Southern Yacht

My little take on plus size fashion, life, travel and smurfs

Sunday 25 November 2018

Christmas at Beaulieu

Anyone that knows me, knows how much I love Christmas. When I heard about the Christmas at Beaulieu event and I was invited to go along with Southampton Bloggers - I might just have squealed a bit (ok, a lot! I was very excited).

Christmas at Beaulieu - Palace House

This is a magical after-dark illuminated trail and is the first time such an event has been held at Beaulieu. Probably most people think of the National Motor Museum when they think of Beaulieu, but there's also the Palace House, Abbey and beautiful grounds to explore.

On arrival we were greeted with mulled wine, some seriously scrumptious mince pies and a short introduction about the installations. The amount of planning, work and number of lights involved was impressive and with over a million lights and 11 miles of power cables we knew we were in for a grand show. We were then let loose to make our way around the mile long trail. The first piece was the 200 foot long Cathedral of Light with 30,000 lights (and as we quickly found out, was the best place ever for taking selfies).

Christmas at Beaulieu - Cathedral of Light

Christmas at Beaulieu - Cathedral of Light

I have so many photos of the evening, so apologies for this picture heavy post. They just don't do the evening justice though and there's really something magical about walking through the trails at night with Christmas music and lights. In the grounds of the medieval abbey we found the Fire Garden lit with over 180 torches. By time the event finishes on the 24th December, they will have used over 5,000 candles. This was one of my favourite areas, the natural lights with the surrounding history was a perfect balance.

Christmas at Beaulieu - Fire Garden and Abbey grounds

Other highlights included singing Jingle Bells with Santa on his bus and The Twelve Days of Christmas installation (does anyone get confused after the 8th day?)

Christmas at Beaulieu - 12 days of Christmas

You could toast your own marshmallows in front of a Gingerbread House (raspberry and champagne flavour caught my eye). There was also a love lock tree where quite a few Christmas wishes were being posted.

Christmas at Beaulieu - toasting marshmallows

Christmas at Beaulieu - Gingerbread House

Christmas at Beaulieu - Love Lock Tree

Christmas at Beaulieu - Alice in Wonderland

Earlier in the evening we stopped off at the village of Beaulieu and looking across the mill pond, we got a hint of the lights and music in store for us. Walking around the other side on the banks of the River Beaulieu was even better.

Christmas at Beaulieu - Mill Pond Walk

Christmas at Beaulieu - Mill Pond Walk

Christmas at Beaulieu - Icicle Walk

At the end of the trail was a huge tree (serious tree envy here) and a selection of festive huts selling hot chocolate, crepes, sweets, mulled wine and bratwurst. Perfect Christmas snacks. And if you needed more lights and excitement, there was a carousel, ferris wheel and the Beaulieu monorail to ride.

Christmas at Beaulieu - Christmas Tree

Christmas at Beaulieu

Christmas at Beaulieu is on until the 24th December 2018. A big thank you to Beaulieu for the invite, this really is an event for all ages and the look of wonder on the children's faces was beautiful. There's also plenty of photo opportunities.

Christmas at Beaulieu

Christmas at Beaulieu - Icicle Walk

Thanks for reading, I'm off to dig out the decorations from the loft now!

Cathy
xx

*Gifted tickets - thoughts and reviews are my own

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