What a bumper year! 2012 may have been great but the summer of 2013 has been even better. We’ve seen scorching temperatures, sporting victories and history being made, which is why Holiday Cottages has put together this infographic to collate the best memories of this eventful summer.
Our research began with our own statistics. With holiday cottage bookings up by 12% and last minute bookings up by 11% on last year, we decided to celebrate the reasons for this summer’s success. Also, with Visit Britain recording a 7% increase in overseas visitors in the month of June, it is clear that others wanted to find out what the UK had to offer too.
With a very cold start to the year, the soaring temperatures were very much welcomed in June, reaching a whopping 33.5oC in July. Millions of people headed to the beach to enjoy the amazing weather and studies show that Bude was the number one place to be with 783 hours of sunshine this summer. The July heatwave was also the longest sustained period of hot weather since 2006, putting 2013 in third position for the overall hottest July since records began in 1929.
The fantastic weather had us spending money on cooling off with ice cream sales in London’s parks doubling in July and Tesco reporting a 28% increase in ice lolly sales. Sainsbury’s saw more than a 42% increase in the sales of summer hats and swimwear and BBQ sales rocketed by 71% with over 45,000 sold over the August bank holiday. The sunny bank holiday weekend also saw an estimated 4.5 million Brits take an overnight break, many of which were last minute due to the sunny weather, with 13% of the population visiting an attraction.
Furthermore, who can forget the iconic moment that saw Andy Murray claim the Wimbledon title – the first British man to do so since Fred Perry in 1936. Over 17 million people tuned in to see this epic win, making it the most watched TV moment of 2013. Wimbledon itself sold 142,000 punnets of strawberries during the tournament, alongside 7,000 litres of cream and 200,000 glasses of Pimms.
The festival season is an integral part of the British summer and with the Olympics and regrowth of farmland interrupting last year’s Glastonbury, the return this year was very much awaited. Reuniting just a year previously to celebrate their 50th anniversary, the Rolling Stones were chosen to headline Glastonbury 2013, an event that the nation was extremely excited for. Tickets for the festival sold out in less than two hours, with over 100,000 of the festival goers watching the Rolling Stones live on stage. A further 2.5 million people tuned in to see the legendary rockers perform on TV.
The 22nd of July was possibly the most anticipated day of the year and saw the birth of a new heir to the throne. His Royal Highness, Prince George of Cambridge, was welcomed into the world at 4.24 pm and made his first public appearance the following day. Crowds of people cheered outside the hospital, iconic landmarks were turned blue and an astounding 25,000 tweets were sent every minute to celebrate the birth of the newborn future king.
This was the summer of 2013 and it was certainly one to remember.
We often forget to appreciate what we have on our doorstep but the summer of 2013 has truly shown what the UK has to offer. So, why not start planning your summer holiday for 2014? We have a wide range of cottages, from those in the countryside to those along the coastline.
– See more at: http://www.holidaycottages.co.uk/blog/memories-summer-2013#sthash.j6t9qliF.dpuf
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.