Foodies and gardeners will unite when Birmingham Botanical Gardens cooks up a storm to celebrate its 183th anniversary.

A free Heritage Open Day will welcome visitors to explore the attraction’s Victorian glasshouses and vast grounds, and introduce Harborne Food School, as it hosts a car boot vegetables sale, preserves workshops and food demonstrations.

Heritage Open Days is a leading heritage festival that celebrates history, architecture and culture throughout the UK with free events. Birmingham Botanical Gardens will open its doors for free to the public.

Once guests have worked up an appetite by taking a tour of the varied attractions, they’ll be able to pick up home grown vegetables at the car boot sale.

Friends and members of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens will sell their produce between 9am and 11am in the car park. Sellers will even get the chance to enter a competition to win Harborne Food School vouchers and cooking classes.

Leading preserves and baking expert Vivien Lloyd will demonstrate how to prepare stone fruit jam and chilli jam to give visitors some inspiration with how to prepare their freshly picked produce. Visitors that make their own preserves should also bring a sample with them for a chance to enter an exclusive competition.

Registered nutritionist Shaleen Meelu and chef Charlotte Pike of Harborne Food School will lead 30-minute workshops that give a sample of the food schools’ offerings including chopping sessions, food tasters and vegetable growing.

The vegetable car boot sale will take place in the on-site car park from 9am – 11am.

For more information visit www.birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk/ or call 0121 454 1860

This free fun family event, which will Eastside City Park is expected to attract up to 15,000 attendees. It will include a closed-road one mile ‘Family Ride’, suitable for all ages and abilities. It will also see awe-inspiring bike stunt performances from Action Sports Tour and their World Champion riders, live music, Flatland BMX shows, the BikeFest Big Air and ‘have-a-go’ stunt sessions. Also on site there will be specialist cycling retailers, regional food and drink traders and a kid’s Strider Adventure Zone; designed for kids of all abilities aged between 18 months and five years, to test ride a Strider bike and make friends while improving their biking skills.

BikeFest 2015 is the first annual festival as part of Birmingham Cycle Revolution (BCR), a flagship Birmingham City Council initiative that aims to make Birmingham one of the UK’s leading cycling environments.

The recipe for the weekend includes a large serving of hot food, real ale and wine bars, a dash of craft and gift stalls, lots of activities for children with lashings of excellent live music. All mixed together to make a lovely foodie family day out.

Visit www.greatbritishfoodfestival.com

This fantastic show of modern classic trucks is back for 2015 and features more than 350 of the best modern classic trucks manufactured between 1960 and 2000. There’s also a large indoor model show and some trade stands.

Visit www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk

One of the world’s most renowned conductors makes his highly anticipated return home for a major musical performance at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall.

Launching the 25th Anniversary of the Birmingham International Concert Season at Symphony Hall, the performance is a celebration of the city’s musical heritage. The work performed will be Elgar’s ‘The Dream of Gerontius’, the Birmingham composer’s self-proclaimed best work.

The work was commissioned and first performed at the 1900 Birmingham Triennial Festival in the iconic Town Hall, the world’s oldest purpose built concert venue, which continues to host several hundred live performance events each year.

On his appointment as Musical Director and Artistic Adviser of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle cemented his reputation as one of the leading figures in British music. This influence was a key factor in the City’s decision to build a state of the art concert hall that boasts the best acoustics in Europe, if not the world.

Sir Simon will also be joined by his wife and distinguished soloist, Magdalena Kožená, renowned British tenor, Toby Spence and baritone, Roderick Williams. Together with the national BBC Proms Youth Choir, the performance will be in advance of the Proms performance at the Royal Albert Hall, on Friday 11th September.

Around 150 stalls will showcase the very best in local food and drink with demonstrations, master classes and entertainment for all.

Visit www.leamingtonfoodfestival.co.uk

Referred to as the godfather of black British photography, this unique exhibition from Birmingham-based artist Vanley Burke sees the entire contents of his flat in Nechells transported to Ikon’s main exhibition space.

Visit www.ikon-gallery.org

Duran Duran fans will be treated to a thrilling night of 80s pop magic when top tribute band takes to the picturesque Birmingham Botanical Garden bandstand.

Tribute band Duran2 who will capture the look and sound of one of pop’s most successful groups will perform fan favourites such as Rio, Planet and Save a Prayer. Neon brights, shaggy perms and leg warmers will be the order of the day at the electrifying evening as concertgoers battle it out for the title of best 80s fancy dress.

The open-air performance will take place in the colourful surroundings of the 15-acre gardens with visitors be able to buy treats from the Pavilion Tea Room to enjoy during the show.

Tickets cost £20 per person. Doors to the concert will open at 6.30pm, with music starting at 7.30pm. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit http://www.birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk/ or call 0121 454 1860.

A free festival of exciting activities will run at the RSC throughout the summer holidays!

The Royal Shakespeare Company is offering families six weeks of free drop-in entertainment, with extra activity taking place on weekends, as Stratford-on-Sea returns to the Bancroft Terrace throughout the summer holidays.

Highlights include:

- Take part in seaside style Pavement Art Workshops where visitors can transform the terrace of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

- Visit an aluminium whale and enjoy special three minute theatre shows from Coventry theatre company Talking Birds

- Check out a giant seaside mural and have a go at colouring part of it in

Funny Faces board

Saturday 18 July – Sunday 6 September: 10am – 5pm

Pose as a Shakespeare character with your friends at our funny faces board.

Fortune’s Wheel

Saturday 18 July – Sunday 6 September: 10am – 5pm

Take a turn on Fortune’s Wheel to decide which play you will act a part from and then enjoy acting it out on our special stage complete with props. The event will take place in and around a newly commissioned miniature stage, developed by theatre company Stan’s Café, architect Yinka Danmole and children from a Birmingham primary school. Suitable for all ages.

David Gibb: Letters Through Your Door

Sunday July 19: Performances at 11.30am and again at 12.45pm

Families can enjoy listening to children’s songs from across the world performed by BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award nominee David Gibb.

Up Against the Wall: Live Drawing Display and Giant Colouring Workshop

Saturday 25 July: 10am – 5pm

Sunday 26 July: 11am – 1pm and 2pm – 5pm

Watch artist Scott Walker as he creates a giant cartoon seaside scene on the Bancroft Terrace and then come and help him colour it in the next day.

Talking Birds’ Whale

Sunday 2 August: 10am – 1pm or again between 2pm – 5pm

Enter the jaws of an aluminium whale for a three minute theatre show from Coventry theatre company Talking Birds and discover a special sea-side inspired tale. The Whale is suitable for all ages, fully accessible for wheelchair users and has a hearing loop for hearing aid users.

Balloonatic

Sunday 9 August: 12 noon – 4.30pm

Check out balloon modelling group, Balloonatic, as they create balloon sculptures of all shapes and sizes. Suitable for all ages.

Punch and Judy

Sunday 16 August: Performances at 11am, 1pm and again at 3pm

Catch some traditional seaside entertainment with a Punch and Judy show. ‘Professor’ Clive Chandler of Tip Top Puppets will be performing three shows throughout the day. Suitable for all ages.

Pavement Art workshop

Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August: 10am – 5pm

Take part in a seaside-style pavement art workshop where visitors can transform the terrace of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre or watch the scene take shape throughout the day. Suitable for all ages.

The Wind and The Sun by Tell Tale Hearts and In Situ Circus Theatre

Sunday 30 August: Performances at 12 noon, 1.30pm and again at 3.30pm

Enjoy some live theatre with this special mini-play based on Aesop’s fable, The Wind and the Sun, and you may even become part of the action. Suitable for all ages.

The Bone Ensemble’s Caravania!

Sunday 6 September: 11am – 5pm, 20 minute performances throughout the day

Check out an interactive beach, and journey into space with special 20 minute performances based in a caravan. Caravania! by The Bone Ensemble, is suitable for ages five to 11. A range of fun activities are also available for all ages.

Visit www.rsc.org.uk/stratford-on-sea for more details

Note: All Stratford-on-Sea activities take place on the Bancroft Terrace, Stratford-upon-Avon and children must be accompanied by an adult.

Theatregoers will be treated to open-air productions of classic stories this summer while surrounded by the blooming flowers at Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

Following the success of last year’s performances, that attracted hundreds of guests, the Edgbaston-based gardens will launch theatre season on July 1. For three weeks, theatre fans can enjoy a different performance every Wednesday. The spectacular stories, produced by popular touring theatre companies, include Jane Eyre, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest.

Chapterhouse Theatre will receive a warm welcome back to the Botanical Gardens, after successful productions of Sherlock Holmes, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Jungle Book in 2014. Fairies, lovers and magic will return to the 15-acre gardens as A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes control of the grounds on July 8. Last year, this performance attracted a mammoth 700 people.

Lincoln-based Chapterhouse will also be kicking off the celebrations with a special performance of Jane Eyre on July 1. The classic tale – adapted from Charlotte Bronte’s novel – will have audience members swooning as the tale comes to life. The stop off at Botanical Gardens is a part of the group’s 16th year of touring the UK and Ireland, bringing some of the best-loved classics to idyllic garden settings.

Shakespearian magic won’t end there, as Gloucester-based Rain and Shine Theatre – that has been described by The Stage magazine as “one of the best companies touring open air theatre” – bring The Tempest to the flowering gardens on July 15. Guests will be able to watch as the mystery of Prospero’s island unfolds in this family-friend performance.

http://www.birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk