Free things to do in London this summer

Missed out on summer music festival tickets? Head to Festival 30, Seven Dials’ free thirtieth birthday celebration where (thankfully) wellies will not be required. What you will get is live music, a pop-up lawn to lounge on, free drinks, tasting sessions with Hotel Chocolat, alfresco workouts with swanky gym Another Space and crafty workshops, including the chance
to make a summer wreath (you know, it’s like a Christmas wreath
only… summery). Seriously, who needs Glasto?

Even if you never really thrived in your science GCSEs, you can become a bone-fide boffin at the Summer Science Exhibition, a week-long festival at The Royal Society. There will be exhibits covering space (what would it be like to live on the moon?), driverless cars (should we trust them?) and the ‘quietest place in the universe’ (it’s next to the M6 motorway, apparently), as well as talks on astrophysics, artificial intelligence and many more scientific things that you’ve always wanted more than a cursory, Wikipedia-based understanding of.

Every year, Sculpture in the City peppers the Square Mile with eye-opening outdoor artworks. This year’s selection includes a ‘floating’ neon poem, a massive sculpture made from brightly coloured sheets of plexiglass and a pair of secondhand armchairs cast in concrete. That last one probably isn’t the comfiest of spots to take a seat, but then that’s kind of the point – it’s art, remember? Also, you’re probably not actually allowed to sit in them anyway.

No fire-breathers here. In fact, water is the name of the game at the annual London Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival where teams of rowers go head-to-head on the Thames – and allow you to have a go yourself. The whole thing is a celebration of Chinese culture, so there’ll be t’ai chi, Chinese lion dancing and street food aplenty (from China and beyond). à Royal Docks Adventure.