Our top stories for 2024…

Hampshire’s birthday celebrations for Jane Austen

Hampshire is planning big celebrations to mark major milestones for one of the county’s best loved daughters. The author’s home whilst she wrote and published all six of her novels, Jane Austen’s House, will celebrate 75 years as a museum in 2024 before the county marks the 250th anniversary of Jane’s birth in 2025. Celebrations start in late 2024 and run throughout 2025, culminating on the anniversary (16 December). More on Austen’s Hampshire, here.

 

 

 

Hull set to reveal its £30m Maritime City new look

A city revitalised in 2017 as the UK’s City of Culture is set to be transformed once again as a five-year project celebrating 800 years of seafaring history is finally revealed. Visitors to Hull in 2024 will get their first glimpse when two refurbished attractions re-open, Hull’s historic Spurn Lightship in the spring, followed later by the Arctic Corsair trawler at a new £3.8m ‘eco-friendly’ visitor attraction. Hull’s Maritime Museum re-opens in early 2025.

 

Explorer who named Australia returns to Lincolnshire

A Lincolnshire explorer who helped put Australia on the map will return home in 2024, more than 200 years after his death. The long journey home of Capt. Matthew Flinders, the first man to circumnavigate Australia, is set to end on 13 July 2024 when his remains, carried by Royal Navy pall bearers, are reburied in his home village. Born and brought up in Donington, his remains will be interred in St Mary and the Holy Rood, where he was baptised.

 

A UK food revolution? In Stoke-on Trent?

There’s a food revolution taking place and its HQ is in a disused factory in the heart of The Potteries. Cris Cohen is the chef behind FEASTED, which is giving guests a whole new outlook on dining-out in the post-industrial setting of the city’s former Spode ceramics factory. It may be Stoke-on-Trent’s best kept secret, but word is spreading fast with bookings from the USA and Shanghai… and it will be featured on a new BBC TV food show in 2024

 

‘Hullywood’ takes a starring role

Forget Hollywood, ‘Hullywood’ is the place to be, and visitors heading to Hull will be able to follow in the footsteps of the stars on a new movie trail launching in 2024. Boosting the city’s set-jetting credentials, director Steve McQueen became the latest moviemaker to film in Hull in February 2023 for Blitz, which is set for a 2024 release, with stars Saoirse Ronan and Joanna Scanlan spotted filming in the city. Among other recent filming were scenes for Netflix drama Bodies, released in October 2023, as well as The Crown and Enola Holmes 2.

 

Stoke-on-Trent bids to become a World Craft City

Ambitious plans have been unveiled to make Stoke-on-Trent, the spiritual home of British ceramics, a ‘World Craft City’. Already known as a global capital of ceramics, the city has been shaped by its pottery production for centuries, and today is still home to world famous brands as well as award-winning attractions. Now the city has launched its bid to be recognised as a leading centre of crafts, artistry and innovation by joining a global network of over 50 craft cities from Cuba to India.

 

D-Day + 80

National commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day are expected to focus on Portsmouth, but many places in Hampshire played a pivotal role in the 6 June 1944 landings. Among them are the remains of the floating Mulberry Harbours at Lepe Country Park. At Southwick House, where General Eisenhower gave his famous “We go” order, visitors can see the original ‘D-Day Map’ during a special weekend (8 -9 June). Meanwhile, Portsmouth’s D-Day Story is the only museum in the UK dedicated to the invasion.

 

And there’s plenty more in Hampshire for 2024

From a new ride making a splash at the ‘UK’s Number 1’ family theme park to a fresh summer festival in Southampton, and an out-of-this-world wonder in Winchester, Hampshire is gearing up for a bumper 2024. Along with the usual mix of top attractions, year-round events and annual festivals, the New Year is also set to offer visitors to the county a few firsts, including the Museum of the Moon at Winchester Cathedral and a splashing new ride at Paultons Park. Photo: Museum of the Moon – Credit Bob Pitchford. Museum of the Moon artwork by artist Luke Jerram

 

New wildlife haven in Lincolnshire

Work is set to start in late summer 2024 to transform a former Lincolnshire golf course into the National Trust’s first coastal nature reserve in the Midlands. The site at Sandilands, along Lincolnshire’s less-well-known natural coast, will become a wetland nature reserve featuring open water, islands, reedbeds and ponds along with walkways and boardwalks. Creating a year-round haven for wildlife, plans also include a carbon neutral visitor hub with a café, and while work will be phased, the whole reserve and visitor centre is expected to be completed in 2025.

 

Plus…

New lease of life for the Viking Way

Stretching from the Humber Bridge through Lincolnshire to Rutland, the 149-mile-long Viking Way walking route has been given a new lease of life for 2024. Improvements have now been completed, including replacing stiles with more accessible ‘kissing gates’, building new bridges and adding new boardwalks, while a new visitor leaflet will also be produced.

East Yorkshire will grab you hook, line and sinker

Europe’s largest three day beach fishing contest returns to the East Yorkshire coast in 2024 – for its 30th anniversary event. Competitors from across the UK and the continent will fish the coast from Bridlington to Spurn Point for the Paul Roggeman European Open Beach Championship (1-3 March 2024). Among the top spots to fish year-round are Bridlington North Beach, probably best for family friendly fishing; Hornsea, which has easy parking and beach access; and Flamborough South Landing, while Bridlington South pier is also popular.

‘Herd’ the one about elephants in Staffordshire?

Visitors to Staffordshire during summer 2024 will be treated to a very unusual sight – a herd of elephants taking over the streets of two historic towns. In a “stampede of creativity”, the streets, parks and open spaces across Lichfield and Tamworth will host the free-to-view March of the Elephants fundraising trail of around 60 sculptures.

Going ‘loco’ in Hampshire

It’s faster than the famous Flying Scotsman, is the oldest surviving preserved Merchant Navy class locomotive and was built largely by a female workforce. It’s also coming home in 2024. After a 13 year restoration, the epic Canadian Pacific, built in 1941at a Hampshire works, is now set to be back on the tracks at heritage railway, the Watercress Line.