My eight year old companion and I arrived at Syon Park in West London around 6pm on Saturday evening to visit the eighth annual Enchanted Woodland illuminated trail at the home of the Duke of Northumberland. It was busy – there were excited children waving light sabres and parents with buggies everywhere. Mind you, there’s extensive car parking in one of the nearby fields which were expertly managed by stewards.
We passed through the entry gates (not far from the Café entrance) and walked through a covered tunnel where music played and exited into a wall of bubbles. The initial part of the trail – along one end of the ornamental lake – had small lights on the path to guide us.
Pretty soon we were on the main trail and saw just about every type of lighting – there were bright Chinese lanterns in trees softly fading from red, to pink to green. There were huge vertical tubes alongside very tall trees – where white light seemed to drip down.
There were rope fairy lights wrapped around the branches of a low tree which reached out over the lake. Oddly carved – was it a snail? – waterside trunks were eerily lit with green and purple hues. At each stage of the walk there was something new to look at. Some kids raced ahead to spot things before their parents. My young companion particularly liked a sort of canon affair which appeared to shoot lights out to ignite the lights on a tall column in the distant woods.
We passed a bridge and marched over board walks. We saw another bridge that had a string of mirror balls suspended below glinting with reflections over the water. Right at the top of the lake we stopped for a few minutes to listen to the Nutcracker while a wide arc of trees lit up in time to the music. That really felt Christmassy.
We walked past some misty displays with candles in cages and peeked in at a fairy grotto. We played a while at the shadow wall. Above us were cheerful green and blue lights and a rainbow array of lights dripping down tubes.
Lots of the diddlies were rather scared when the roar of a hidden dragon emerged out from the roots of an old tree. My companion was impressed with the strobe and search lights amongst the next group of trees. We found a hidden nook of owls. And then watched a display of three brightly coloured flares but my young companion declared an ornament with moving blue lights like water his favourite. Funny, I thought he’d like the dragon best.
We stood a while and looked out at the amazing reflections of the wonderfully lit trees in the perfectly still lake. How great to relive that sense of wonder and awe that children have. How marvellous to be entranced by the magic of being out and about on a cold winter’s evening with a feast of natural wonders to behold.
And the magic continued. As we passed by a rockery we could see Syon House lit up like a castle. Then the path opened up in front to the impressive conservatory which offered another awe inspiring light show. We were excited as we took the few steps up to enter the glass structure. Inside we were enthralled by a laser light show complete with little fountains and discovered a new lily pond. The path way out was decorated with rope lights.
Finally we emerged into a large café area. Inside treats included cakes and hot chocolate and the usual Christmas decorations – including a rather jolly Santa – but there were stalls outside selling mulled wine and other yummy confections.
It took us about an hour to walk around but we could easily have spent twice the time there. But wrap up warm as it was rather chilly. A perfect way to start the Christmas season.
Adults £7, children £3 22nd November to 8th December – Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only from 5pm to 9pm. 020 8560 0882 www.enchantedwoodland.com
