Glow Wild

I'd booked tickets for Chrissy and myself to go to the Glow Wild Winter Lantern Festival at Wakehurst Place tonight, and as it was a nice day, we decided to go earlier and make an afternoon of it.  I drove to Balcombe Lake, thinking we could walk round it, but when we got there, there didn't seem to be any paths, so we decided to go to Ardingly Reservoir instead.  We found a bird hide at the side of the reservoir so went and sat in it, but we didn't see much in the way of wild life, although the reflections on the water from the sunset were nice.

We got to Wakehurst half an hour before our entry time, so went and had a hot chocolate and mince pies in the cafe first.  The trail winds through the gardens and woodland with hand made lanterns lighting the way.  There are illuminated woodland animals, and floating lanterns on the pond as well as a river of fire.  But the best part is a light show which is projected onto the front of the mansion.

It was extremely cold and at the end of the trail there were little wooden chalets with food and hot drinks, so we had another hot chocolate to warm us up.

The lanterns and displays were really impressive and it's been a very enjoyable evening.