London: A City Alive in Summertime

Cheese displays at La Fromagerie.

PHOTO: Courtesy of La Fromagerie

Because they're gray and wet the rest of the year, London and its environs come alive in the summer, packing more fun into a few weeks than residents and visitors enjoy in all the other months combined. The season kicks off in June with Royal Ascot (011-44-870- 722-7227; royalascot.co.uk), in Berkshire, where you'll be able to judge the results of the recent $347 million renovation of the racetrack and the expansion of the parade ring. After Ascot come other venerable events, like the Henley Regatta and Wimbledon, as well as soon-to-be classics, including the Stella Artois Championships, where the top male grass-court tennis players appear; the Goodwood Festival of Speed, for urban car enthusiasts who don't mind the ninety-minute drive from London; and the chic Serpentine Gallery's summer party.

Adding buzz to London's timeless allure are new plays, stores, restaurants and cultural events. Jeremy Irons makes his first appearance on a West End stage in nearly twenty years in Embers, a drama of friendship, love and betrayal set in war-torn 1940s Europe, at the Duke of York's Theatre (Feb. 15–May 27; 011-44-870-060-6623; theambassadors.com). In Prague in the 1980s, a rock band resists the Communist regime in Tom Stoppard's provocative Rock 'N' Roll, at the Royal Court Theatre (June 3–July 15; Sloane Sq.; 011-44-20-7565-5000; royalcourttheatre.com).

Lovers of wearable forms of drama should head to the Notting Hill jewelry shop of Solange Azagury-Partridge (187 Westbourne Grove; 011-44-20-7792-0197), which is more spacious than the designer's other address, down the street. Boucheron's former creative director has dotted her store's bright red walls with Swarovski crystals, creating an appropriate setting in which to try on, say, the yellow gold and enamel bluebird ring.

Feet tired? Pause in Notting Hill's Westbourne Grove at the Cowshed (119 Portland Rd.; 011-44-20-7078-1944), an outpost of the excellent spas at Babington House, in Somerset, and Soho House, in New York. Relax over a smoothie and the paper, have a pedicure, or splurge on a Cowgroom treatment, in which two therapists work on you simultaneously. Indulge in the Frisky Cow foam bath and Mucky facial mask; all the hand-blended creams and oils are made with herbs from Babington's kitchen garden.

In trendy Marylebone, meanwhile, do not miss the funky clothing boutique Jezebell (59 Blandford St.; 011-44-20-7935-7109), which pairs London quirkiness with Parisian sophistication. The well-edited shop, owned by ex–fashion stylist Joanna Berryman (the wife of Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman) and ex–fashion publicist Kate Brindley, stocks such designers as Vivienne Westwood and Bella Freud as well as labels you won't see elsewhere, like Rupert Sanderson (who has been called the new Manolo) and Twisted Thrift Lingerie.

If you're peckish, walk over to La Fromagerie (2–4 Moxton St.; 011-44-20-7935-0341), a tiny cheese emporium (shown above) with an organic grocery and a small café, crowded with Marylebone locals, where you can refuel with a latte. If it's your mind that needs nourishment, make for the new cultural center at the Asia House (63 New Cavendish St.; 011-44-20-7307-5454; asiahouse.org). The renovated 18th-century town house hosts exhibits, lectures and concerts by notable Asian artists. Stop for a snack at Café T, on the ground floor.

Try to catch the last days of the exhaustive exhibit "Americans in Paris, 1860–1900," which features paintings by James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent, through May 21 at the National Gallery (Trafalgar Sq.; 011-44-20-7747-2885; nationalgallery.co.uk). Afterward have lunch at the National Dining Rooms, the gallery's restaurant, which the colorful Oliver Peyton recently opened. The menu offers crumpets with Jersey blackberry butter and oxtail soup: comfort food that reminds you that you're an American in London indeed.