Sunday 11. January 2026
Longleat Safari Park, Wiltshire
Last weekend was the final weekend of this season’s Festival of Light at Longleat. For 2025/6, the theme was British Icons & Landmarks – and also British cartoon characters; meaning I could see Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run, and others, all presented in Longleat’s spectacular lantern form.
Going on the last day of the event actually worked out quite nicely, because it was quieter (also being a Sunday, after the schools had gone back) – although….it was a wet evening. There was one very heavy rainshower while I was walking round the display, which although short, made it difficult to take photos properly, or enjoy the sights around the trail.
After it had stopped raining and I’d had a drink to warm up, I actually went round the trail again in order to enjoy it properly!
That is the great thing about Longleat’s winter lights trail – you can stay as long as you like. So once to look at it….and once to take photos of the best bits. ๐
I think my favourite parts though, weren’t so much the TV characters, but how certain British landmarks had been transformed in to lantern-form spectacles. For London: Tower Bridge, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, The Shard, and the gates of Buckingham Palace were all very impressive.
Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol was an impressive one too – Even though it was a regular footpath beside the big house, in the dark and with the way it was lit up, it actually felt like being on a real bridge!
In the ‘Up North’ section, Blackpool Tower, Wallace and Gromit’s house, Glenfinnan Viaduct (and all the thistles to represent Scotland), and the Angel of the North, were all particular highlights.
I will look forward to seeing what they come up with for the Winter 2026/7 trail.
Happy Friday!
FH.
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