There will be numerous events to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria, who was born on 24 May 1819. One place celebrating the occasion is Osborne, Victoria and Albert's beloved holiday home on the Isle of Wight. It will have a new display showing some of the gifts the royal couple received and exchanged. There's also a dedicated Victoria's Island Trail that you can follow around Osborne and beyond to take in some of the queen's favourite spots on the isle.
Castle Howard near York is set to host the first BBC Countryfile Live event in the north from August 15-18. The stately home will be the focus of displays and exhibits that will showcase the best of the northern countryside. Expect it to be an even more action-packed event as the BBC's popular programme also celebrates 30 years in 2019. The show will also take place at its usual home, Blenheim Palace, earlier in the month too.
It's a big year for Britain's forests as The Forestry Commission marks its 100th anniversary – the body was established by an act of parliament in 1919 as a response to timber shortages suffered during the First World War. A year-long, nationwide programme of events is planned including The Big Forest Find where both seasoned and budding wildlife enthusiasts are invited to discover and record what's in their local forest with experts.
The British Museum's treasures from the Islamic world have a new home in the Albukhary Foundation Galleries, a stunning space that opened late in 2018. You'll find an outstanding collection of art, archaeological finds and everyday objects connected to Islamic communities from across the globe on display. Also new is the I am Ashurbanipal: King of the World, King of Assyria exhibition, which will run until 24 February 2019.
A new military attraction, the Royal Artillery Museum, is due to open on the Salisbury Plain in spring 2019. The area, already a major training ground for the army, was selected as the base for the new military museum and exhibition centre by the Royal Artillery Collection. The purpose-built interactive attraction will immerse visitors in the 300-year story of the artillery arm of the British Army and hold one of the UK's largest military collections.
A new vineyard hotel will open its doors this spring at Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey. The winery has transformed its seven-bedroom b&b farmhouse into a lovely 17-bedroom hotel complete with bar and Orangery restaurant. Guests can partake in complimentary wine-tasting tutorials or soak in the scenery by following the seven miles of trails that loop through the vineyard.
To mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death some of his greatest drawings from the Royal Collection will go on show across the country. Exhibitions will run from 1 February until 6 May simultaneously in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Southampton and Sunderland. Each venue will display 12 drawings. Over 200 sheets will then be brought together at The Queen’s Gallery in London (24 May – 13 October) to form part of the largest exhibition of da Vinci’s work in over 65 years.
Opened by Queen Victoria in 1894 after seven years of construction, the Manchester Ship Canal played a major role in helping the north west become an industrial powerhouse. The historic waterway is celebrating 125 years in 2019 so why not take a trip along this impressive feat of engineering? Mersey Ferries has cruises along the 36 miles from Eastham on the Mersey estuary to Salford in Greater Manchester.
Jane Austen's House Museum has been open for 70 years in 2019. To celebrate, on the museum's official opening date, July 23, the first 70 visitors will be able to enter at the original 1949 ticket price of 1/6d (the equivalent to £2.34 today). There will also be a programme of special displays, a series of director's talk and tours, an Austen music workshop, writing workshops, guided walks and a special birthday celebration event on July 27.
A statue of Emmeline Pankhurst was unveiled in Manchester's St Peter's Square on 14 December 2018 – exactly 100 years to the day that some women voted for the first time in a British general election. The statue of the leader of the British suffragette movement was commissioned to redress the fact that the city had only one public statue of a female: Queen Victoria in Piccadilly Gardens. It was designed by local sculptor Hazel Reeve.
Visitors to Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse will start to see the first of many improvements in 2019. Dates are still to be confirmed, but as part of a series of projects to transform the experience at the royal residences the medieval undercroft at Windsor will be transformed into its first permanent café. The ground floor will be opened up, reinstating George IV's entrance hall and giving visitors the chance to experience the State Entrance where the Queen's guests arrive (pictured). Take a look at Britain's other pretty palaces too.
One of the most important and best-preserved medieval bishops' palaces in Europe, Auckland Castle, will reopen next year after a multi-million-pound redevelopment programme. The Auckland Project, a destination centred around art, faith and heritage, will include the UK's first museum dedicated to the arts and culture of Spain. The first of its new attractions, the UK’s first Mining Art Gallery, a walled and purpose-built Auckland Tower visitor centre, are already open.
One of the largest and most significant medical collections in the world will be unveiled next autumn as The Science Museum's new medicine galleries open. Over 2,500 extraordinary medical artefacts, spanning more than 500 years of history, will reveal how our lives have been transformed by changes in medical research and practice. The striking new space on the first floor of the museum will include a huge bronze sculpture (pictured) by contemporary artist Marc Quinn.
The doors to the Hard Rock Hotel are set to open this spring on the corner of Marble Arch and Park Lane in London's west end. The site was once home to the Cumberland Hotel, which played host to many musical legends including Jimi Hendrix. The new hotel will have around 1,000 rooms and suites, and two bars with music, as well as a Hard Rock Café serving American classics with a British twist.
Forget the monkeys, it's all about the dinosaurs at Hampshire's Marwell Zoo in 2019. The wildlife park will become the first attraction in the world to host a collection of giant Lego brick dinosaurs. There will be a total of 50 life-sized sculptures, painstakingly built with Lego bricks to spot, so grab a spotter's guide – just watch out for the fearsome T-Rex. At 26-foot, it is the largest touring LEGO brick dinosaur model ever made. The kids can also try their hand at making their own creations. Dates: 5 April to 1 September 2019.
The largest and most comprehensive exhibition ever staged in the UK on the House of Dior will have fashion fans all a-flutter next year. Taking place from 2 February until 14 July at the Victoria & Albert Museum, there will be over 500 objects including some of Dior's personal possessions and 200 rare haute-couture garments. It's the V&A's biggest fashion exhibition since its hugely popular Alexander McQueen display in 2015. Highlights include a gown Dior created for Princess Margaret's 21st birthday celebrations.
The newest member of Soho House's British brigade is scheduled to open its doors in Brighton in 2019. The members club with bedrooms, spa and restaurant will open in Brighton's Madeira Terraces, as part of the ongoing regeneration of Brighton's seafront. It's set to be a popular summer hangout with a rooftop bar and pool.
The Anglo-Saxon landscape of Sutton Hoo is currently undergoing a huge £4million project to transform the National Trust site in Suffolk. Plans include a series of new walking trails, a 17 metre-high viewing tower overlooking the ancient burial mounds, and a full-size sculpture of the famous burial boat that was excavated in 1939. The site is currently closed while work is carried out, but it will re-open to the public later in 2019.
Yorkshire's iconic landmark Whitby Abbey will reopen in spring 2019 after closing for the autumn and winter for substantial renovations. When it reopens, the English Heritage property will feature a newly designed museum with a dramatic new exhibition on the evocative monastic ruins. There will also be interpretation points across the headland, a sensory trail for families, and a small coffee shop.
Hole up aboard a historic ship as the Fingal opens for business in January 2019 after its £5million development into a floating luxury hotel. The former Northern LighthouseBoard ship, which is permanently berthed in Edinburgh's historic Port of Leith, has been developed by The Royal Yacht Britannia's trading company, Royal Yacht Enterprises, into a glamorous hotel. It has 23 cabins, including some with private decks, a restaurant and public decks for enjoying the quayside views. Discover what to see during your stay in the Scottish capital here.
Tate Britain's highly anticipated Van Gogh and Britain will open on 27 March and run until 11 August. It's the largest exhibition of the extraordinary artist's work in nearly a decade and the Tate's first Van Gogh exhibition since 1947. It will bring together 40 paintings of the artist's most famous works, including one of the Sunflowers paintings and Self Portrait, and explore how he was inspired by British art, literature and culture.
Luxury hotel Rockcliffe Hall will assemble some of the country's top professional chefs – Andrew Pern, James Mackenzie and Mark Jordan among them – at its new Festival of Food this February. The festival will launch with an artisan food fair, followed by a series of special events, lunches, wine tastings and dinners. Highlights include a banquet inspired by produce from the north east and the finale, a black tie gala dinner. The event, from February 2-9, will raise money for Hospitality Action.
Putt your way into a prehistoric adventure and around a land of dinosaurs at the new Dino Islands: A Golf Adventure in Sandham Gardens. The multi-level 18-hole course will offer a number of water features including waterfalls and volcanoes as well as life-sized dinosaurs. It's due to open before Easter, perfect timing for holiday-time fun. Other planned developments at Sandham Gardens include a Sky Trail.
Is 2019 the year that you plan to improve your cookery skills? Then head along to The Grand York's brand new cookery school, which is set to open in March. The state-of-the-art new kitchen space will be overseen by head tutor and accomplished chef Andrew Dixon with various guest tutors. Expect courses on Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine, cocktails and canapés, street food, and baking – it also plans to run kids cooking classes in the holidays.
You're never too old to admire the genius things you can do with Lego as this bar made from a million little bricks proves. Popping up in a top-secret location in London's Shoreditch for just three nights in April, you'll need to be quick to bag a ticket for the 90-minute slots where you can drink, eat and play. Build your own Lego creations or taking a turn on the bar's ping pong table made from 22,500 bricks.
Opening at the Royal Academy in March 2019, the Renaissance Nude will explore the changes in how nudity has been viewed across time. The exhibition will include around 85 works by masters such as Titian, Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Dürer and Cranach, created from 1400 to 1530. It will run until June 2019 in The Sackler Wing and includes Agnolo Bronzino's St. Sebastian (pictured).
A major new UK arts event launches in 2019, the Yorkshire Sculpture International. The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Art Gallery, the Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park will host the new triennial event. The free 100-day event across the two cities revolves around the idea that there is a basic human impulse to make and connect with objects. It will run from 22 June until 29 September and will feature sculpture by local and global artists including two major new commissions by Huma Bhabha in Wakefield and Ayşe Erkmen in Leeds.
Learn about the bloody Anglo-Saxon history of Staffordshire at the new Battle and Tribute gallery which is set to open at Tamworth Castle in autumn 2019. Themes of battle, tribute and town life in Anglo-Saxon Tamworth will be explored through the hands-on interactive exhibits and immersive experiences. The historic town was where the most powerful and influential woman in Anglo-Saxon England, Aethelflaed, daughter of King Alfred the Great, died in June 918.
The complex relationship between the Russian and the British royals over the centuries is explored in this fascinating exhibition at the Queen's Gallery in Buckingham Palace. It features numerous works of art and lavish objects that were given as gifts between the two monarchies, dating back to the time of Peter the Great through to Tsar Nicholas II. It runs until 28 April.
Discover the place where the story of Peter Pan began and inspire your offspring to create stories of their own. The Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust opens the doors to the new National Centre for Children's Literature and Storytelling in spring 2019 at Moat Brae. J.M. Barrie said playing in the enchanting garden of the Georgian house as a child inspired his story. The new attraction will include exhibitions, interactive displays and a discovery garden with adventure trails and figures from Neverland.
Bristol looks set to make waves with its new inland surfing attraction, due to open in autumn 2019. The Wave, which is being constructed on the edge of the city, will feature a lagoon where keen surfers can ride the surf generated by the latest wave-making technology. The surfing lake will have different zones from gentle sections to suit beginners to whopping waves to challenge the pros. There will also be lovely gardens, places to eat and camping accommodation.
Liverpool's dockside modern art gallery is to stage the first big UK show devoted to American artist Keith Haring. Part of the legendary New York art scene of the early 1980s and known for his political activism, he died in 1990. The exhibition will have more than 70 of his works, including large-scale drawings and paintings, many on display in the UK for the first time, as well flyers, posters, video and photographs. The show promises to evoke "the vibrant energy" of 1980s New York art and street culture.
The world's biggest and most important women's golf event comes to Scotland this year as 12 of the best players from Europe take on their American counterparts in the Solheim Cup. The biennial tournament takes place at the gorgeous Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire from 9-15 September. Children can attend for free.
Leeds welcomes a shiny new theatre as the Leeds Playhouse (formerly known as the West Yorkshire Playhouse) is set to open in autumn 2019 after undergoing a £15 million redevelopment. The new building promises improved access to the theatre, a new city-facing entrance, new seating and a restaurant and bar. It will also have a third performance space in the undercroft.
Discover some of the west coast of Scotland's myriad marine life on the new Hebridean Whale Trail, which is set to launch in summer 2019. The network of 25 whale-watching and whale heritage sites has been developed by the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. Scotland is home to a quarter of the world's whale and dolphin species and visitors will have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the amazing marine wildlife by following the trails.
Expect a convivial atmosphere as crowds congregate in Harrogate and elsewhere to cheer on the best cyclists in the world as Yorkshire hosts the UCI Road World Championships from 22-29 September. Over 1,000 riders from 75 different countries will compete in 12 races over eight days. The routes will take in Yorkshire's spectacular countryside with provisional race start venues including Beverley, Bradford, Doncaster, Leeds, Northallerton, Ripon and York. All races will finish in Harrogate.
A new film adaptation of Frances Hodgson-Burnett's classic children's novel The Secret Garden is set for release in 2019. Directed by Marc Munden and starring Colin Firth and Julie Walters, the film tells the story of a young orphaned girl who was sent from India to live with her neglectful uncle in Yorkshire. Visit some of the lush locations used for the film such as Helmsley Walled Garden, which was used as the secret garden, and Duncombe Park also in the town of Helmsley. Farndale in the North York Moors National Park was another key location.
With the recent release of Otto Bathurst's new Robin Hood film, there's no better time to explore the legendary and ancient woodlands of Nottinghamshire. Find the best route through the forest at the striking new Sherwood Forest visitor centre, which officially opened in autumn 2018 after a £5m investment programme. It features an amphitheatre where regular performances will be staged, an adventure play area, shop, café and outdoor terrace. The old centre and car park, which was within a designated site of special interest, will be returned to forest.
Rural Kent is the location for the latest little opening in the boutique Pig hotel stable, joining other properties in the group at Brockenhurst, New Forest and Bath among others. Opening May 2019, The Pig at Bridge Place is set in a 17th-century manor house just outside the historic village of Bridge in the Nailbourne valley, three miles south of Canterbury. The 28-room hotel, which was formerly Bridge Place Country Club, will include seven hop picker's huts.
The Grade II-listed Harlyn House near Padstow in Cornwall will also open as a Pig hotel in December 2019 after extensive renovations. Just a short stroll from the village of Harlyn and beaches of Constantine Bay, the 28-room hotel will make the most of its sensational sea views. There will be 11 rooms in the main house, 12 in slate-roofed stables, five garden rooms, three shepherds huts and two timber-clad potting sheds. The old walled garden will be restored to its former glory and produce food for the restaurant.
Not only does Snowdonia have beautiful mountains and beaches, but it has whisky too. You can sign up for tours at Aber Falls Distillery's new visitor centre. Set at the foot of the Aber Falls in the village of Abergwyngregyn, the distillery launches tours next year for groups of up to 12 people. Find out how the whisky is made, take part in master classes and most importantly sample the goods.
The ever-changing neighbourhood of King's Cross in north London will see another exciting new opening in 2019 as The Standard opens its first property outside of the US. Located opposite King's Cross and St Pancras Station in the historic Camden Town Annex, the super-cool hotel will have 266 rooms and a rooftop restaurant, run by celebrated Bristol chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias. See our guide for other restaurants in the capital too.
Balls at the ready, it's Liverpool's turn to host the Netball World Cup this summer. The four-yearly tournament will be held at ACC Liverpool from 12-21 July and will see host nation England as the second seeds, following their Commonwealth Games gold medal in April 2018. For ideas about what else to see and do in the city take a look at our guide to the perfect weekend in Liverpool.
Set your sights on Blackpool this summer as the first five-star hotel in the Lancashire resort opens its doors. Set on the famous Promenade near Blackpool Tower, the Sands Venue Resort Hotel will have 96 rooms including some pricey penthouse suites with prime sea views. Or for those on a tighter budget, easyHotel will also be opening a new purpose-built property on the promenade.
North Norfolk welcomes a lovely new boutique hotel next year as the Harper opens in Langham. Set in the former Langham Glass site, the historic Norfolk brick-and-stone building will have 32 gorgeous bedrooms, two restaurants, and a luxury spa with a swimming pool. Its fine dining restaurant, The Stove, promises to be a destination in its own right, serving up the top-notch Norfolk produce with Nik Hare as the executive chef.
Named after landscape painter JMW Turner, the annual Turner Prize is one of the world's most prestigious annual art awards. Every other year, the prize leaves Tate Britain and is presented at a venue outside of London. Fittingly in 2019 it will be presented at Turner Contemporary in Turner's beloved seaside town of Margate. The Kent gallery is also named after the artist whose work was greatly inspired by the east Kent coast.
Expect sea shanties, live cooking demonstrations, angling competitions and talks from local fishermen at the inaugural Whitby Fish and Ship Festival from 18-19 May. The new event will celebrate all things to do with the Yorkshire seaside town's seafood, fishing and maritime heritage. There will also be a special seafood trail around local restaurants and an exhibition at the Captain Cook Memorial Museum.
Now read our guide to 50 British landmarks everyone should see.
Leeds Castle reaches the grand old age of 900 in 2019 and will celebrate its history and heritage in suitably flamboyant style. A series of special events and activities are planned, including a Carnival of History from July 27-28, 2019. The spectacular event will include a procession, large-scale costumes and re-enactors who'll take visitors through the nine centuries of the castle's history across two days.
Longleat will unveil its newest residents at Easter. The estate's new indoor-outdoor enclosure, Koala Creek, will be the only place you can see koalas in England and the only place to see southern koalas in Europe. The safari park is working with the Southern Australian government and Adelaide's Cleland Wildlife Park to launch an international breeding and awareness programme. It's also developed a 4,000-tree eucalyptus plantation to feed the six hungry bears. Look out for the pair of southern hairy-nosed wombats who will be joining their Aussie compatriots too.