Christmas at Waddesdon Manor

Waddesdon is one of my favourite National Trust properties, so seeing the impressive Manor as part of Christmas at Waddesdon, is really special.

Our entrance time was 4pm, which was great, because it was dark enough by the time we got there to see the lights at their best.

Once parked, we packed Thomas and a picky dinner into the buggy, and walked to the shuttle bus stop, where after a five minute wait we showed our tickets to a staff member and boarded the shuttle bus that took us to the Manor.

To catch the shuttle bus to the Manor it cost £2 for an adult, and £1 for a child (1-17 years).

If you don’t want to catch the shuttle bus, you can walk to the Manor along a lit path, which takes about 25-30 minutes.

Once we exited the shuttle bus we immediately saw the Manor lit up in all its Christmas splendour, as well as eight 20ft Christmas trees.

The first thing Ryan and I did was walk to the top of the path so we were right in front of the Manor, and watched the light show. There were two light shows that alternated every five minutes, with a break in between each show.

We then walked around the Christmas markets that lined each side of the path leading to the Manor. Each market stall was a wooden chalet covered in twinkling lights, with each chalet selling unique Christmas gift items including:

• Clothing
• Jewellery
• Children’s games, gifts, and toys
• Condiments
• Snacks
• Gifts for pets
• Homewares

Ryan was certain that he saw people with large round lights and was determined to find one to take home. We couldn’t find any, as I’m pretty sure that what he saw was a lantern, which many people had but he didn’t want.

I finally managed to convince him that it was a small lantern, so by the time he was happy and wanted one we couldn’t find any.

After we walked around the Christmas market, we headed to the gardens, which is the main attraction at Christmas at Waddesdon.

The starting point was at a lit up sign saying Winter Light, which was located to the right of the Manor behind the Christmas markets, when facing the Manor from the shuttle bus exiting point.

The Winter Light trail had a lot of different sections to it all running on a one-way system, so you couldn’t miss anything. The grounds were flat, so going with a buggy wasn’t an issue.

This first section was The Aviary, which had an interactive light installation on the ground that changed colours and patterns as children walked on it.

It also had bubbles and fish illuminated on the ground, which Ryan had a lot of fun stepping on.

The next stop was Twinkle Valley, where many trees and areas of ground were covered in lights, including an enchanted forest where the trees seemed to glow as well as some glowing roses.

There was also an Elephant Family here, which is part of Waddesdon’s Coexistence campaign.

After this was another light show, this one called Son et Lumière, which lit up surrounding trees to make it look like they were dancing.

Then we reached Ryan’s favourite part of Christmas at Waddesdon, brightly coloured arches, which lead to Tay Bridge Scents, a bridge in the middle of a jungle with smoke and scents. Ryan thought the smoke was very cool.

Next was my favourite installation, the Light Pyramid, which was a pyramid made up of large changing coloured orbs, which looked like a Christmas tree.

The surrounding trees had the same orbs in them, which looked like they were floating in the sky. Ryan asked me how they were floating, and I had to show him the black cords that were keeping them attached to the trees that you couldn’t see because it was dark.

After we finished The Winter Light trail we made our way to the Stables, which we took by walking through another light show.

This one had disco balls hanging from trees, and lights that made it look as though butterflies and other flying creatures were flying overhead.

Just before reaching the Stables we saw the Illuminated River: Bridges, Boats, and Beyond Trail that started at Miss Alice’s Drive.

Here small items hung from a tree with places written on them that local school children wanted to visit.

Two of the places I saw were Disneyland and Wales.

Behind this section was a walkway covered in lanterns and boats. However, we decided to take the wooden path from this section to the Stables, so only saw some hanging lanterns as we reached the end, which was a shame as it looked so pretty.

Once we reached the Stables there was one final light installation called Pixel Pyramid, which was made up of thousands of hanging pixels that moved. We quickly saw this and then went inside the Stables to see an exhibition by light artist Leo Villareal.

The exhibition was much more understated than the exhibition on display by the same artist at our last visit to Christmas at Waddesdon.

This time the exhibition consisted of three pieces on a wall, with another section dedicated to teaching visitor’s about the artist’s longest public art commission in the world, where he lit nine central London bridges across the Thames.

Once we were finished here we caught the shuttle bus back to the car.

We had such a great night out. The lights were stunning, the weather was perfect, it didn’t rain, and we are now all in full Christmas spirit.

Christmas at Waddesdon is located at Waddesdon, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire,
HP18 0JH. For more information on Christmas at Waddesdon please visit their website.

Related posts:
National Trust visits
Stocking stuffer ideas for preschoolers
Stocking stuffer ideas for toddlers
Stocking stuffer ideas for babies
12 ways to get ready for Christmas early

What Christmas events do you love going to?
I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below.