Swindon & Wiltshire News
Christmas in Bristol and Bath
Here’s our highlights of Christmas and festive season in Bristol and Bath, to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Solistice, Yule, Saternalia, Dongzhi, Yalda…
Evolution Bristol 2023
Illuminations
We’ve already written about it – Celestial’s Evolution drone sky theatre at Seat Unique stadium just before Christmas gains the Santa’s sleigh seal of approval.
The Lumosphere at Abbots Leigh is an indoor winter illumination experience on selected dates between 8 and 17 December.
Westonbirt’s Enchanted Christmas has been a tree-glowing yule staple for years, open from 24 November to 23 December.
Other trails include Avon Valley Adventure and Wildlife Park (from 26 November) and Odd Down Estate (from 1 December).
And if you like the DIY touch, try the Brailsford family home at Brentry which has been ratcheting up their electric bill and fundraising total for almost 30 years, and Knowle West as celebrated with a Tobacco Factory walking theatre tour Noel West (14-18 December).
To cater for sensitive types, some events have dates with reduced noise, flashing lights off and less crowds.
Christmas Markets
Start early to catch Bath’s bustling market around the Abbey and beyond, only between 23 November – 10 December.
Meanwhile Bristol’s city centre market began early – before Bonfire night – and runs until 23 December, with regular live music in the evening and a Candy Factory escape room.
Bristol Old Vic Arabian Nights 2023
Live Shows
Love it or hate it, panto isn’t going away! Bristol Hippodrome is doing Peter Pan with David ‘Poirot’ Suchet as Hook. Bath Theatre Royal has gone for the most popular panto title, Sleeping Beauty.
If you like family Christmas theatre but say oh no it isn’t to panto then Bristol Old Vic performs Arabian Nights, Southville’s Tobacco Factory tackles The Selfish Giant, while Bath’s Rondo Theatre wonders what’s happened to The Stolen Winter Light.
For an immersive experience just for adults, try Bristol’s Wake the Tiger Amazement Park Alternative Christmas Celebration (6-15 December)
Lighting the Dark, Bristol Beacon
Live music
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without music.
Bath Abbey’s carol-filled Christmas Celebration is 9th December, and enjoy Raymond Briggs’ classic animation The Snowman with a live orchestral soundtrack by Bath Phil on 16 December.
Meanwhile Bristol Beacon (formerly Colston Hall) is reopening with plenty of Yule offerings such as both The Snowman (including Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Day Out) and Father Christmas (including the Gruffalo) with live orchestration. Lighting the Dark is a jazzy-folksy journey through the good and not-so-good of the festive season by Ivor Novello-winning composer Martin Green, featuring a ‘massive mechanical snowman playing drum kits’. (Unsurprisingly, Sophie Ellis Bextor’s Christmas Kitchen Disco and Ricky Gervais have both sold out)
Tyntesfield, cr Bob Fowler
Deck the halls – historic houses
Which is your iconic Christmas period? Victorian ‘Dickens’ style, post Scrooge-enlightenment? Or Georgian? Or maybe even Tudor? Or perhaps pagan?
National Trust property Drynham Park hedge their bets by decorating five rooms each with a different era. There’s no ‘bah humbug’ with Wraxall’s Tyntesfield Victorian Christmas, with reindeer trail, live music and shopping. And could Bath’s No 1 Royal Crescent be anything other than Georgian? Also in Bath, the American Museum’s Winter Wonderland features an 18 foot high decorated tree and the Holburne Museum opts for the Tudors in their musical event, A Winter Revels.
