Christmas at Stourhead Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS EXPERIENCE WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST/S FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW.
Reviewed by Mel S-W
What a wonderful evening, and when you have an unexpected encounter with Santa it left us feeling leaving us extremely festive and warm and fuzzy inside.
We made the journey up to Christmas at Stourhead this evening and wow we absolutely loved it. The signage was all laid out and was easy to follow, with car parking stewards lighting the way and directing traffic.
Walking in from the carpark, we walked towards the entrance and were greeted by a number of food stalls, a bar and sweet treats were available but of course at an extra cost. We sampled the hot drinks, mulled cider and the churros.
When you enter the trail there are no more food and drink stalls until you get up the hill which is about half way round. The trail follows a path throughout the gardens, it is fairly even but there are hills so something to think about for pushchairs and wheelchairs
I would recommend getting the parking and entrance tickets downloaded before arriving as the internet signal is quite patchy. I thought my entrance tickets were downloaded to my Google Wallet but they weren’t there. There is the ability to connect to free Wi-Fi for 20 minutes so you can access your tickets through which was very much appreciated by not just me in the queue.
The festive lights are set in the very spectacular grounds of the National Trust owned Stourhead. The scenery is beautiful, even in the dark. The Grotto across the lake and the Temple of Apollo were lit up and they just looked amazing. Watching the light installations and seeing the reflections of these two buildings in the water really added to the beauty of the evening. Each of the installations had signs with the name and creator on, together with a QR code that told you more about the piece. The only downside to this was that we didn’t have any signal and therefore we weren’t able to access this. It would have been great to have access to this information at the time.
The lights were absolutely stunning, so bright and colourful with festive music. I felt like I was in a festive wonderland and not even the rain couldn’t dampen our spirits. The light installations ranged from trees whose lights reacted to the music, humongous trees whose lights shot from the roots all the way up to the tip end of the branches, giant dandelion seeds suspended in the air, to beautiful feathers that hung hauntingly in the tree canopy. A favourite of ours were the dancing lights where Jingle Bell Rock was playing, because yes …. We were those people dancing tonight in front of it.
Half way round, we came across a small, lit up hut in the woods with two fire pits. We were delighted to see marshmallows for sale. There was a choice of 3 different flavours and they were reasonably priced at £2 each. They were honestly some of the best marshmallows we’d eaten. Toasting marshmallows was also one of our highlights.
The staff were absolutely amazing. So friendly and helpful, very informative whilst interacting with us as we walked around the lights. I would like to say thank you to the volunteers and stewards who were supporting the event, you really made it a night to remember for us
Asking our little boy what his favourite part of the evening was, he beamed and told me it was meeting the big man himself … Santa. Santa was an unexpected surprise and of course he recognised our boy and had a chat with him.
Having never visited Stourhead before, it’s definitely on our list to return at another time, and also to return for the Christmas lights. I was worried about heading there whilst we were still in November but the journey home was full of spotting other people’s Christmas lights and making plans to put up our own Christmas decorations. Feeling very festive now. Thank you Christmas at Stourhead!
Rating: 5/5
Tickets range from £24 for adults and £18 for children. A family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) costs £80. Under 2s are free.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wiltshire/stourhead/christmas-lights-at-stourhead
Tickets can be purchased through Ticketek UK https://premier.ticketek.co.uk/shows/show.aspx?sh=LANDCST&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=TGM_catstour_STOURNT_disp&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA6aW6BhBqEiwA6KzDcyYyXaMcT2RkBSAaX8_caS7UMEWhYXh2oXUm01_t8xLe5gpQLQweNxoCwBcQAvD_BwE
The full address is Stourhead, National Trust Estate Office, High Street, Stourton, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 6QD