Christmas lights at Stourhead


I mentioned in my last post that Ziggy came home plastered in mud earlier this week – not long after I posted he came to sit on me, and we realised he'd hurt his paw. Now, if one of our cats is going to hurt themself, it's always Ziggy. We knew if we left him, he'd probably wind up with an infection and end up having an emergency appointment on Christmas Day, because that's how Ziggy is. So we rang the vet and got an appointment that night... and that meant we couldn't go on our planned trip to Stourhead to see the Christmas lights.

Stourhead's a National Trust place, but the lights are a special thing that has to be booked (and is quite pricy) but we took the loss of the tickets on the chin and luckily were able to rebook for the 23rd. This corner of Plaguey Island is still in Tier 2, but I've no idea how long it'll last before we're more strictly locked down, so I was keen to do something. Stourhead's landscape gardens are famous, and light installations have been put throughout. There's music playing too. 

We arrived just after dark. Entry times have to be prebooked, to ensure a constant flow of visitors and not too much crowding or bunching. Even so, after months of not mixing with people in public spaces (or private ones) it felt strange being within feet of so many other people. It probably would have been more crowded were it not for the rain. But the lights were magical, and by the end I really didn't care about the rain.

Most of the displays were small, but the final one involved lights shaped like lilies floating in front of the bridge, then at the other end of the lake a building was illuminated, so the whole vista was involved.

It felt magical by the end, and I'm glad we went. 

Oh, and I took some of the world's worst selfies too.

Have a lovely Christmas!

Comments

  1. Poor Ziggy! I'm glad you got his paw sorted and were able to reschedule your visit to Stourhead, it looks absolutely wonderful. That selfie made me giggle but at least you got your whole haed on it - I always chop half my face off!
    Have a brilliant Xmas! xxx

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  2. Merry Christmas to you and Mr Robot. I hope Ziggy is okay. Xx

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    1. Thank you! He's fine now – little toerag! (Come to think of it, given he has a bit of loose fur on his paw, he is quite literally a little toerag at present.)

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  3. The things we do for our fur babies! I do hope Ziggy's on the mend, and back to his mischievous old self! I'm glad you were able to rebook Stourhead. It does look truly magical but I guess it would have been even more so in person. We did visit the wonderful gardens and parkland at Stourhead about (gasp!) twenty years ago ... I'm hearing you on the crowds, even if at Stourhead it was quite manageable. I sometimes wonder if we'll ever mix with people again in the same way! xxx

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    1. Yes, it's funny - there are usually one or two other people in the butcher when I go on a Saturday and I'm fine with that, but in places like Stourhead and the supermarket where there are more people I do feel very wary nowadays. I'm sure we will get back to mixing eventually. But we'll probably all be a lot warier about going to work with a cold, and dodge anyone with the sniffles in public!

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  4. That looks so beautiful. Glad you were able to make it.

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    1. It was gorgeous. Such a shame it was raining - if it had been cold enough to snow, that would have been magical.

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  5. Oh, that does look magical indeed! I'm so glad you got to go and I hope Ziggy's paw is on the mend. Bloody cats are as bad as children....

    Take care and have a lovely festive break,
    xxx

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    1. He's such an idiot, that one! He's fine now though.

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  6. I'm glad you took care of Ziggy, even though you missed out on the lights' first date. Wow, those look so cool - they had something similar planned here and it was not permitted to go ahead, sadly.

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