On Saturday night, Adam and I were invited along to Ushaw Historic House, Chapels & Gardens for the opening night of Illuminating Ushaw: Land of Enchantment.

The stunning Christmas light trail returns for a third year and sees the gardens of Ushaw Historic House transformed into a magical winter wonderland with art installations and illumination features and decorations throughout the grounds, designed by regional artists and by children from local schools.

The theme this year is Land of Enchantment where the installations celebrate the beauty of the natural world, as well as the feelings of joy that the festive season brings. Catching Stars, an installation recreating the feeling of gazing at starry night skies, and Ushaw Rabbit, a large-scale sculpture crafted from metal and willow, are just two of the incredible commissions you’ll find on the trail. If you’re lucky, you’ll also spot Santa and his reindeer flying through the trees so make sure you keep an eye out for that!

The suggested dwell time for the trail is one hour, which gives you a chance to explore the grounds and snap some seasonal selfies too!

It’s a really lovely walk around the gardens, with Christmas music playing as you go. We even stopped at one point to listen to a musician singing Jingle Bell Rock with her guitar under a tree – that was a nice little surprise.

There’s plenty of food and drink options on offer that you can have after your walk, or you can do what we did and grab a hot chocolate to walk around the trail with to keep you warm!

Illuminating Ushaw takes place on the following dates:

Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th December.
Friday 16th, Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th December.

Tickets cost £10 for children and £12 for adults – children under 2 go free AND the trail is dog friendly, so you can bring your pooches along for the walk too. Event timings are between 4.30pm and 6.30pm with the Ushaw Historic House closing at 8pm. The ticket also contains free parking which is available opposite the site, and the trail is also wheelchair accessible. You can book your tickets here.

When you’re on the trail, you can also visit the beautiful St. Cuthbert’s Chapel which is also lit up this year. It was absolutely stunning and there was also a choir singing carols which added to the festive spirit of the event.

Adam and I had such a wonderful visit and thoroughly enjoyed the trail and the visit to Ushaw in general. We got chatting to one of the lovely volunteers on our way around the trail who told us a little bit about how it is a registered independent charity and relies on donations and volunteers to help it continue to run as a cultural attraction. They have a whole host of events on all year round for all of the family to enjoy and you can find out more on their website here.

You can also find ways to donate on their website, as well as find information on memberships and volunteering opportunities!

We can’t wait to visit again – especially now that we know it’s only a short drive away from us.

** Full disclosure: We were gifted 2 tickets and 2 drinks vouchers in exchange for this blog post.