There is some unspoken guilt that accumulates over a British winter – the slow realisation that we really haven’t lived much for the last four months. It’s not particularly enticing to be leaving your house with a brolly in one hand, all coated up, knowing very well you’ll have to brace some relentless winds and soul-sucking rain to get to where you want to be.

But the sky has brighten up and now, it’s much about the journey as it is the destination. With the bank holiday on the horizon and some vast hopes of clearer skies and a golden sun, we can now venture out and enjoy everything our beautiful city has to offer. And there’s a lot, particularly this month: from a landmark new museum that has opened east to open-air theatres and dazzling flower exhibitions in Chelsea. Here are a few ideas to note:

1. V&A East, Stratford

After years of anticipation, London’s most talked-about new museum finally opened its doors last month. A decade in the making, V&A East opened on 18 April in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford. Five floors explore how creativity changes the world, rooted in the communities and voices shaping global culture right now. The inaugural paid exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story, charts 125 years of Black music-making in Britain, spanning four continents in a story of excellence, struggle, resilience and joy. Tickets start from £22 for this exhibition and you can find them here.

Entry is free to the permanent galleries; the museum is open daily 10am–6pm, with late nights on Thursdays and Saturdays until 10pm.

2. Summer at the Shakespeare’s Globe

The Globe’s open-air season is well underway on Bankside. This year’s programme is led by Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children – running from 7 May to 27 June. Directed by Globe Associate Artist Elle While and starring Globe Artistic Director Michelle Terry as the fiercely determined Mother Courage, the production follows a canteen-wagon owner attempting to profit from war whilst desperately trying to protect her children from it. Written on the eve of the Second World War, Brecht’s anti-war classic explores survival, sacrifice, greed, and the human cost of conflict. It also marks the first time Brecht has been staged at Shakespeare’s Globe – a striking shift for a theatre more commonly associated with Shakespeare.

Also running is A Midsummer Night’s Dream from 14 May, bringing Shakespeare’s chaotic tale of love, illusion, and mischief to the Globe’s open-air stage. Standing tickets remain available from £5.

3. Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Fancy going out out (aka an open-air theatre doesn’t quite cut it)? London’s loveliest outdoor stage is back for another summer beneath the trees in Regent’s Park. The season opens with the world premiere of Sherlock Holmes, running from 2 May to 6 June. Directed by Sean Holmes and starring Joshua James in the title role, the production follows Holmes and Watson as a mysterious woman and a priceless jewel arrive at Baker Street, pulling the detective into a dangerous new case.

The big summer centrepiece is Cats – the first major UK revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical in years. Based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot, the musical features classics including “Memory” and runs from 25 July to 19 September.

4. London Craft Week

London Craft Week 2026 returns this week (from the 11 to 17 May) across 200+ London venues, showcasing more than 70 craft disciplines from around 35 countries. The festival spans traditional and contemporary practices like ceramics, textiles, silversmithing, glassblowing, and leatherwork.

Key highlights include a new “Building Crafts” strand offering rare access to heritage-making sites such as St Paul’s Cathedral and the Palace of Westminster. The programme also features talks such as Making Matters, exploring the role of craft in culture, alongside more intimate projects like Slow Ways Studio, which documents UK heritage crafts through a long-distance walking project. Most events are free, though some workshops and talks require booking, and the symposium is ticketed separately.

5. London Foodies Festival, Syon Park

Known as the Gastro-Glastonbury (what we believe is a self-proclaimed, but quite fitting), Foodies Festival is now touring the UK and will return to Syon Park, Brentford, from 23–25 May (bank holiday weekend).

This will be biggest and most exciting London edition to date, marking over 21 years as the UK’s largest and longest-running touring food, drink and music festival. Expect three packed days of top chefs (including some familar faces from Masterchef), live music (including Scouting for Girls, Boyzlife and Gareth Gates’ Boyband in the Park), and a selection of experiences and workshops. Ideal for families as there are numerous activities for kids. Tickets start from £25 for a single adult, with some family packages available.

6. RHS Chelsea Flower Show

The world’s most splendiferous flower show, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, is returning soon and running from 19–23 May at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The first two days are for Royal Horticultural Society members only, with public entry from Thursday 21 May. The show is made up of large Show Gardens, the Great Pavilion, and smaller garden displays, with designers from around the world competing to create standout installations.

Most of the focus is on new planting ideas, design concepts, and gardens that respond to real environmental challenges. Key 2026 highlights include The Tate Britain Garden, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith, and Sarah Eberle, who’s returning with a new Show Garden.

7. Henry Moore: Monumental Nature, Kew Gardens

If you need another excuse to visit the Kew Gardens for the fourth time, we’ve got you sorted. Henry Moore: Monumental Nature is the latest sculpture exhibition to land at Royal Botanic Gardens, and the biggest ever outdoor exhibition from the artist. Henry Moore was one of Britain’s most important 20th-century sculptors. He is best known for large abstract bronze sculptures that often resemble simplified human figures, especially reclining bodies or mother-and-child forms.

This exhibition will be running from 9 May–27 September, showing large bronze sculptures placed outdoors across the gardens, plus smaller works and drawings inside the Shirley Sherwood Gallery. Tickets start from £25 for a single adult.

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