The British Social Season: A Guide to the Events Worth Building Your Summer Around

The British social season is a run of sporting, horticultural and cultural fixtures filling the calendar from late May to the end of August, and Royal Ascot, the Chelsea Flower Show, Henley Royal Regatta, Wimbledon and Glorious Goodwood all land within weeks of one another. Attendance is no longer tied to who your family knows, though the traditions around dress, timing and ticketing have survived almost intact.

Doing all of it in one summer is expensive and fairly tiring. Two or three events chosen well beat five rushed ones, and choosing gets easier once you know what each day involves. Ticket routes differ, dress rules differ, and the standing about varies enormously.

Match the event to the kind of day you want

Think about how you like to spend a long day outdoors, because these fixtures have less in common than their reputation suggests:

• Royal Ascot, mid-June, five days of flat racing with a royal procession and the strictest dress code.

• Chelsea Flower Show, late May, a walking day of show gardens and plant stands, with little sitting down.

• Henley Royal Regatta, early July, short races from the bank with long gaps for eating and talking.

• Wimbledon, late June into July, the only fixture where turning up on the day gives a real chance of entry.

• Glorious Goodwood, late July, downland racing with the most relaxed atmosphere of the season.

Ascot rewards anyone who plans the whole day rather than just the racing, and car park picnics at Royal Ascot have their own etiquette about where you park and when the boot gets opened.

Travelling together is worth sorting early

Parking is limited, sold in advance and often a long walk from the gates, so parties of ten or more tend to arrange some private coach hire rather than arriving in six separate cars. Everyone stays on the same schedule, nobody has to stay sober for the drive home, and the group walks in together instead of trickling through the entrance across two hours.

Tickets follow their own rules

Ballots, member enclosures and general sales run to different timetables, several closing in the autumn before the event they cover. The Royal Enclosure at Ascot needs a member to sponsor you if you have never attended, while general admission is simple to buy online. Queuing on the day at Wimbledon is the one genuine walk-up option left in the season, though it means an early start and often a night camping.

Dress codes are enforced more than you would expect

Ascot publishes its requirements every year and stewards do turn people away, including over hat and strap widths. Henley's Stewards' Enclosure asks women for skirts below the knee, men for jackets and ties, and phones are supposed to stay out of sight. Wimbledon and Chelsea are more forgiving, though heels on grass will be regretted long before the day ends.

Two events, done properly

Choose the two that suit how you like to spend a day, book the travel when you book the tickets, and leave the rest of the summer clear. These are long days, and they are far more enjoyable when there isn't another one three days later. Get those two right and you will know how early to start planning next year.