Dunham massey

[lancslass17]

Is it that good?

Tickets are on sale and I'm tempted but its a lot of money , anyone been is it really worth it?

Anything else like it but cheaper?

There's generally one at Tatton, but you need to pay to go in the park by car. Unless you're in the Tatton garden society.

So you book the one at tatton?

It is a lovely christmasy thing to do but is overpriced for what it actually is. However all other light trails are similar and cost around the same. Therefore if thats what you want to do you will still have a lovely time it’s just a lot for a couple of hours.

That's what I'm afraid of, want to make the pennies go as far as possible making memories and this just feels a little stretchy

I live walking distance from it and have been a few times. It's nice and festive but overpriced.
We haven't bothered the last couple of years.
Other than toasting the marshmallows my kids weren't that fussed about it. You can see Father Christmas but he's on a stage and kind of take to the crowd and waves at the little ones.

We did the Harry Potter experience at Arley Hall not exactly festive but really really good. Tickets cheaper in November but still not cheap. My kids absolutely loved it.
For little ones you can't beat cockfields farm though. I was gutted when mine grew out of that!

*talks to the crowd

I thought the lanterns at Chester zoo was far better. Dunham is massively over priced

I was just coming on here to say the Lanterns at Chester Zoo. Was really great.

We really enjoy it. We went to lightopia last year at Heaton Park and thought that was rubbish so back to Dunham this year.

It is v expensive though.

It's really expensive but we love it, always book for the first weekend in December then go home and put the tree up that weekend - perfect start to the festive season!

We’ve been once, it was lovely but yes - hugely overpriced. We went Boxing Day though and I did wonder if it was something that would be better in the run up/ exciting period pre-Christmas.

We’ve also been to Lightopia twice, first time was fine but I was definitely over it after the second (in the pissing rain!)

There’s Glow at RHS Bridgewater, and one called Luminate at Walton Hall near Warrington - I’ve not tried either, or the Chester Zoo lanterns as has been mentioned already.

We’ve enjoyed Father Christmas at Tatton Farm but I think it’s very much for younger ones, I’ve heard Reddish Vale Farm near Stockport does a great Christmas event too.

There’s a reindeer safari place somewhere in North Wales too which I was thinking about - name escapes me but have a google.

We’re only doing one ‘big’ thing this year (plus possibly panto - maybe local amateur one) - haven’t decided what yet but don’t think it will be Dunham.

i went a couple of years ago and it was very similar to another event i'd been to previously so I feel a bit like if you've seen one light display you've seen them all and it's not worth the money to go again. The kids weren't in the least bit interested in it apart from the marshmallow fire pit! I've been to Lightopia too and the lanterns were good but it got a bit "samey" after a while and the car parking and getting in/out was a bit of a nightmare!

We've done Chester Zoo, Knowsley Safari and Dunham over the years.

We very much enjoyed all of them though I'd say Knowsley is more for younger kids whereas Dunham is more grown up and good for grown ups.

If you've got younger kids have a look at Knowsley and Chester imho.

Whatever you do, don't go to Glow at RHS Bridgewater, very minimal and rather boring TBH. It made me miss Dunham Massey, but I'm not sure I'm that bothered to book it again having done it twice.

Had a terrible time in torrential rain at Chester Zoo but it may have been much better with good weather. I'd travelled far with a toddler so the whole experience wasn't worth it.

The best Christmas experiences we've had have been an accidental delight e.g. went to National Trust Father Christmas at Lyme Park. It was a cheap toddler session and coincided with an icing sugar amount of snow! Over the years I've realised we're better off just going to NT on snowy days and having a snowball fight for 'free!'

We’ve been to the Dunham Massey Christmas light trail twice.

The first time it was lovely, not too crowded, and the food and drink stalls were spread out so it didn’t feel too packed. Still very expensive though.

We enjoyed it so much we booked again for Christmas 2022 and it was terrible. We literally walked the entire trail in a queue of other people. It was heaving, they must’ve released so many more tickets, and we chose one of the later slots! We planned to get food and drink there but the queues were enormous and the prices had increased even more so we didn’t bother.

We won’t be going again!

Agree with @Work2live, it was lovely in previous years but has become busier and more expensive every year. I used to think it was worth it, but the lights themselves were pretty disappointing last year too.