It was the 4th of December and all through the house, was Tinsel and Baubles, bits of loft insulation and a 7ft tall fake Christmas tree (in pieces). Yes we decided to get Christmassy a little later this year. Usually we’re the 1st of December, but we had too much going on. Today was one of those days were we needed to carefully nest all the pieces together.
Winter Wonderland at Wynyard Hall Gardens
We arrive a little early for the Winter Wonderland. The official opening time was 4:30pm, but we wanted to have a little look around the shop again. Cat was desperate to Instagram the contents of the shop again.
The shop and coffee shop have a very stylish feel with trendy greys and oatmeal colours. The displays aren’t stacked high and over stocked, but placed precisely for perusing purchasers.
As the clock hit 4:30pm, we saw a stream of people heading out to the garden. We were up and out. We chatted to the Winter Fairy as we left the warmth of the coffee shop, even though she was supposed to be the end of the walk. I would say it was freezing, but that would just be literal as I recon it was around 5 degrees.
The route was marked out with notices and a clean path was marked by roping off routes that went out of the way. The first section was straight through the length of the garden past trees and reindeers. This was a great chance to try my night time photography. I am not proclaiming to be great and fully expecting to retain my amateur status.
One thing I did notice was that the blue LED lights seem to be strange to photograph. Both my iPhone and Sony Camera seemed to show a harsh halo around the bulb.
But as I walked about halfway down there was a photo opportunity
I had to grab. the clouds had moved and exposed the crescent moon.
The Tree was the centre piece for the display standing 25 feet tall and playing christmas party tunes, it was a fun feature. From this angle it looked like a diamond, but it was definitely a star on top of the tree.
We then filtered through into a bright tunnel of lights, which was fun to chase the girls through (I will point out that I mean Abigail and Imogen, I’m not a menace to society).
We were now on the home straight. Down past three wooden huts. The first serving Hog Roast with stuffing, the second Mulled wine and the third housed a jolly bearded chap dressed in red.
Santa was very personable and outgoing and insisted on getting Imogen and Abigail to wave as fast as they could to “make sure its a blurry photograph”. He asked them about what they wanted for xmas and discussed their choices in detail. Imogen wanted books, so he asked what her favourite author was. Followed up with a suggestion of a series of books that she may like. Abigail wanted a Hatchimal! Santa knew what it was and explained what she needed to do. The only thing he missed out was how we could get hold of one before Christmas!
Included in the entrance was a ride on the tea cups attraction. This had quite a queue for it, but we waited our turn and the girls span around.
The lighting was great and with the cold weather, it certainly got us into the Christmas spirit.
The Snow Queen stepped out of her sleigh for our two to climb in. She’s not as frosty as they make out she’s supposed to be!
We did try and get a photo with her, but it came out blurry, due to low level lighting and my amateur status!
And with that we were back at the coffee shop to finish up our Winter Wonderland Walk the tour taking around an hour to complete.
OK! It wasn’t quite the end of our Winter lights tour, we sneaked over to Wynyard Hall to photograph the exterior!
We were donated a family ticket to the Winter Wonderland by Wynyard Gardens.
Details of the events as follows: 24th November – 30th December (Excluding Christmas Day and Boxing Day)
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday Evenings (Please note: 27th & 28th December fall on a Tuesday and Wednesday)
Times: 16:30 – 20:30
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