Art, animals, gin and dancing: The museums and galleries to go to this Valentine's weekend
This article originally appeared on Culture24.
Seeking inspiration for Valentine's weekend and beyond? Click on the links to find out more about each event
© Charles Dickens MuseumSet to flickering candles and live acoustic guitars, No 48 Doughty Street should be a pretty intoxicating prospect without a bar stacked with a library of artisan gins. The tastings take place in the original Victorian kitchens before a book binding workshop based upon the art of Japanese stab binding.
© Freud Museum LondonConsidered contemplation with seven orators: emancipation, resistance, flirtation and our capacity for apage are a few of the topics which will be discussed by professors and psychoanalysts. Yiannis Gabriel, of Bath University, talks contagious pathogens which dissolve bonds of solidarity and trust, while Marianna Fotaki delves into toxic attachments. Use the hashtag #loveamateurs.
© Museum of LondonPart of the current major exhibition on the behatted detective, the museum goes deeper into Holmes’ oeuvre: fingerprinting and psychological profiling are outlined, as well as one of the newer forensic methods – blood splatter analysis – and comedy, storytelling, a three-course dinner and a movie marathon. Late London, on Friday, features installations, performances and workshops without running overnight.
© Katie Sutton, thisiskatie.co.ukA new festival of upcoming, trad and contemporary folk. The line-up ranges from 3 Daft Monkeys – who regularly support The Levellers, and have releases with titles like Brouhaha, Dance of the Old Man of Storr and Agnes the Giant Killer to their name – to Oysterband, a folk-punk quartet formed almost 40 years ago.
© © UCL, Grant Museum of Zoology / Matt ClaytonAnimalistic passion among the birds, bees and dinosaurs, whose curators have added a series of Valentine’s-themed labels to their swirl of exotic specimens. For adults, drop-in, includes a drink.
© National Museum WalesAlthough bespoke basket-crafting has been a pastime for thousands of years, their materials mean they rarely survive once rot sets in. The tradition is making a comeback: try this addictive craft and take a modern masterpiece away.
© National TrustBuilt in 1824, the Victorian workhouse opens its doors for a new visitor season on Saturday, when one of the key exhibits will be a love letter from a local girl to her boyfriend in nearby Newark, found in a bedsit during the 1970s and shown alongside pictures of past Masters and Matrons who were ordered to marry. Volunteers found these tales of love and loss while searching the archives and conducting interviews.
© British MuseumMakar WN Herbert, the poet for the City of Dundee, shares a selection of Roman love Poetry, watched over by the McManus’s current Roman-heavy exhibition visiting from the British Museum. Over-18s only, live music and a bar, booking essential.
© National Glass CentreNo date could be hotter than the 1000-degree furnace at the NGC. Create a beautiful heart-shaped trinket dish under the guidance of a hot glass expert (over-16s, booking essential).
© The Hot Tin RoofsFeaturing a live show by The Hot Tin Roofs – a swing and rhythm and blues band who count Mae West and Little Richard among their influences. You’ll also find lindyhop dance lessons, a romantically-inclined theatre company, electroswing DJs and a photobooth, all with a vintage dressing-up theme.
© Jorvik Viking Festival“This event is the absolute opposite to the traditional Valentine’s Day romantic meal for two,” says Danielle Daglan, the Director of the Jorvik Viking Festival which is about to start in York. A raucous evening of marauding, music and food, it promisingly centres around a harridan mother-in-law, a horde of unruly groomsmen and amorous bridesmaids.
© Nick FoxAs part of the National Trust’s new Queer Season celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual communities, visitors to the majestic Tudor house are invited to tour the gardens, flirt and either plant seeds or give them to their beloved. It’s inspired by artist Nick Fox's participatory project in the greenhouse, which draws upon a dialectic range of sentimental and the sexual symbolic floriographic meanings from different cultural timeframes. From 6pm
© Alan WilliamsA suitably absorbing programme for the reopening of a much-loved gallery, Transformed by a £15 million redevelopment, the events range from a curatorial walk-through of Cornelia Parker’s largest ever solo exhibition to a video jam, fire performances and themed tours of the collections.
© Sven Torfinn PanosThemed around cattle, conflict and the roses of Lake Naivasha, this pastoralist tale from Kenya is an exhibition bringing issues around water – or its scarcity – into sharp relief. Visitors are encouraged to pick up a fairtrade rose in a nod to the rose farmers pictured.
© YMTAnyone fearing trite cards might find a thrill in the clipped sentiments of these silk cards sent from the Front Line. Many have been hand-embroidered by French and Belgian stitchers: “Best love from somewhere in France xxxxx George”, reads one.
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