Christmas Light trails

[redskytonight]

Interesting in hearing about your favourite Christmas light trails. How long were they and did they have the "wow" factor?

Chatsworth is the one to beat for me. I am considering Kew or Blenheim as ones of a similar size. Are they worth the cost?

Or alternatively perhaps going to a more local and cheaper display.

A little tip for the RHS ones. You can get RHS membership using Tesco club card vouchers which make the tickets even cheaper (although looking at Wisley, they’re cheaper than some of the other ones already ).

I really want to go to Longleat, I think that might be next years trip, but last year we did the Northern Lights walk at leeds, and it was such a huge disappointment.

Very gappy, at one point there were these downwards projectors and my little boy said "Look, it's CatNap", and lo and behold, it was CatNap, an antagonist character from a popular small horror game series about animatronics within an orphanage institution where the animatronic helpers go rogue. What is christmassy or wintery about that?! It was actually the only part of the light walk that caught his attention though.

It was mostly pushchair and wheelchair friendly, however there were many small path offshoots to interesting looking areas that were categorically not pushchair or wheelchair friendly, not well lit, provided little to no handrails on steep, sludgey and icy slopes and ramps, and people big and small were slipping everywhere like skittles.

They did have an area to sit and eat from one of many food vendors, but no outdoor heaters. It was baltic and thoroughly unenjoyable to sit and try and eat, but the food provided by the vendors didn't come in any sort of carton that you could close and take to your car, which was also a trek away from the main event with only part of the car park lit.

There was supposedly a marshmallow toasting area but it was that far round the park that by the time you got to the entrance and your fingers toes and nipples had frozen off, the only thing going through your mind was GET ME OUT OF HERE ASAP.

They had a small funfair, many rides were unmanned and not operational at the time we went and the ones that were were expensive, which we expected but not quite THAT price, by any means, you have a time slot to get in, we arrived for that time slot, and decided to look at the fun fair afterwards which we were in no mood to do again because we were so bloody cold and they'd not provided any area to sufficiently warm up.

Really, I think they could have made the thing a whole lot better if they'd just thrown some of those electric outdoor seating heaters up in their main eatery seating area, but I imagine they wanted people to get in and out as fast as possible and this was a strategic move on their part.

We did Bedgebury in 2022 and really enjoyed it. It was minus 6 or something ridiculous, but that made it feel all the more Christmassy! Since then we've done Kew twice and enjoyed it, but we get there as soon as it opens and it does get very busy after an hour or so. This year we're doing Glow at Wisley and looking forward to it. I'm a bit worried about parking though - can anyone explain how it works please?

Just thought I'd update:

Been to northern Lights, Manchester this evening.

It was ok. definitely a nice thing to do.

But IMO northerlights Leeds, last year was better, as was the 2 years when Lightopia managed Heaton Park, Manchester (where we were this evening)

Chatsworth 2023 / Blenheim 2024 were still way better than Northernlights Manchester 2025

I did Winter at Sizergh yesterday. It was lovely but not long. But for £4 of you are a member it was great. Also done the light show at Liverpool Anglican cathedral. Not as good as the one a couple of years ago, but still excellent.

Bit off topic but we're looking to book Wisley between Christmas & New Year (no chance of doing before Christmas as that was probably sold out in August!). Still not decided which day yet, there are still plenty of tickets atm but am stressing that if we dither too much longer they will be gone too. This got me feeling sad that there's no spontaneity anymore with everything having to be prebooked. Obviously it's always been necessary for events where you need to book seats etc, such as shows & concerts, but an outdoor park??? Yearn for the days where you could just rock up somewhere and pay on the door as, chances are, the day we choose will be peeing with rain....

in responce to this, you can literally pay at the gate at northern lights.

(slightly more than online in advance, but you can still pay and go it)

I'm not Northern sadly. Pretty sure you can't do that at any of the ones down here 😑

I went to lotherton hall light trail in Leeds last year. It’s the only one I’ve been to so can’t compare to others but it was quite nice and you could go into the house as well.

Guildford Castle was wonderful last year and I booked an hour before going. Really lovely and not too long.

We did Yorkshire Wildlife park this weekend.

It was brilliant. Bigger and better than 2 years ago and far far better than Northern lights Manchester. Highly recommend

We headed up north last week and went to “Aglow” at Bishop Auckland. We were very impressed.

the Bishops Palace was also beautifully decorated. That’s a separate ticket from the light trail, though it does also Include the faith museum and the fabulous Neapolitan nativity scene.

it did make for an expensive (but gloriously festive) day out

Has anyone done Windsor? We're booked between Christmas and New Year.

Done Wisley before and Wellington Country Park (who aren't doing one this year sadly) both were lovely.

Wimpole Hall is pretty good but I'm not going to any this year as I feel like they have all become victims of their own success. They get so crowded and the ones I've been to the last couple of years have been just one long slow-moving queue of people, interspersed by £10 hot chocolate and marshmallows. I'm going to try visiting a stately home during the day this time.

We did Leonardslee for the first time this year - lovely, not quite as good as Stourhead I thought, but better than Longleat and Westonbirt.

There’s so many light trails nowadays also. When we first went, only a few places were doing them, and you had to travel to get there. The main places for us were the large RHS gardens and a country park. You had to book as soon as the tickets came out to get a place.

Now, every stately home, country park, zoo, major attraction seems to have a light trail. I looked at one of the original places and there were still tickets available over the Christmas period. That would have been unheard of years ago.

Are any of them worth the money? I have only done Kew & didn’t think it was.

Heligan this year was magical, thoroughly recommend

@Onthemoooove I hate the lack of spontaneity

We did Wisley 2022, 2023 and 2024. Was blown away by it that first year, 2023 was ok, but I felt last year it wasn’t worth the cost. We’re doing Guildford Castle at the weekend for something a bit different (albeit combining it with dinner out in town, so won’t save any money in the long run 😂)

Blenheim Palace.🎄

You can make a full day of it although you will be exhausted by the end (especially youngsters).
The house, Yellow Brick Road, ice-rink, market, shop, funfair and then end it all with the (fantastic) light trail.
Yes, the food & drinks are pricey but no moreso than any similar event. Some of the Christmas market stalls were more reasonable than I was expecting.

Definitely worth a visit.👍

Longleat is , particularly if you go for the day and do the animals as well .

I second Dunham Massey, definitely the best I have been to but I live in the north west. It is probably too far north for the OP as isn't Kew and the other much further south?

thanks @tinyspiny

Twycross have one for the first time this year and it was outstanding.

The detail in the lights, particularly the Gruffalo section, are outstanding.

I've seen a few complaints online about a lack of food outlets, but the few that are there are very reasonably priced imo.

We didn't do Santa, which seems to be where the bottle necks a few people have complained about are happening.