Press Release 17 May 2019
Salisbury - The City in the Countryside - Spring Events
Last month the Sunday Times named Salisbury - the city in the countryside – the best place to live in the UK with judges praising it as a ‘divinely attractive and welcoming place’.
Throughout May and June this unique city is welcoming renowned artists, performers, musicians and sports people from around the world to take part in a series of special events celebrating the arts, sport and family fun.
To promote what Salisbury has to offer, the city in the countryside is also taking its welcome to the heart of London in the shape of a digital screen display in Leicester Square showing the iconic image of Salisbury Cathedral from the meadows.
On 23 May the city will once again be welcoming world-class cyclists as part of the OVO Energy Tour Series, Britain's leading televised cycle race series.
Teams will tackle an iconic 1.2-kilometre circuit, anti-clockwise through the city, making it an excellent spectator event. The start/finish line will be located on Blue Boar Row, adjacent to the city’s Market Place and Grade II listed Guildhall.
From 24 May to 9 June the Salisbury International Arts Festival takes place with more than 120 events taking place across the city.
Exploding out of the Playhouse and Arts Centre, into the streets and spaces of Salisbury, this two-week Festival of Celebration will mark the culmination of Wiltshire Creative’s first year.
This year’s festival marks two global anniversaries - the 1969 moon landings and the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall - with an ambitious mix of music, spoken word, film, dance, circus, theatre, comedy and family events.
Wiltshire Creative Artistic Director Gareth Machin said: “Since its founding in 1973, the International Arts Festival has provided an annual celebration of the vitality, distinctiveness and diversity of Salisbury’s cultural offer.
“This year is no different with the anniversaries of the moon landings and end of the Cold War inspiring artists from across the world to animate the buildings, spaces and streets of our wonderful city with a thrilling artistic programme.”
Among the highlights will be Gaia by Luke Jerram at Salisbury Cathedral. Measuring seven metres in diameter, Gaia features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the earth's surface.
The installation provides an opportunity to see our planet on this scale, floating above your head inside the historic cathedral. This incredible sculpture is presented with a specially made surround sound composition by BAFTA award-winning Composer Dan Jones.
There’s more family fun on offer on Monday 27 May with the ‘Five Rivers Festival’ which celebrates the five rivers that pass through Salisbury – the Avon, Nadder, Ebble, Wylye and Bourne.
The fun event includes a River Float, Bubble Football Tournament, a River Race in the afternoon and a car boot sale with proceeds going to the Sea Cadets, Serve On and Rotary International.
The city is also hosting the national event marking Armed Forces Day. Salisbury Armed Forces Weekend, 28-30 June, will feature street food, military displays, army charities stalls, workshops and live music.
A major part of the celebrations will be a military parade through Salisbury on the morning of Saturday 29 June, attracting thousands of people to the city.
Salisbury Live offers an array of free live music events across the city, including Live @ The Farm and much more. There is also the @thefestival a music festival for families featuring dozens of live acts across the three days 31 May – 2 June.
Quintessentially English, Salisbury’s an unbeatable destination for day trips and short breaks alike. It’s also an excellent base for discovering everything that Wiltshire has to offer.
- For more information to book tickets and to plan your break in Salisbury go to www.visitsalisbury.co.uk
For further information or to arrange a press visit please contact Florence Wallace, Travel Trade & PR Manager, flowallace@visitwiltshire.co.uk Tel: 01722 341309 or 07436 588860.
Editors Notes: VisitWiltshire is the official Destination Management & Marketing Organisation for Wiltshire representing 600 partners. It is a public/private sector membership organisation. VisitWiltshire's priority is to grow the county's Visitor Economy by raising awareness of the destination and generating additional tourism visits and spend. Wiltshire's Visitor Economy currently generates an estimated £1.5billion and supports over 29,000 jobs.
Images on Salisbury can be downloaded from our Flickr gallery - https://www.flickr.com/gp/129320754@N03/F8atQR. Photos may be used in print and/or online for the promotion of tourism to Wiltshire and any photos used must be credited to www.visitwiltshire.co.uk, unless otherwise stated in the title of the photo. Full terms and conditions can be found here.
Other images are available on request from an extensive Flickr photo library. A full list of albums is available here.