Although I’ve been to Chatsworth House once before – a scary amount of years ago – I’ve never been to their Christmas event and my friend suggested that we should do so for our annual Christmas trip. This year’s theme was The Enchanted Garden, focusing on the beauty and magic of the country in winter which included some interesting projections of fairies throughout the house, as well as beautifully decorated rooms and lots of Christmas trees.
Originally built from wood by William the Conqueror in 1068 Warwick Castle was rebuilt in stone during the 12th century. It’s been home to many important historical figures, possibly the most well known being Richard Neville who was nicknamed the Kingmaker due to his actions during the Wars of the Roses. But, learning about the history of the castle wasn’t really my purpose for visiting last weekend. (It vaguely had been but it soon became clear that Christmas at the Castle was very much its own thing and I wasn’t going to learn much about the history while there – I bought a guidebook for that!). This visit was part of an annual tradition with a friend to visit a Christmas light show or market every year. We’ve done this for a very long time, only having to cancel plans during COVID lockdowns. You can read about some of our past adventures here and here.
Last week I took a walk around the Christmas Market in Nottingham’s Market Square in order to take some photos. There’s no ice rink this year for obvious reasons and it’s also supposed to be more spread out than usual (after last year’s debacle), though it honestly didn’t feel any more spread out than usual to me. There are some familiar sights however such as the tree, the wheel, the helter skelter and the flashing snowflakes on the front of the Council House and the lights certainly do brighten up the gloomy evenings.
Last weekend we attended the Christmas light trail at Wollaton Hall which was really very good. This is the second year the hall has put on a trail through its grounds – we didn’t go last year for obvious reasons. The trail takes around an hour to explore and is simple to follow with each section having its own theme.
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