People silhouetted against an arch of white lights
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Gallery: celebrating Christmas at Kew

December 19, 2023 / 70 Comments

Nothing says Christmas quite like an abundance of colourful lights. Whether on your tree at home, adorning the exterior of houses or an official display, they lift the spirits and set the mood for a joyful festival. For those of many religions, or none, such displays symbolise the triumph of light over darkness, bringing warmth and hope during the winter season.

In recent years it has become a tradition to visit a light trail in the run-up to Christmas. There are always a number of these in London, and in the past we’ve enjoyed Syon Park’s offering. But until this year we’ve never made it to Kew, generally said to be the best of them.

The website promises:

It’s a botanical world brimming with seasonal cheer as twinkling lights and seasonal sounds fill the air. Discover glittering tunnels of light, dancing lakeside reflections and trees drenched in jewel-like colour.

We live very near Kew (just a bus ride away) and visit quite often. But as I said, we’ve never visited for this Christmas spectacular. That’s partly because it’s so popular. Tickets go on sale in February (!), and who knows in February when they’ll be free in December? By the time we think of booking, we’re always too late. But this year we got our act together a little earlier (October, not February) and managed to secure tickets.

We had our fingers crossed for decent weather that evening, and clearly the gods were smiling on us. It was dry and not especially cold for December. Perhaps you’d like to join us on our walk around the gardens? There’s lots to see and a rather spectacular finale. It should make for a rather different kind of Monday Walk for Jo. Of course I’m also sharing with Terri for her Festive Sunday Stills challenge!

We entered by the Victoria Gate, one of three possible start points, so my photos follow the trail in a loop from there.

Lines of lanterns in front of a large illuminated conservatory

Fire Garden

With over 200 candles on the grass in front of the Temperate House

Row of bare trees brightly lit in purple

Electric Avenue

Constantly shifting colours lit up this avenue of cherry trees, and you can guess what song we heard as we walked through

Trees illuminated with blue light

Tree Top Rock

With rock music playing under the treetops walkway (the walkway itself was closed, perhaps not thought to be safe in the dark)

Trees illuminated with pink and blue light

Tree Top Rock

The colours were constantly shifting in time to the music

Arch of Christmas baubles and a tree lit with purple lights

Festive arch

We walked under several arches like this although they weren’t a named feature, perhaps because they had no lights

Imaginary flower created from neon lights

Lili

An avenue of giant illuminated flowers

Bare tree covered in white and green lights

The Christmas Turkey Oak

Tiny twinkling fairy lights covered all the branches of this huge oak tree (and it really is called a Turkey oak)

People silhouetted against an arch of white lights
People silhouetted against an arch of white lights

Christmas Cathedral

My feature photo was also taken here, from further back to include the projected ‘Christmas at Kew’ slogan on the path

Two large robins made from sequins

Robins Trail

A row of sparkling sequined robins either side of the path, and Rockin’ Robin playing as we walked through

Bare tree lit up in multiple colours

Illuminated trees

In the stretches between the various installations the gardens’ trees were illuminated with different coloured lights, like this

Liquid Lake

Multicolour lasers and smoke playing across a sunken amphitheatre, accompanied by a haunting song

Bright lights, fountains and a large conservatory

Christmas Symphony

Fountains playing in time to Christmas songs, with projections dancing across the façade of Kew’s famous Palm House

Bright lights, fountains and a large conservatory

Christmas Symphony

This was too much of a spectacle to share only one image!

A large conservatory bathed in blue light

Christmas Symphony

A last still before I immerse you in the atmosphere of this grand finale to our walk

Christmas Symphony

A longish video clip but just a small fraction of the time we spent soaking up the atmosphere here

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