Fairy lights but no plug socket?

[Silvercatowner]

Hi
I want to put fairy lights around my porch (inside). There's no plug socket though. The porch does have electricity - there's a light in there (but the fitting is screwed to the wall - not easily getatable).
Do I need an electrician?? Are battery operated fairy light doable? I don't think solar power will be adequate.
Thanks

I reackon an electrician would charge £80 to run a socket in there but if you just want Xmas lights you could go for battery ones

Thanks @StephenBelafonte

AFAIK you can't run a socket of a light, it's on a separate circuit, so you'd have to get some to extend from an existing socket indoors.

Just get battery operated lights. They last ages.

Battery lights will be fine - the LED ones use hardly any power so the batteries last for ages.
We’ve had a set outside the last 2 Christmases - DS2 thought it was funny to put them on a dead peony - they lasted several weeks, even flashing some of the time (which I always vaguely assume uses more power )

(& yes, sockets & lights are different circuits - 13amp & 5amp or something. If you wanted to install one it would have to run from one inside the house - or you could use a trailing socket, possibly?)

Flashing uses less power because the light isn't on for as long. Win-win!

Thanks everyone - battery operated it is!

I used to run a light cable under the front door - if your door doesn't fit tightly.

I too was going to say you can get a wire between the door and the doorframe sometimes - Worth a try ?

I sometimes put a cable through the letterbox, for short-term use such as a battery charger or working lamp. It must be RCD-protected.

But modern LED lamps use hardly any power and run for a long time on batteries. If it is awkward to change them you can use Lithium batts, which have more power and last longer (but cost more).

If you go to the expense of having an electrician, you can get a weatherproof plastic enclosure with lid, which is quite handy and big enough to hold a plug-in transformer. Put it up high, preferably in the porch, out of reach of small people. You can drive a few stainless cup hooks or vine eyes into the wall to support your cables.

An external socket needs to be on an RCD circuit, or have its own, and I recommend an isolating switch inside the house in case of (unlikely) vandalism, and should be off the socket circuit, not the lighting circuit.

Thanks for all the responses - I did think about an extenstion cable but it would have to run through the hall too - it's an old house. I'm going with battery operated - I NEED sparkly lights at the moment.

@Silvercatowner

Thanks for all the responses - I did think about an extenstion cable but it would have to run through the hall too - it's an old house. I'm going with battery operated - I NEED sparkly lights at the moment.

They will be fine and look lovely. Get lots