-4pm, cadw.gov.wales

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