After what feels like a long winter and spending a lot of time indoors, many of us are looking forward to having get-togethers in the garden this year as the warmer months roll in. That’s why Furniture Maxi recently set about researching the best places in the UK and Europe to throw a garden party this summer – and Norfolk locals reading this post might be surprised to hear that Great Yarmouth was named as one of the top 10 destinations for summer socialising.
The UK can often feel lacking in warm, dry weather, but the team who did this research have been sizing up the towns and cities with the lowest average rainfall over July and August, and the highest average temperatures. With garden gatherings in mind, they also scored their chart based on average overall garden size.
And yep, you read it right – Great Yarmouth turns out to be one of the top 10 destinations in the UK if you’re looking for somewhere that is (by UK standards at least) as warm and dry as possible this summer. This seaside spot actually scored better than Seaham in 9th place when it came to overall rainfall, but missed out on a higher position due to the smaller typical garden sizes in the area.
| City | July Avg Temp (C) | August Avg Temp (C) | July Rainfall (mm) | August Rainfall (mm) | Avg central garden size (msq) |
| Bristol | 18 | 17 | 14 | 19 | 112 |
| Southampton | 18 | 17 | 33 | 41 | 76 |
| London | 19 | 19 | 36 | 38 | 50 |
| Bournemouth | 16 | 16 | 22 | 27 | 114 |
| Skegness | 16 | 17 | 46 | 36 | 163 |
| Oxford | 16 | 16 | 28 | 35 | 107 |
| Weymouth | 17 | 17 | 28 | 41 | 66 |
| Brighton | 17 | 16 | 31 | 39 | 23 |
| Seaham | 17 | 16 | 44 | 50 | 46 |
| Great Yarmouth | 16 | 17 | 36 | 32 | 29 |
Some of the top locations aren’t so surprising – sunny Southampton, beachy Bournemouth and the gem that is Brighton to name a few, but Skegness residents might be as pleased as Yarmouth’s to find their hometown making the cut.
The full dataset also covers the European destinations with the best weather, so if you’re planning to head abroad this year you might want to read the story in full for yourself, here: https://www.furnituremaxi.com/blogs/news/best-cities-for-garden-parties
Once I’m done inviting myself to every garden party in Great Yarmouth, my next mission will be to book a flight to Cyprus to make the most of those incredible summer temperatures and near-total absence of rain.