� IN FOCUS l CHRISTMAS NEWS IN BRIEF


w Get your skates on for London’s pop-up rinks


Hever Castle creates festive themed trail


Hever Castle and Gardens in Kent – the childhood home of Anne Boleyn – will create a festive trail around its grounds this Christmas. Groups can see the Italian


Garden with its 38-acre lake and its own Trevi Fountain, while in the castle, the rooms will be decorated with a ‘Christmas Stories’ theme. There will be festive shopping


and traditional Christmas lunches in the restaurant. After dark, the gardens will be illuminated with up-lighting and colour washes. Groups are welcome on


weekdays from November 28 to December 24 (excluding December 3-4). hevercastle.co.uk/groups


During the winter months, London fills up with pop-up rinks, from festive favourites outside the Natural History Museum, the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace to Skylight’s rooftop rink and Skate at Somerset House. Hyde Park will host more


than 200 wooden cabins during Original Tour offers London lights routes


The Original Tour is selling festive bus tours of London through the trade for the first time. The firm’s open-top double-decker buses will offer Thursday-Sunday departures in November and daily from December 6. The tour includes the capital’s


famous Christmas lights along Trafalgar Square, Regent Street


Festive Frankfurt market returns to Birmingham


Bletchley creates codebreaking Christmas scenes


Bletchley Park, the home of the Second World War codebreakers, will be celebrating the festive season with a 1940s Christmas. The grounds and historic buildings of the attraction near Milton Keynes will see a recreation of a vintage festive season, from November 1 to December 22. Groups to Bletchley Park can book a two-course private festive lunch in the Mansion House. bletchleypark.org.uk


20 TravelGBI | July-August 2018


Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market – the largest authentic German market outside Germany and Austria – returns to Birmingham for the festive season (November 15- December 23). Shoppers can indulge in hot chocolate, Bratwurst, pretzels and Gluhwein, while there are carol singers and daily bands on stage. There will be an estimated 120-


plus stalls selling a large range of traditional gifts, handcrafted wooden decorations and toys. Other Christmas shopping opportunities will be at the NEC’s Festive Gift Fair (November 15-18) and The Mailbox at the Bullring. Panto fans can watch Peter Pan at the Birmingham Hippodrome (December 19-January 27) or The Wizard of Oz at Birmingham


and Piccadilly Circus, and a live guide tells stories of Christmas past and present. A free Santa hat is included with every ticket, and tours last 45 or 90 minutes. Normal hop-on hop-off sightseeing tours will run during the festive period, except for Christmas Day. theoriginaltour.com


its Christmas market days. visitlondon.com


Cinderella fairy story conjured at


Repertory Theatre (November 24-January 13). There will be the chance to sing along to Christmas classics at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, with its Christmas Spectacular (December 15), Love Actually with a live orchestra (December 20) and Christmas Carol Singalong (December 23). Visitors can travel back in time to the Victorian era at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, near Birmingham, where costumed characters bring classic Christmas stories to life. visitbirmingham.com


Blenheim Palace Blenheim Palace will create the world of Cinderella for a festive daytime family experience. The historic attraction near Oxford will be home to fairytale characters, such as the stepmother’s drawing room – set for afternoon tea – while the Ugly Sisters’ room will be scattered with clothes, books and shoes. Visitors can also see Cinderella’s


room, the crystal world of The Fairy Godmother, a glass-inspired Ballroom, and the Wishing Tree in the candlelit chapel. The Stables will have a dressing-


up box so visitors can become royalty for the day and pose by carriages and pumpkins to recreate their own fairy-tale Cinderella moment.


blenheimpalace.com travelgbi.com


Hever Castle & Gardens


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36