Light up your festive season and join us at Luminate at Shugborough

This November, Luminate comes to Shugborough, Staffordshire’s historic country estate. The light trail is an after-dark experience and one which is sure to captivate all ages – an event not to be missed in the lead-up to the festive season. As darkness descends, visitors can weave their way through an immersive light experience through the woodlands. This mesmerising trail features stunning, light elements and interactive light play all set to a beautiful soundtrack.

The team behind Luminate create bespoke installations that deliver those wow moments and take your breath away. New to Shugborough this year is an installation Flame Garden, which will be at the back of the Mansion. It is animated and will see the gardens set alight. As the dark nights draw in, this is a sure-fire way to light up the faces of friends and family as you explore. On the route there will be mulled wine and marshmallows to toast on fire pits, to keep the chill away.

Shugborough is set in sweeping parkland, ancient woodland and a landscape peppered with monuments. The imposing Georgian mansion was home to the Anson family and has been described as ‘the perfect paradise’. The setting, now in the care of the National Trust provides the perfect festive backdrop to Luminate.

This winter Luminate will light up Shugborough with a display featuring fairies and the ever-popular wishing wall where visitors can make a wish on a tag and pin it to the wall ahead of the festivities. Who knows what 2025 will bring you – wishes can come true! Warming seasonal food and drink will be on offer halfway around but visitors can get a warming drink at the start. You can also spend time relaxing and enjoying the illuminated swings.

Janine Maycock, part of the Luminate team, says: “We work hard to ensure Luminate is a fun and enchanting evening out. We have lots of family visitors, but it is also a romantic date night and has sparked several proposals of marriage. The trail is different each year, so there is always a surprise, and we look forward to welcoming people for the first time as well as our returning visitors to Luminate at Shugborough. We are working towards becoming the world’s best festive light event and we work with exceptional talent in iconic locations.”

Shugborough’s General Manager, Hayley Mival, says: “We’re excited to welcome Luminate back to Shugborough for its third year. We are looking forward to seeing both new visitors and those who have been before, to see the estate in illuminated splendour”.

Luminate proudly supports several charities by donating tickets, for Shugborough the charities include Change, Grow, Live.

There will be two evenings on Monday December 2 and Monday December 9 where visitors are able to come along with their four-legged friends and the trail is flat and on a wide, hard-surface path suitable for wheelchairs, mobility scooters, and pushchairs. On December 3rd and 10th there are special sensory access nights. The team at Luminate works with Ecologi to offset their carbon footprint and have planted over 80,000 trees to date.

Luminate at Shugborough runs from Friday, 29 November to Tuesday, 31 December. Further details and tickets from luminate.live/shugborough-estate

By Margaret Bennett - Contributor