In the UK the school year ends in July and so the longest holiday of the year is in the summer time – usually about 6 weeks.
Because of this many families go on holiday at this time. In the UK it is generally easier for workers to take time off and so many families go on holiday for a week or even two weeks. Many people go somewhere in the UK, but foreign destinations are also popular, especially nearby European countries like France and Spain.
NOTE: In British English “go on holiday” means “go on vacation” (旅行する)
As the summer season in the UK is quite short, people like to take advantage of (うまく利用する) the warm weather as much as they can by doing things outside. Popular activities include doing barbecues, going on picnics and visiting the beach. The sea is very cold in the UK but people still like to go swimming. Another traditional activity that children enjoy at the beach is building sandcastles (砂の城).
The traditional summer sports in the UK are cricket and tennis and the most famous tennis competition in the world Wimbledon is held in London each year in July.
Some traditional summer foods include strawberries and cream, desserts made with summer fruits and cucumber sandwiches. British people also love ice cream and it is sold everywhere in the summer time. There are even ice-cream vans (アイスクリーム移動販売車) that travel around to sell ice-cream in towns and popular tourist spots.
Though British summer is getting much hotter recently (the record temperature in 2019 was 38.7°C…), the UK is not humid (蒸し暑い) like Japan and so is relatively comfortable (快適) even in mid-summer. The days are also longer (with the latest sunset being at around 9:30pm) and it is much cooler in the evenings than in the daytime.