Sold out last year, with thousands flocking from all over the country to bear witness and take part, Blenheim’s Illuminated Trail is back, throwing open its doors last night to the multitudes expected over Christmas.
Providing the wow factor while introducing new elements every year remains the challenge, but with numbers increasing year on year, it’s one that’s certainly being met.
So what can you expect from this year? A new multi-coloured aerial light show filling the sky with dancing bands of colour, 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.
Expect over a million pea-lights, lasers and projections, wander beneath unique tree canopies drenched in seasonal colour and dripping with silvery shards of light, frosty snowflakes, stars and baubles.
whether you’ve been before, or are yet to experience the wonders of The Illuminated Trail, Blenheim Palace has pushed the boat out yet again, to wow its Christmas visitors and ensure a fully festive spectacle to remember
And discover the Sledge Tree, an 11-metre design structure made from 365 illuminated wooden sledges to represent each day of the year.
This novel piece of art, light and architecture reinterprets the classic Christmas Tree – an artistic collaboration between Hello Wood from Budapest who has designed and built the structure and Creatmosphere based in London and France who has animated it with light and sound.
The dynamic waterfall, and the softly-glowing flowers of the Snowdrop Walk, are back, as is the live show with Father Christmas, but other new touches include more modern music and experimental light scenarios. One resembles a laser quest arena, another a cube, while the hot chocolate, marshmallow and mulled wine stalls provide valid refreshment for the evening crowds.
And if nothing else there is a free chocolate along the way at the Galaxy sponsored station.
The initial entrance with the merry-go-round and food stalls in the East Courtyard also provides refreshments and the Christmas Market in the main courtyard has a scattering of food and drink stalls too, amongst the 60 individual wooden-style chalets of gifts, art and foodie spoils.
With a new indoor Alice in the Palace experience taking over the State Rooms during the day, (more of which to follow), inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, where you can step between the pages of a larger-than-life immersive and interactive story book, the day to night offerings are complete.
So whether you’ve been before, or are yet to experience the wonders of The Illuminated Trail, Blenheim Palace has pushed the boat out yet again, to wow its Christmas visitors and ensure a fully festive spectacle to remember.
Christmas at Blenheim Palace runs until January 5 2020. blenheimpalace.com/christmas
The Christmas Market is Open 22 Nov – Dec 15 from 10.30am to 8.30pm Except 25, 26, 27 Nov and 2, 3 Dec when it will close at 6.30pm.
