November 2025: England is set for a blockbuster year in 2026, with period dramas shining on screen, milestone anniversaries and major cultural openings across the country. Get ready for a year packed with literary legends, seaside celebrations, world-class sport, immersive art, unmissable events, brand-new stays and more…

Happy birthday to Beatrix Potter and Winnie-the-Pooh

2026 marks 160 years since the birth of Beatrix Potter, whose charming children's stories and illustrations will forever be associated with the Lake District – so look out for special events throughout the region. Winnie-the-Pooh will also turn 100, with celebrations at East Sussex's Ashdown Forest (the inspiration behind Hundred Acre Wood) and a touring exhibition of illustrations, manuscripts and memorabilia at Nymans, Tatton Park and Anglesey Abbey. Other big creative birthdays include John Constable's 250th (June), Eric Morecambe's 100th (May) and the Southbank Centre's 75th – while Aardman animation studio in Bristol, the creator of Wallace & Gromit, will turn 50. Believe it or not, it's also a quarter of a century since the first Harry Potter film was released.

Period dramas shine on screen

According to Expedia, 81% of Gen Z and Millennials plan trips around locations featured in their favourite films and TV. Next year, you can incorporate time-travelling too, with several high-profile costume dramas hitting our screens. In January, the movie adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet will bring Shakespeare's family to life – while showcasing the rural beauty of Herefordshire, where it was filmed. Other highlights include the new Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man movie (early 2026) and two new Peaky Blinders series (TBC 2026), a fourth season of Bridgerton (Surrey, Bath and London; Jan), and the Wuthering Heights movie starring Margot Robbie (Hertfordshire and Yorkshire; Feb). Netflix will present a fresh look at Pride and Prejudice (filmed in London, the Peak District and East Sussex), and a new film of Sense and Sensibility is currently in production – both release dates TBC.

Football fever

England always has football fever (after all, the modern game originated here!) but 2026 will be an exceptional year for the sport. Attending a Premier League game has been named one of Lonely Planet's Best in Travel Experiences for 2026, for its “unique window into the country's passions and character” – while the 2026 FIFA World Cup will kick off across the Atlantic in June. On home turf, Manchester City FC's Etihad Stadium will unveil its full £300m redevelopment, including a new museum, fan zone and The Medlock, a 401-room hotel (late 2026), and Everton FC's Hill Dickinson Stadium will continue its behind-the-scenes stadium tours (which launched in September 2025). Brighton & Hove Albion FC will celebrate its 125th birthday next August with a new exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery – a truly inspirational tale of football's underdogs – while Burslem's Port Vale FC will kick off the year with its 150th anniversary match on 4 January. Fans of Apple TV's footie favourite Ted Lasso can look forward to the fourth series (summer) after the cast were spotted filming in Richmond this September. Also looking ahead, Gurinder Chadha's sequel to Bend it Like Beckham will hit cinemas in 2027 and England's stadiums will be preparing for the arrival of UEFA EURO 2028, with matches set to take place in Manchester, London, Liverpool, Newcastle and Birmingham in June and July 2028.

Seaside celebrations

To the seaside! England's coastline will see new openings and anniversaries galore next year – including the 20th instalment of the Isles of Scilly's Walk Scilly festival (April), the 200th year of Cowes Week sailing regatta on the Isle of Wight (August) and the 90th birthday of Butlins. As Hull prepares to unveil the final phase of its £30m new attractions honouring its 800 years of seafaring history (spring), the city has been crowned one of National Geographic's Best Places in the World to Travel in 2026. On the North West coast, Southport 2026 will see the historic seaside town host a year-long programme of circus, theatre, art and music performances – such as Lightport (Feb), a light installation casting rainbows across the town. On Eric Morecambe's 100th birthday, Morecambe in Lancashire will celebrate its famous son with a comedy extravaganza (May) and The Bay International Film Festival will return to the town in January. Meanwhile, Blackpool Pleasure Beach will mark its 130th birthday and launch its new Aviktas “gyro swing” ride: a giant spinning pendulum, the first of its kind in the UK (TBC 2026) and the town's Royal Carlton Hotel will also be restored to its former glory in spring, a timely renaissance for the Art Deco icon. Folkestone's heritage Leas Lift cliff railway will reopen in spring, while London's Southbank Centre marks its 75th anniversary, with its A Poet in Every Port project which will see the National Poetry Library hit the road, bringing year-round performances and workshops to seaside towns including South Shields, Southend, Great Yarmouth and Penzance. And the final sections of the King Charles III England Coast Path are due to open in spring, when it will become the world's longest continual seaside hiking route: a whopping 2,700 miles (4,498km) running the length of England's coast.

See the world's sports stars in England

Beyond England's football fever, we're gearing up for the cricket ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 which will be held in Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, London, Birmingham and Southampton (June and July), Birmingham's European Athletics Championships (Aug) and the Formula E World Championship final  (Aug) in London. For something a little different, look to the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield (Jan) and the Paddleboarding World Cup on the English Riviera (May). E-sports are also taking off, with the launch of Sunderland's Gaming and Esports Arena (spring) and the DreamHack and ESL One tournaments in Birmingham (Mar). 

Mind-bending art and performance

Step into the unexpected at England's new immersive experiences and VR attractions. In Bristol, Wake The Tiger – the UK's largest immersive art experience – is getting even bigger, and a second outpost will open in west London with a giant maze and interactive installations (summer). Kynren, Durham's outdoor theatre extravaganza with 1,000 performers, will launch The Storied Lands in summer: a live-action theme park with vast sets and special effects bringing 2,000 years of British history to life. For more mind-bending action, look to London for Bompas & Parr's new Museum of Shakespeare (TBC), the world's largest immersive Pixar exhibition (Feb) and Sandbox VR's Age of Dinosaurs, a prehistoric journey created in partnership with the Natural History Museum (spring).

England's unsung heroes

Now's the moment to explore England's lesser-known corners: our towns, villages and regions that are coming into the spotlight. Like the creative quarter of Digbeth in Birmingham, recently named one of Time Out's coolest neighbourhoods – where the new Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man movie was filmed (release date TBC), and where BBC Birmingham will move to in 2027. Also in the West Midlands, Wolverhampton will mark 25 years of city status in 2026 with 12 months of special events. Happy 100th birthday to Manchester's sister city Salford, which will see its new Salford Rise elevated walkway open in the summer – and you can celebrate 400 years since Leeds was awarded the Royal City Charter at its all-new Roundhay music festival in July. In Lancashire, Fleetwood will debut its Cine-Wyre Film Festival in February, while Dorset's newly crowned Town of Culture 2026 Wimborne Minster will host a year of festivities. Many high-profile exhibitions are heading to England's regions too, such as Barnsley Museum's Cleopatra & the Queens of Egypt (from Mar), Wolverhampton Art Gallery's Andy Warhol Artist Rooms (May to Oct) and the touring Meltdown music festival – part of the Southbank Centre's nationwide 75th anniversary programme (throughout 2026).

New spas, saunas and water wellness

There's a wealth of new ways to relax, from saunas and ice baths at Sheffield's Scandi-style Güs wellness hub and Norwich's The Lion's Den rooftop, to home-grown vinotherapy spa treatments at Horsham's South Lodge hotel – all recently launched in winter 2025. Yorkshire's Gisborough Hall and Bath's Francis Hotel will open new spas in spring, while in summer Canary Wharf will make a splash with Sea Lanes lido pool – created by the team behind Sea Lanes Brighton, the UK's first National Open Water Swimming Centre. Thermae Bath Spa will mark its 20th anniversary with special events and treatments, and Cambridge House, Auberge Collection – a new hotel in Mayfair – will debut its two-storey wellness centre in spring.

Battle of Hastings 960th anniversary sees first UK display of the Bayeux Tapestry

The fight for England's throne in 1066, between the Anglo-Saxons and Normans, altered our nation's governance and culture forever. 960 years later, hundreds of actors and horses will recreate the Normans' victory at Battle Abbey in East Sussex, the very spot where the Battle of Hastings was fought: the biggest reenactment to-date, with living camps and interactive activities (Oct). In September, the Bayeux Tapestry – which depicts the battle – will be displayed in the UK for the first time at London's British Museum, ahead of the 2027 Year of the Normans, a cultural celebration across England and France to mark the millennium of William the Conqueror's birth.

Top hotel launches across England

From five-star suites to rural retreats, a huge range of new hotels will open across England next year. In Derbyshire, Chatsworth Estate will open a new hotel and restaurant The Hide, while CABÜ in the Cotswolds will debut low-carbon cabins featuring hot tubs, saunas and plunge pools (spring). For the first time in its 41-year history, The Groucho Club is set to venture outside the capital with a new hotel and members' club in West Yorkshire (TBC 2026). Luxury hospitality brand Fairmont will launch Fairmont Cheshire The Mere in Knutsford (summer) – and in Bristol, Hotel Gotham Bristol will transform the city's historic Guildhall into a lavish new landmark hotel (early 2026).  For a country escape, Dumbleton Hall in the Cotswolds will open shepherds' huts and treehouses in spring, and New Forest hotel Chewton Glen will mark its 60th birthday after revamping its suites and dining last year. High-profile London launches include Fitzrovia's The Newman (early 2026) and Mayfair's Cambridge House, Auberge Collection (spring) – plus the hotly anticipated Waldorf Astoria Admiralty Arch in the iconic Admiralty Arch (spring).

Trips down memory lane

Many of Britain's best-loved childhood books, movies and characters will make a return next year, such as a new film adaptation of Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree starring Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield (March) and Netflix's Narnia film (Nov), a retelling of C.S. Lewis's children's tale written by Greta Gerwig – who also wrote Barbie. Fans of Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows can follow the new sculpture trail at Woodchester Park in Gloucestershire (May–June), Southport will host its new Books Alive! children's literature festival (Oct) turning the town into a living storybook and London's Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration – founded by the world-renowned BFG and Matilda illustrator – will open in May. It's also 25 years since the film release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: the perfect excuse to follow in Harry and co's footsteps at Northumberland's Alnwick Castle, Oxford University's Bodleian Library and on set at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. Looking ahead, there's a new Harry Potter TV series on the horizon too (2027).

In search of the sacred

Travellers are turning to faith, with almost half (47%) of us considering a “spiritual journey” to sacred sites or mystical spots, according to research by Booking.com. That could entail an equinox visit to Avebury's Neolithic stone circles in Wiltshire, or walking one of England's pilgrimage routes – such as North Yorkshire's Way of St Hild, Durham's Northern Saints Trails or Canterbury's Augustine Camino. Northumberland's Holy Island of Lindisfarne offers everything from seal-spotting and beach walks to mead-tasting and music festivals – and can be reached, of course, by a pilgrimage on-foot. If neopaganism and #witchtok are more your thing, look to Cornwall's Museum of Witchcraft and Magic (reopening in April), or Burley in the New Forest – dubbed England's answer to Salem for its rich history of sorcery. Seek out the North York Moors National Park's new dark skies observatory which will launch in February, or explore the crystal shops and energy healing experiences of Glastonbury, Totnes and Whitby. 800-year-old Greyfriars in Lincoln, believed to be England's oldest friary, will reopen in spring following major restoration supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Or maybe you'll try “champing”, an overnight camping adventure in one of England's historic churches?

Homegrown musical talent takes to the stage

What do RAYE, Lily Allen, and Take That have in common? These English A-listers will all be gracing our arenas next year! For noughties nostalgia, The Streets will tour their 2004 album A Grand Don't Come for Free in full (June–Aug) and animated alt-rockers Gorillaz will hit the road (Mar–June), while indie favourites The Maccabees are back for a series of open-air gigs in London, Leeds, Cornwall, Bristol and Brighton (July). It's a fallow year for Glastonbury, but look out for a fresh music festival at Blenheim Palace (June-July) and the first Roundhay Festival in Leeds (July), to be headlined by Lewis Capaldi. In February, The BRIT Awards will leave London for the very first time, heading to Manchester's Co-op Live arena – which will also host the MOBO Awards (Mar). And who knows, maybe we'll even see the Gallagher brothers taking England's arenas by storm again in 2026.

Soul nourishment: Slow down and savour

England has a bumper crop of new slow-food openings next year, including Chatsworth Estate's The Hide hotel and restaurant (spring) and the first wine tastings at Yorkshire's Loversall Vineyard (winter). Just in time for spring and summer, CABÜ in the Cotswolds – featuring low-energy but high-style timber cabins – will also offer a “sitooterie” for al fresco barbecues, dining and gatherings. Celebrities are getting in on the action, too: after all, Sir David Beckham is now a professional beekeeper, and Beyonce and Jay Z are reportedly moving to the Cotswolds! For farm-to-fork dining, book Guy Ritchie's new WildKitchen experience at Herefordshire's Rosemaund Farm Distillery, with a guided tour, tasting and fire-cooked lunch of hyper-local cuisine (Feb). In Surrey, Simon Stallard of Cornwall's Hidden Hut will launch The Fire Club (Jan) at The Walled Garden bringing long-table open fire feasts and guest-chef residencies. The menu at Freyja, a new restaurant with rooms on Northumberland's Close House Estate, will feature organic produce grown on the estate (autumn), while the Bamford Group – of Daylesford Organic Farm fame – will open the first phase of its hotel in the Cotswolds village of Kingham (2026–28). Other foodie highlights include Wiltshire's new wine-led hotel Corsham House (Feb), seasonal Cotswolds fare at the renovated Wild Duck pub (spring), and the multi-million-pound gastro redevelopment of County Durham's Rockliffe Hall – which will include a new fine-dining restaurant (TBC 2026).

Seeking stillness: Gardens, forests and outdoor art

Silence is golden next year, with a growing appetite for getaways that offer genuine tranquillity. According to the VisitEngland Domestic Sentiment Tracker*, 39% of people say they simply “want to get away from it all and have a rest” – while research by Booking.com indicates that 25% of us are planning trips to embrace “quieter” hobbies such as foraging and wildlife watching. British solitude seekers needn't venture far, for there are new peaceful joys popping up all over England – including an outdoor exhibition of Henry Moore's sculptures at Kew Gardens and Wakehurst (May to Sep) and the opening of RHS Chinese Streamside Garden at RHS Garden Bridgewater, Salford (TBC 2026). Kielder Forest in Northumberland, England's biggest woodland, will celebrate its 100th anniversary too: a glorious location for birdwatching, watersports and spotting red squirrels, while Kielder Castle will reopen with new facilities in summer.

*Those planning to take a domestic overnight trip Jan-March 2026. Published November 2025; for the full report visit visitbritain.org/research-insights/domestic-sentiment-tracker.

Fantastic freebies

Value is paramount in 2026, and there's a wealth of free activities and attractions launching across England next year. It won't cost a penny to visit the new-look Lincoln Museum (opening in summer), join the year-round centenary celebrations of Portsmouth, nor to appreciate the groundbreaking art and design on display at London's new V&A East Museum (spring). Other freebie highlights include cultural events as part of Southport 2026, exploring Bristol's legendary street art – named one of Lonely Planet's Best in Travel experiences for 2026 – and hiking, stargazing and cycling in the Peak District, which will mark its 75th anniversary as one of England's treasured National Parks next year. London's Southbank Centre will also blow out 75 birthday candles, celebrating with complimentary year-round events, exhibitions and workshops all over the country, while in Salford tickets to The Lowry's immersive LOWRY 360 exhibition (ongoing) and We Invented the Weekend festival (June) will also be free.

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Notes to editors:

• VisitEngland's comprehensive What's New in England 2026 overview can be downloaded here
• Registration to the VisitBritain asset library is required to download images. Register here.

For more detail visit www.visitengland.com/media-centre / www.visitengland.com