Wimpole Estate Christmas Lights Trail (National Trust, Cambridgeshire)

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At the end of November, I visited National Trust's Wimpole Estate to see their Christmas lights trail and illuminations. Members of the National Trust can get a discount on their tickets. This was my first visit to Wimpole's Christmas light trail, and I wanted to try a different Christmas trail this year. Wimpole is located in Cambridgeshire and has a lot of parkland, a hall, and a farm to visit. It is one of the larger estates and is popular with children due to the working farm that visitors can explore. The light trail covered the grounds of the hall to the farm and back again to the stables area. 

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The first part to visit was the funfair, which had a few small rides for children. There were also a couple of food and drink trucks here.

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Then, there was a woodland walk with some illuminations. 

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On the way down to the estate, we saw some light sculptures and illuminated trees. Christmas music played.

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

Last year, we saw the LED trees at a couple of the estates, and there was one at Wimpole.

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

The front of the mansion was lit up with a Christmas tree at the front of the estate.

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

After walking around, we walked through a light tunnel...

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

...before seeing a beautiful mansion lit up with light projections with different colours and patterns. This was played to popular Christmas music, the song "Last Christmas" by George Michael.

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

After watching the light projection, we saw some illuminated hoops in trees....

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...and icicles that were glowing.

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Another tree was covered in stars with enchanting instrumentals. 

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Disney music played "When You Wish Upon a Star" with some glowing orbs.

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Along the trail, there were illuminated snowdrops....

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...A fire garden...and thousands of lights.

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We headed through the walled garden. The gate was open, and we heard vintage Christmas music in this part. The lights led us down to an impressive sculpture.

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This continued via a red heart trail, which we also saw last year.

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

Outside of the walled garden was a field of "tents" or Christmas trees, which glowed different colours and set to the music from "The Snowman".

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

Around the corner was Santa's grotto with an illuminated tree and other Christmas items.

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wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

The half-way point was located here, and I had a hot chocolate before continuing on my way.

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The glowing poppies in the trees were one of my favourite illuminations, and I saw them last year on another trail as well. 

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

Some of the stumps and limbs of trees had been illuminated along the trail on the way back.

wimpole-xmas-lights

Another tree has a few orange orbs hanging on it.

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

And another display included illuminated gifts and a robin.

wimpole-xmas-lights

Along the trail was a row of glowing roses, which I've also seen on previous trails.

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

The trees glowed with different colours along the trail.

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

One place had a lot of green lights that sparkled and moved around. 

wimpole-xmas-lights

Snowflake shapes with mirrors were set up to catch the light, but they did not work too well as there was a lot of shade here really.

wimpole-xmas-lights

The last part of the trail led back to the beginning with an illuminated walkway, showing different colours and patterns on the ground. 

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

wimpole-xmas-lights

The Christmas illuminated trail at Wimpole was not my favourite. Several of the illuminations I'd seen in previous years, and there wasn't really a large display. They could have added more lights on trees and more illuminations. There wasn't a lot of space around the trails themselves, and it would have been good for them to utilise some of the space around the larger areas. 

See my other posts featuring Wimpole:

Pre-Christmas Visit to Wimpole Estate
Autumn Visit to Wimpole Estate (Lockdown Edition)

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