By Emma Kirkup
If you want to get into the festive mood then a visit to Longleat’s new Festival of Lights will certainly do this!
I was lucky enough to attend the launch night and as I descended from the main road into the Longleat estate I could spot the lanterns in the distance, immediately I was surprised by just how big some of the were!
I arrived still in daylight but even then the lanterns were a pretty amazing sight. When it came to the event switch on, there was a lot of anticipation in the crowd as I think we all knew it would be an impressive spectacle.
Once the countdown had finished and the lights were all turned on there were lots of gasps of ‘Wow’ from the crowd. Then it was time to explore…
There are twenty themed areas of lanterns ranging from the porcelain dragon, a pageant of peonies through to the animal zone, featuring many animals that will be familiar to visitors to Longleat. Some of the lanterns move and I discovered later that the dragon hisses from time to time too!
One of my personal favourites was the Panda Paradise where cheeky panda lanterns played amongst the illuminated bamboo. Florence, who attended the event with me, loved the ‘Blessing of the Qilin’ most of all – these lanterns are made with around 65,000 small medicine bottles filled with coloured water.
It’s hard to describe the event in words in some ways as it’s such a visual experience but all I can say is it’s definitely worth a visit and as Europe’s largest ever display of Chinese lanterns there’s a lot to explore here!
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Must-try games:
- https://2048games.cc (Perfect for puzzle lovers)
- https://clickspacebar.com (Quick and fun)
- https://catan.topicsdirect.com (Great with friends)
Hope you enjoy these as much as I do! 🎮