March | The Winchester Guide

Spring is approaching and it couldn’t come soon enough. Here’s our Win Guide to March:

Feeling stressed or overwhelmed? Join a Forest Therapy session in Crab Wood on 3rd March. Organised by Adore Your Outdoors, the 2hr session focuses on guided meditation and mindfulness in a natural setting. For more details and to book your place, visit the website here.

Winchester City Mill will be celebrating World Book Day between Thursday 5th and Sunday 8th March. Dress up as your favourite character, help Mill-y the bookworm in the family trail and over the weekend listen to a storyteller. You can also take time to browse and buy second hand books and the shop will be accepting £1 World Book Day vouchers for eligible titles. For more details, please visit the website here.

Throughout March at the Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium, the live show ‘DIY Science’ will be running. Experience experiments, tips and tricks for your own DIY scientific exploration. Usual entrance fees apply. For more details, visit the website.

Peppa Pig will be visiting the Theatre Royal Winchester with a live family show on Saturday 7 & Sunday 8 March. Get ready for a road-trip full of adventures. From castles to caves, dragons to dinosaurs and ice-creams to muddy puddles, this is a diary must for Peppa fans. For more details, see the trailer below. You can book tickets from the Theatre Royal website here.

The Theatre Royal is offering a great range of shows for grown-ups this month too. The Winchester Comedy Festival; Spring Gala 2020 takes place on 7 March. Treat yourself to an evening of comedy featuring Hal Cruttenden, Mike Cox, James Dowdeswell and James Gill. A few days later on 11 March, you can spend ‘An Evening with John Illsley of Dire Straits‘, including some hits and a Q&A.

For some drama, why not book tickets to see ‘Revenge’ directed by Louise Jameson (Eastenders, Doc Martin, Doctor Who, Bergerac, Tenko). “A taut thriller full of twists and turns!” The Stage, you can catch the production between 12 & 14th March. The multi award-winning Mark Bruce Company will be visiting Winchester, 17 & 18 March with their latest production, ‘Return to Heaven’, a ‘beautiful horror, laced with the darkest of humour’. Or you could book for the stirring new adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’ between 19 & 21 March from “One of the most innovative, audacious companies working in contemporary English Theatre”, The Stage. For full programme details at the Theatre Royal this month or to book tickets, visit the website here.

Further down the hill at the Chesil Theatre, Liz Lochhead’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ opens on 28 March and will run until 4 April. Or why not join Flight Captain, David Baldwin, on 20 March for a Sword Combat workshop, subject to availability. For details and to book, visit the website here.

For a rather special dining experience this month, visit the Fusion Tasting Dinner at Kyoto Kitchen on 10 March. Japanese cuisine will meet German wine during this intimate tasting evening. Kyoto Kitchen – a boutique restaurant serving authentic Japanese food and The WineBarn – a wine merchant specialising in German wine, will be hosting the experience on Tuesday 10^th March in Winchester. The evening will kick off with an aperitif, followed by five courses paired with five premium wines. Tickets are £55 per person. To reserve your place, please visit here.

We’ll keep you posted on more events on Twitter this month @Win_Guide. Enjoy, one and all!

Spring is springing! March is here and hopefully the sun will start to make an appearance to warm up the flowers that have started to bloom.

Let’s see how Winchester will be entertaining and amusing this month:

We’re Going On A Bear Hunt is playing at the Theatre Royal if you’d like to provide some storytelling adventure for little people. Running from 2 to 5 March, this adaptation of Michael Rosen’s hit book has just finished its West End run and has commenced an international tour. One to watch and please visit the Theatre Royal website for more details. Alternatively, keep an eye out for David Almond’s ‘Heaven Eyes‘, by Théâtre Sans Frontières, 6 March. The production was recommended by the British Theatre Guide as one of the Best Family Shows in the North East of 2014. If you miss these productions, fear not, for there will be a chance to see another West End hit adaptation, this time of The Tiger Who Came To Tea, 22 – 23 March. The production is a musical play adapted and directed by David Wood, based on the celebrated book by Judith Kerr. For more details, visit the Theatre Royal website.

Pin Drop Comedy will be hosting their monthly free open mic night on 2 March. Doors open at 7.30pm and the bar is open throughout. Some lucky Wintonians will be shimmying on down to the Guildhall on 4 March to enjoy the Magic of Motown. The event has sold out and will feature classic covers of the Supremes, Temptations, Jackson 5, Isley Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie and more. Whist we are at the Guildhall, there are still some tickets left for the Real Ale and Cider Festival, 17 – 18 March. This event usually sells out so get booking here if you are keen.

For some fresh and live music, call into the Railway Tavern this month. Fighting Caravans, the alternative rock sextet from Leeds will be on stage 10 March. Big Boy Bloater and The Limits will be bringing their “raucous” R&B to the city on 17 March, and there are many more exciting acts across different genres booked in throughout the month. For full listings and details visit the Railway website here.

Swansea City Opera are in town at the Theatre Royal on 15 March, performing Lakmé by Léo Delibes in English. This opera is best known for the ‘flower duet’, so this is a great chance to restore the oft used music to its original context. Tickets, dates and times are available here.

The critically acclaimed Bristol Old Vic production of Owen Shears’ Pink Mist will be staged at the Theatre Royal, 20 – 21 March. Pink Mist tells the story of three young men deployed to Afghanistan. As the physical and psychological aftershocks of war take their toll on the loved ones they left behind, Arthur, Hads and Taff find their journey home is their greatest battle. Pink Mist was inspired by 30 interviews with returned servicemen and first staged in 2015. Watch the production trailer here and visit the website for more details.

Why not treat mum to an early mother’s day treat with a Ukulele Introductory Workshop at the Theatre Royal on Saturday 25 March. No prior experience required just pick up the instrument which should be accessible and easy to learn. Mother’s day is on Sunday 26 March so don’t forget flowers, chocolates, lunches and gifts for all those super mums in the city.

We’ll be bringing you more tips @Win_Guide throughout the month. Have a great month, one and all.

The arts & culture guide for the city of Winchester in Hampshire.