Bournemouth Pier's summer of family fun

Bournemouth Pier is in the middle of its summer programme, and there is plenty to do around Pier Approach over the next few weeks. The pier itself is free to walk, and it sits in the middle of ten miles of golden sand with the Isle of Wight and the Purbeck hills framing the bay beyond. The first iron pier opened here in the summer of 1880, though some accounts go back to a wooden structure in 1856, and the version standing today is the seventh iteration, following a major renovation in 1979. On the pier you will find the RockReef Indoor Activity Centre, which fills the old theatre dome with climbing walls, a vertical drop slide and a HighLine aerial obstacle course, alongside the 250-metre PierZip over the water, Key West Bar & Grill, Pier Amusements Family Entertainment Centre and Aruba Bar and Restaurant.

The OnStage at Pier Approach programme, hosted at the former IMAX site, runs from Monday 21 July to Saturday 24 August and is free, with cover bands, tribute acts and original music. Fluke, an eclectic covers band, played on Thursday 21 July, The Producers, an award-winning Blues band, on Friday 22 July, the Mother Ukers ukulele trio on Friday 29 July and The Stereoironics, a Stereophonics covers band, on Tuesday 2 August. Other free events include Madness and Stevie Wonder tribute acts, the ACM Gospel Choir, open-air film nights and a party band playing songs inspired by Mumford and Sons and Avicii. A Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra concert is scheduled for Saturday 9 August, with a ticket ballot held earlier in the month.

For younger visitors, the Kids Family Fun Festival is free and runs daily from 11am to 5pm until 24 August in the Lower Gardens, with children's shows, art workshops, performing magicians, jesters, puppet workshops, comedy and party games. The Friday Family Fiesta also runs every Friday until 22 August, with fireworks at 10pm, circus workshops, shows, fire performances and stilt walkers. The weekly Bournemouth Friday Fireworks, free and held over Poole Bay at 10pm, continue every Friday from 24 July to 28 August.

From 30 July to 20 August, Candlelight Nights keeps the Lower Gardens lit after dusk, a tradition said to be inspired by Empress Elizabeth, or Empress Eugenie, and going back more than a century. Over at the Garden Terrace at Pavilion Dance South West, the free Dancing Terraces run from Friday 7 August to Saturday 29 August, 7pm to 9pm, with a different style each night: street dance and commercial with Hannah Malone and a live DJ on Friday 7 August, African with Aida Diop and live drumming on Saturday 8 August, ballroom and latin with Lawrence James on Friday 14 August, vintage jazz with Ruby Adams on Saturday 15 August, hip hop and house with Rich Smith and a live DJ on Friday 21 August, bollywood with Kamalesh Borkar on Saturday 22 August, a ceilidh with Murphys Lore Ceilidh Band on Friday 28 August and a salsa party with Clare Nicholas on Saturday 29 August.

A few other summer highlights are worth knowing about. The Bournemouth Air Festival is on from 18 to 21 August, with Red Arrows displays every day at 3.45pm. The Summer of Play activity trail runs from 25 July to 6 September, and Flower Fairies: Enchantment by the Sea continues until 4 October. Bike Nights on Poole Quay run until 29 September. The pier is open seven days a week, generally from 9am to 11pm, and the nearest large car parks are behind the beach at Pier Approach and along Westover Road, with a short walk from Bournemouth Station.