Britain's stately homes, hotels and gardens are gearing up to host a splendid array of al-fresco events in the coming months. JAMES WEBB selects some of the best offerings

MORE TEA VICAR?
Haven't got an invite from the Queen for her garden party this year? Don't panic. Quintessentially English hotel The Goring (0207 396 9000/www.thegoring.com), near Buckingham Palace is hosting croquet teas within its walled garden every Thursday afternoon from July 22 to August 26. Tickets are £45pp and include a glass of champagne, Fortnum & Mason tea and a croquet lesson if desired.

On May 16, the Edward Jenner Museum (01453 810631/www.jennermuseum.com) in Berkeley, Gloucester, is holding a garden party with a difference with lawn games, tea, cakes, craft fair, string quartet and, bizarrely, a chance to be made up like a smallpox victim (Sir Edward Jenner, of course, created the vaccine against the now eradicated disease).

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Tickets £5 but children in 18th or 19th-century costume go free.

JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S EVENING
The National Trust's Edwardian pile Polesden Lacey (01372 458203/www.nationaltrust.org.uk) in Surrey is hosting live jazz events on June 6, 13, 20 and 27.

Visitors are encouraged to bring a blanket and picnic to sit on the south lawn where from 2-4pm they can bask in the soulful tunes.

Striped blazers and boaters are optional. Tickets £7.40 per adult, £3.25 per child.

There is a similar NT event at Rowallane Garden (02897 510131) in Saintfield, Co Down on June 12 at 6pm, (£10 per adult, £4 per child) and a big band at Stackpole Estate, Pembrokeshire (01646 661425) on July 20.
Tickets £6 per adult, children free.

GOTTA SING, GOTTA DANCE
Kilworth House near Lutterworth in Leicestershire, is the only hotel in the UK with its own professional open-air theatre.

The 550-seater auditorium is in a wooded glade close to the lake in the grounds. From June 2 to July 3, it's putting on the rollicking Guys And Dolls. Evening shows daily, except Mondays, with matinées at weekends.

Pride of Britain Hotels (0800 089 3929/www.prideofbritainhotels.com) is offering one-night at Kilworth with doubles from £105pp per night (two sharing), half board, including breakfast, pre-theatre dinner and a show ticket.

Into The Woods, Sondheim's musical take on the Brothers Grimm is at The Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, London (0844 826 4242/www.openairtheatre.org) from August 5 to September 11.

Tickets from £20.

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ALL THE FUN OF THE FAYRE
Over the spring bank holiday weekend, May 29-31, the imposing pile of Audley End House and Gardens (0870 333 1183/www.english-heritage.org.uk) in Essex will be holding an English Country Fayre, with traditional crafts, a Victorian gymkhana and morris dancing. Tickets £14 per adult and £7 per child.

Celebrate medieval England at The Old Fair of Abinger (www.abingerfair.com) near Dorking, Surrey, on the village green on June 12. Watch tossing the sheaf, listen to storytellers and feast on roast sheep. Free entry, parking £3.

YOU'RE BARD!
Northcote Manor (01769 560501/ www.northcotemanor.co.uk) near Barnstaple, north Devon, stages an outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream on the lawns in front of the 300-year old hotel on June 22, as part of the North Devon Festival. Tickets £12 and a pre-performance supper will be available for £25. Doubles from £65pp per night (two sharing), B&B. English Heritage (0870 333 1181/www.english-heritage.org.uk) is also staging the play at two Northumberland venues: Warkworth Castle on August 6 and Belsay Hall Castle and Gardens on August 7.

A clever collection of scenes from the plays, called Love In Shakespeare, is performed at Goodrich Castle, Herefordshire, on June 27; Mount Grace Priory, North Yorkshire on July 22 and Kenilworth Castle & Elizabethan Garden on July 1 and 2. Tickets £14 per adult, £12 per child.

ON THE HIGH Cs
The 15th-century Aberglasney Gardens (01558 668998/www.aberglasney.org) in Carmarthen is hosting a variety of outdoor events over the summer but one of the most popular will be the open-air opera, part of the Llandeilo Fawr Festival of Music and Flowers.

This year on July 18 at 7pm, Opera Box presents A Viennese Whirl, with selections from Lehár, Tauber and Strauss. There is an extended interval for picnics, Glyndebourne-style or pre-book buffet and wine. Tickets £30.
There's a tradition of outdoor opera at stunning Stubbings Estate (01628 820140/www.stubbingsnursery.co.uk) in Maidenhead, Berkshire, too.

Due to past inclement weather, this year's Tosca on July 30-31 will be undercover, following a pre-show mass picnic on the lawn. Tickets £45. Look out in the autumn for a drive-in movie event complete with pizza delivery to your car.

TWILIGHT TIME
No vampires, just a celebration of the most magical of hours.

The National Trust (0844 800 1895/www.nationaltrust.org.uk) is holding twilight picnics throughout the country this summer where you can bring or buy food and drink, watch the sunset and revel in the afterglow. Venues include:
Souter Lighthouse, South Tyneside; Mottistone Manor Garden, Isle of Wight; Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire; and Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire.

The Forestry Commission (02380 283141/www.forestry.gov.uk) has Deer Watch at Dusk twilight walks in the New Forest during June and July. Tickets £8 per adult and £5 per child. It's also holding other outdoor events around the country including picnics, bat-spotting, concerts, rambles and storytelling.