Big Bang Weekend

The Royal Gunpowder Mills is planning an explosive finale to summer with its Big Bang Weekend. Professor Nitrate will be up to his old tricks mixing up chemicals, blowing things up and looking for volunteers to help him and there will be time to enjoy the historic site and landscape by taking guided land train tours and exhibitions. There will also be a special pyrotechnic special effects show by ForceFX.

Gunpowder Mills, Beaulieu Drive, Waltham Abbey, EN9 1JX, Saturday, August 27 to Monday, August 29, 10am to 5pm. Details: royalgunpowdermills.com

Cider Festival And Hog Roast

This festival is celebrating all things cider and is a great excuse for daytime drinking. The Water Poet's backyard barn will have pints of specialist apple brews pouring for a fiver each and a steel band will play daily for an extra touch of festival spirit. Try the hog roast, pull up a hay bale and enjoy the sunshine.

The Water Poet, Folgate Street, Spitalfields, E1 6BX, Saturday August 27 until Monday August 29, 12pm. Details: waterpoet.co.uk

Afrobeach

The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is hosting a pop up carnival-themed beach party this Saturday as part of its Beach East attractions, which run until September 4. If you're wanting to make the most of the sunshine and relax on soft sand but don't want to travel away from London, why not visit the UK's largest urban beach?

The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Carpenters Road, Stratford, E15 2DU, Saturday, August 27, 12pm until 11pm. Details: queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk

Festival Of Love

This week is your last chance to catch the Festival Of Love at the South Bank Centre before it finishes at the end of August. The festival has been exploring love in its many forms and how it has the power to inspire creativity and social change, as well as how the nature of love has changed in the 21st century. The centre is celebrating a Big Wedding Weekend over the Bank Holiday and is promising a giant party.

South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo, SE1 8XX, until Monday, August 29. Details: southbankcentre.co.uk

Notting Hill Carnival

The Notting Hill Carnival is back for another year of extravagant street parties to celebrate London's multicultural past and present. The carnival has taken place every year since 1966 on the streets of Notting Hill and around Kensington and Chelsea and is sure to be a spectacle of bright colours, dancing, music and food from different cultures all over the world.

Saturday, August 27 to Monday, August 29. Details: Nottinghillcarnival.com

By Rachel Russell