Barnes Children's Literature Festival goes virtual this June

Barnes is the prettiest place to be for gorgeous springtime strolls and family visits to the Wetlands Centre, which will hopefully be reopening this month.

It's also our favourite destination come June, to get our kids inspired by books: the fantastic Barnes Children's Literature Festival is back this year, and it promises to be as brilliant as ever, with talks from the best authors and illustrators in children's literature.

This time, it's all virtual, of course.

This year's festival includes appearances from Chris Riddell, Paralympian Ade Adepitan, SF Said, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Lisa Thompson, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Andy Griffiths, Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet. On Sunday, there's a birthday tribute to beloved author Judith Kerr, with Lauren Child, Axel Scheffler and a special reading of The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Stanley Tucci.

While the festival won't be on-site this year, we'd really recommend Barnes Common if you're looking for a glorious walk with the kids destination - and to do some swan-spotting.