23rd November 2019

Updates and News

Some Super Events at Some Splendid Places to Celebrate Christmas 2019

Southhampton City Centre

This Christmas Southampton has a good sized ice skating rink in the shadow of the old town walls. The Christmas market on the other side of the walls features some interesting craft stalls and German sausages sizzling on a huge hot plate. Most impressive is Father Christmas on his sleigh flying over the famous Bargate. More details here 

Magical woodlands await at Mottisfont Abbey this Christmas from 23 November 2019 to 5 January 2020

Magical woodlands await at Mottisfont with decorations inspired by Cicely Mary Barker’s exquisite Winter Flower Fairy illustrations. The original artworks are on show in the second-floor art gallery, while the house and gardens are beautifully dressed with native winter foliage and traditional festive colours. Families can explore with a fairy-themed activity trail.

You'll find an exhibition of the original flower fairy illustrations in the upstairs art gallery, including the Christmas Tree, Holly and Winter Jasmine fairies. Instantly recognisable and utterly enchanting, the Flower Fairies still cast a spell years after they were first created in the early 20th century.

The fairies have sprinkled festive magic around the rest of the house and grounds to create a captivating Christmas. Decorations are inspired by the natural winter world the fairies inhabit. Indoor and outdoor spaces are dressed with swags of holly and ivy from our own woodlands, creeping moss and twinkling lights. More information here.

The Illuminated Trail returns from 22 November to 1 January transforming England's finest view with a bigger, brighter and more spectacular evening trail than ever before featuring a new multi-coloured aerial light show filling the sky with dancing bands of colour, a dynamic waterfall, and the softly-glowing flowers of the Snowdrop Walk. In another installation inspired by nature, Australian studio Mandylights returns to Christmas at Blenheim Palace with Vines. A 30-metre long promenade of LED vines that you can walk through, touch and interact with, each vine houses up to 8,000 individual colour-changing pixels, making for an otherworldly immersive experience. More events and information here.