[Ad- gifted experience]Â We do try to fit in as many light trails as possible when it comes to the Christmas season. There are always so many new ones popping up and it’s fantastic to go back to the ones we have previously visited to see how they have changed for the year. Hylands Estate has the first ever light trail that our family went to, many years ago. Enlightened does a variety of different light trails in England, of which we’ve been to quite a few, but Enlightened Hylands Estate holds a special place in our hearts.
Enlightened Hylands Estate starts off with the talking tree! This projection introduces you to the trail, talking about what you might see, which is always a warm welcome. From there, we started walking down the rainbow trees, listening to the music, and checking out the animated gingerbread house. Robin instantly remembered this trail from that gingerbread house, which in past years had an interaction where you could change the design.
Early on in the walk, there was a little area to toast marshmallows. As we came on a windy day, these were red coals that we could toast over, instead of a fire. This was very interesting, actually, as we were able to get a good golden color without actually burning the marshmallows. There were lights shining above us, a giant sign, and it was just stunning to see! After the marshmallows, we continued forward to the Make a Wish area, which is one we always stop at. Amelia, Dann, Robin, Kai and I all wrote our wishes down and attached them to the long fence, peaking at the wishes that already hung there as well. We read out some of our favorites, hoping they come true, before walking towards more lights! These sort of vine-like lights, that arch up over the sides of the walkway, are one of my favorites from last year – thought it was so busy! We were very glad to go on a less busy day. They also have photo frames in this area too.
One of Dann and Kai’s favorite bites of Enlightened Hyland Estate is the water lights! Along with some magical music, you can watch jets of water light up along with the music, which just looks so magical. We all stopped for the entire show here and were happy we got to walk by them another time as well. There was a fairy trail here too, which had lots of little fairy doors and different cages that had fairies in them. The fairy trail is always a fun one, especially as the entrance has a bunch of little green dots that move around it!
There are so many lights! We saw the field of lights, the bubble hanging lights (which is also Amelia’s favorites) along with one of the running, light up walks that Robin loves running through. It’s just an easy place to walk through and explore. We did get to the truly interactive area, which featured a bunch of wooden instruments that you can play by using big buttons along with some spot lights that you can move using a controller. Our children really enjoyed interacting and playing with these, which didn’t have a big wait or anything either, and we very much appreciated having something interactive for little ones.
Enlightened Hyland Estate is such a fantastic use of space and we very much enjoyed our little walk. This isn’t a light trail that has a bunch of food places – there were just a few at the start, one of which had drinks and one had little pancakes. Of course, we got some of the little pancakes, as that is our tradition. We loved our time at this specific light trail and cannot wait to see how it changes for next year!
You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!