Wonderful Winter Lights

Today is the last day of Anglesey Abbey’s wonderful Winter Lights presentation. The event has sold out, and has received a huge amount of praise for its creative reinterpretation of the gardens and outdoors areas of this important Cambridgeshire house.

I volunteered there this weekend, and was lucky enough to be posted to the grove of silver birches at the end of the Winter Walk. These are definitely a highlight for many, with the normally brilliant white bark of the slender trees illuminated by a psychedelic array of luminous colours.

Beyond the silver birches was the Paddock, where guests could enjoy refreshments and a shadow puppet show. Further beyond, the mill was dramatically lit, and a jazz band entertained visitors outside the house. Day-glo dancers performed on the route, creating amazing light effects as they did so.

All in all, it’s a great example of creative thinking. A really simple idea, helping visitors to see Anglesey Abbey in a whole new light (literally) while also offering a Christmas experience with a difference.

Wimpole, the other side of Cambridge, has also been creative this year with its Wimpole Wrapped show – where parts of the house and estate are wrapped up with ribbon, in part necessitated by the conservation work underway there. Elsewhere, other places in the East are offering all sorts of Christmas treats, including a 1940s weekend at Felbrigg and festive shows at Blickling, Peckover and Oxburgh. More details can be found on the East of England National Trust webpages.