The Enchanted Forest Review
The Enchanted Forest
Pitlochry, Scotland
Reviewed by Dawn Watson
‘Elemental’ was the theme this year – embodying the powers of nature!
Mesmerising, charismatic, beautiful, stunning, atmospheric, amazing and awesome are just a few words to sum up our families visit to Pitlochry’s stunning award winning Enchanted Forest sound and light show. Having never been to this show before we did not know what to expect so were delighted to be chosen to review.
Everything works like clockwork, so efficient and organised from the minute you meet your bus in Pitlochry to the minute you choose to leave – you can’t park at Faskally Woods during the show but are chauffeured via private buses up to the Woods, and again they run every 15 minutes back to Pitlochry, so ideal for families with little ones, no hanging around.
On arrival, although our allotted time was still fairly early and not quite dark yet, we all said WOW. It was so much more than I had every expected or imagined, such a bigger scale and truly stunning. The girls loved the helium balloons with the little ‘lights’ in them, adding another dimension to the light show.
There were lots of staff/volunteers around ensuring your safety and making sure you didn’t miss out on seeing anything. Although in the woods there were good pathways making it ideal for prams and wheelchairs (make sure though you wear good comfy shoes, the Scottish weather can turn at any minute).
Our first gorgeous vision was of a stunning fountain and light show all set to wonderful charismatic music – it took our breath away and you couldn’t help but stay glued watching it – each mini show lasted several minutes then started up again, ensuring everyone kept moving at their own pace but at the same time giving plenty of time for each person see it.
Food was also available and heated toilets, which were very clean! I enjoyed a nice warming mulled wine as we wandered around. Every corner you came round there was something new to see, whether sound, stunning colours of light shining through the trees creating imaginary scenes in your mind. Flames came out of nowhere further up the woods in the water! We stood, as recommended by a volunteer, on a viewing platform to watch a sound and light show within the edge of the woods, it was almost eerie and scary and you wanted to see more and more. My girls (age 7 and 11) were mesmerised, imagining bears, bats, fireflies and fairies all in the scene. You couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the amount of work put into this show… everywhere you turned there was another small, large, exciting piece of artwork within the lights. My girls favourite, other than the fires, were the tree top artistes – swinging amongst the tree canopies acting out their own little show to music and light.
Also for little ones was an area dedicated to storytelling with a nominal £1 entrance fee which was very, very popular with little ones. This was in a covered tented area, although we didn’t go in, another family did and said it was so enjoyable.
It took us over an hour (they recommend at least 40 minutes once round and to do it again, you will see something different every time I imagine) to wander around, by this time it was truly dark and brought the light and sound show to another level. I honestly have never seen anything like it and was so impressed and stunned by the shows beauty, really making me appreciate the wonders of nature and how this tremendous show brought the beauty of Faskally Woods to life.
This year has sold out already, runs in October only, but each year is a new show and a new theme and we will definitely be buying tickets.
It was enjoyed by people of all ages and I know for us was totally fabulous, we were all truly amazed and loved every minute, it is definitely a MUST visit for everyone. And the girls are still talking about it, a true sign of something they really enjoyed!
The light and sound designers must be proud, a true head turner of a show!
Rating: 5/5 
For more information visit www.enchantedforest.org.uk.
