During the festive season, Dunham Massey deer park and the formal gardens are magically transformed and illuminated by light. To find out more about this event, booking and other information see here.
We arrived for the press launch and were kindly greeted with mince pies, mulled wine and (to the kid’s delight) Christmas gingerbread! After a short talk from the organisers of this fabulous event, we were off to explore the light trail.
Every year we expect bigger and better and that’s certainly what we got. This year the route started a little differently, talking us along the deer park and starting us right in front of the house. The house was illuminated and looked fantastic with Advent Calendar projections.
We then entered the garden and was just amazed the entire time. The larger than life glittery Dunham Deer is definelty a favourite our ours and it was lovely to see again. Isla absoloutly loved walkng through the Illuminated Flowers (with a Frozen theme tune) and the beautiful and very sparkly Heart Walk.
One of my favourite parts of the trail was the new Firework Trees, WOW was they impressive! My three children actually thought real fireworks were going off. The trees were lit up all in different colours and it cleverly looked like a fireworks display set to music!
Next was another firm favourite but was bigger and better than ever before, the Sea of Light. We were in absolute awe as a mixture of coloured lights swept across the ground. We sat for a while to enjoy this, the kids were mesmerised.
Next we headed through beautiful tunnels of light to toast some delicious marshmallows! The kids picked vanilla flavoured marshmallows, whilst I went for chocolate orange and my husband chose salted caramel. Is there anything better than Christmas lights and hot toasted marshmallows?
We continued along the trail through the very impressive Laser Garden. The kids thought this was brilliant! Green lasers filled the path, making the kids jump about to dodge them, pretty purple lasers lit up the stream along the side of the path. This led us to the lake where we were treated to the most spectacular light show. There was fantastic music, lasers, projections and even fire on the water!
No festive trip would be complete without seeing the big man himself! This year Father Christmas and some friends are in the middle of the trail to say hello. My children were very excited to see him, they joined in with the little workout Santa taught them, to keep them warm.
After the trail, the kids had a go on a fairground ride each. Ride tokens are £2.50 and can be bought close to the rides, they also take card/contactless payment. Joshua decided on the Old Fashioned Swing-boats, whilst Oscar and Isla went on the traditional merry-go-round. There was also a huge Helter-skelter and gorgeous traditional Carousel.
There was also plenty of food and drink stalls giving the experience a real Christmas Market feel, whether your hungry or after a mulled wine, there’s something for everyone.
We left feeling all Christmassy and it’s certainly a family tradition of ours that we will continue to enjoy each year.
Out and about mummy 