Christmas days out to avoid!

[Outspokenhippo]

Just wanted to give anyone who is interested a heads up about a place to avoid for a Christmas Day out. Last year we went to the Four Kingdoms and I honestly could have wept. It was awful. Think Nessa’s (Gavin and Stacey) Christmas grotto and you’re not far off. The place is filthy. I spent a considerable amount of time filling out profiles for each of us, with information to be used for said visit. Hardly any of it was used. IT COST A FORTUNE. I’m talking over £400 for 3 kids and 2 adults. I thought maybe a post about places to avoid would be helpful. This year we are doing the polar express at Churnet, if that’s crap I’m quitting Christmas for good. 🎅🏽

I was at uni the first year they did a Winchester Christmas market- was actually lovely then! Gone mad in the years since :(

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/lincoln-christmas-market-cancelled-b2459186.html

This was the stand out Christmas event of my DCs experiences. We only visited the once due to the distance but it was pure magic. We were lucky enough to had snow fall that week and travelling through the parkland in 4x4 in the snow to visit Santa in his cave was magical. If you live in the northwest take your children

https://www.hawkstoneparkfollies.co.uk/follies-safari/

A London bus tour of the Christmas lights. It was horrendous and expensive.

This in spades ! I agree 100 % .
It's just boring when you do it every year !
Birmingham I loved it when I did it the 1st time ,! Every year after crap !
My daughter absolutely loves London Hyde park winter wonderland she goes every year !
I just can't be bothered !
I do love Xmas but it wud be fun if they switched things up a bit !

I’m shocked by this. We genuinely love Newcastle market and visit annually, sometimes twice. all thinks sold are made within something like 15 miles of Newcastle so unlike a lot of the other markets it’s local produce, not Chinese tat

Bristol is a chavvy tat helllhole
I don't mind bath but if I go I get the park and ride in straight after school run, go on a Friday, never last weekend and it's not too bad though every year is the same - even same sellers in same spots

I'm eyeing up bleinham palace any views on there?

Not bad per se, just reminded though of our 2020 (covid) santa experience

We went in the local steam railway, and due to the restrictions each family was in a separate compartment.

Santa and Mrs Claus had to wear clear visors and poke the little gifts through the gap in the sliding window in the gap of the compartment door. We even had photos with them behind the glass.

The experience was good amazing what they achieved really with the restrictions still in place, however if you looked back on the photos it looks as if Santa is some sort of deviant hannibal lecter type character trying to climb through the window 🤣 definitely one for those "worlds most awkward Christmas photos" pages on facebook

We did a Christmas lights trail thing at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. It was not worth the money and it was too busy. To be honest the walk back along the Thames via Battersea Power Station to our hotel was more interesting.

London at Christmas is awesome but you do sort of have to avoid the most popular bits unless you can cope with crowds. Covent garden was hell on earth but the south bank was reasonably quiet in comparison.

A good one is Leonardslee Gardens Christmas light trail in West Sussex. We have been twice and thankfully had dry weather both times and it was absolutely stunning.

If you're in York, and have national trust membership, go to the treasurer's house. All done up for Christmas, very old fashioned, hardly anyone there, genuinely lovely. Free if you're a member, no tickets required (or weren't last year anyway!)

What was so bad about it? I know a couple of people who go every year, but it's always seemed too expensive to me.

All of the Christmas markets are shit now.

Oh I think it’s all Christmas markets in England in recent years. Just terrible.

also for us Christmas lights thing at Leeds castle. We got terrible wind and rain storms in when we had tickets booked. They refunded days before and after us due to it as not safe. Our day refused, we tried to get there but got stuck in a flood. Never refunded us. (Other people I know got there as coming in a different way but it had been closed) After that experience we never book any of these things.

I went to the Leeds one a few times when lived there, quite liked it, for like 60 mins. Quick look around, partner eating German sausages, off home we went!

Yes, the Treasurer’s House is magical at Christmas.

Maybe controversial but Lapland Uk for the price of it. It is lovely but I spent over £700 for it 4 years ago (so would assume it is even more). It truly pissed me off when they charged me an extra £5 on top for reindeer food and then really set up the gift shop to rake in more. The village felt all a bit rushed and busy. My 6 year old kept having a rant about fake snow. It is pretty magical but set up to extract every last penny.

Winchester christmas market is crap

We did a Christmas lights trail thing at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. It was not worth the money and it was too busy. To be honest the walk back along the Thames via Battersea Power Station to our hotel was more interesting

DH asked if I fancied this , I looked last year (got loads of emails !) but decided it wasn't for me .

We ent to Kew Gardens when they did the very first lighted walk . One of the reviews was the most exciting part is when they scan your ticket so I should've been pre warned. It was tipping down and we had a long journey on the District Line there and back.
But I've heard it has improved year on year .

Why do we in the UK ruin everything, cheap tatt, drink, food and more drink. Either packed out or empty with no atmosphere at all.

Certainly no festive feeling!

Go to Europe.
Den Hague, small, calm, beautiful, with fire pits and homely smells. Barcelona, twinkly, simple Catalonian crafts, low key and relaxed, quaint squares, super Christmas lights. Budapest, glorious, local foods and crafts, serene basilica backdrop, more than one market across the city, atmospheric with local quality foods and hot drinks.
So festive.

Enlightened at Hylands- it was pretty but essentially you’re just walking round a big field looking at some lights. Over very quickly and not much to it, v disappointing.

Hamleys at the Langham- lots of waiting around in the hotel lobby, no magic and then into a conference room. Only saving grace was the goody bags which were excellent

Lapland UK- kids loved it but it’s not magical in my opinion as far too busy and manufactured

For balance, things I thought were good- Christmas fest Essex. A little ramshackle in places but some really unique ideas that made it really magical and believable. Kids really loved it.

Elf the musical- bloody expensive but again it was really magical and kids loved it.

And something that will always stay with me is walking all round the west end looking at the lights and going into Selfridges and Hamleys which were super crowded (kids still loved it) and then we turned into st James and walked down and they had a father Xmas in the street by the big tree. He spent ages chatting with the kids and it was just such a lovely, unexpected moment away from the hustle and bustle

Christmas lights in London - it's insanely busy and not enjoyable, basically hell. Last year I ended up near fortnum and mason and was awful. Can't imagine going out especially to look at the lights!

Blenheim is lovely at Christmas but VERY expensive. The house is always done up so beautifully and in my opinion well worth visiting. They have a different theme within the palace itself each year and this year it is Cinderella. If you live near it’s worth it because your ticket lasts a year (annual pass) so you can return as many times as you want to for 12 months free of charge. You can also use Tesco vouchers to purchase basic palace, gardens and park tickets that will include the Christmas Cinderella event. The food in the cafes is not cheap and I would suggest bringing flasks and something to eat yourself, unless money is no object. (When I visited just a few days ago a small sausage roll was £7.50).

There is a separate light show that that you can visit separately (or you can buy tickets that cover both) which used to be pretty staggering I always thought but last time I went, they had changed the procedure so you had to stick to a given route which meant traipsing round with hundreds of others in highly crowded conditions. Before this you were allowed to wander freely which was a lot nicer. Still good though.

There is usually a very small funfair, also a relatively small Christmas fair with the usual kiosks including those selling food and drink (based on last time I went) and skating availability. So all added up as these are obviously extras, a family might end up with a very expensive outing.

If you are taking children to Blenheim, I would go on the website and plan your visit very carefully so that you know exactly what you are going to let them do. Telling the children beforehand that they are allowed three rides each (or any number you want obviously) for example will avoid whining and disappointment! The light show also involves a long walk so be prepared!

Blenheim Palace itself is truly beautiful!

Yes! I was going to post about Leonardslee. It's gorgeous, especially the giant moon suspended over the lake.

https://www.leonardsleegardens.co.uk/lights-2026

@Flyingcacti my parents used to take us for a drive to see the London lights when I was a dc. We were driving past F&M on the way home a few years ago and it was insane. Literally people everywhere and just walking in front of cars taking selfies.

I think Kew is very overrated but tbf haven’t been for years.

DC loved the Polar express & Lapland UK

A guy on Instagram the other day was explaining why his small business can’t afford a stall at Christmas markets, I think he was selling hot drinks.
The initial charge to have a stall was thousands of pounds. Then an extra charge for electricity, and a further charge for water. You have to rent the wooden chalet because they want the stalls to look uniform.
You have to agree to no cash payments, card transactions only, and you have to rent the card reader, at a further cost. If all that isn’t bad enough you then need to hand over 20% of all takings, which of course you can’t hide because you’ve used their card reader…
You need to buy stock, pay staff, travel costs and potentially hotel rooms if you’re coming from out of town, huge outlay basically.

Having said that we’ve discovered some great businesses that we’re still loyal to even though they don’t do the markets anymore.