I was very happy to accept an invitation to the press preview of the Christmas Experience at Lotherton Hall and also extremely pleased that after two days of torrential rain, a fine day was forecast for the preview evening on Wednesday 23rd November 2016.
After picking up Evie from School at 3.30pm we ate our picnic tea in the car and drove to Lotherton Hall Estate.
(The address is Off Collier Lane, Aberford, Leeds LS25 3EB.)
The invitation had said
‘Follow the dancing fairy lights around our fun and interactive Twelve Days of Christmas woodland walk’ and it was exactly that, from the partridge in a pear tree, chirping away and onwards….
The children Evie 7 and Isaac 4 loved pulling the rope to flap the wings of the Calling birds. They came upon the ‘geese a laying’ where they could throw bean bags and knock the eggs off, as on a coconut shy.
The ‘swans a swimming’ was a ‘hook a duck’ pool. Lots of fun to be had there.
There were ‘drummers drumming’ with a little help from the kids and the ‘five gold rings’ were large and created a tunnel of light to walk through.
The children spun the ‘ladies dancing’ to light up the figures and they raced round lighting them all up one by one till they were all lit up.
and here are Evie and Isaac with the ‘maids a milking’
The Elf village was equally exciting with an area where Fairy doors could be painted and glittered and they both enjoyed making Reindeer food and bagging it up.
The Elves were there looking splendid in their green outfits and of course I mustn’t forget our visit to Santa who chatted to the children as they gazed at him in wonder.
There was hot chocolate for the children which they both really enjoyed, and a cafe area and gift shop here in the Elf Village too.
We walked through the Fairy Dell , and Evie loved the whispering sounds of the fairies and little doors and houses.
The House itself looked wonderful, decked beautifully and sounding very Christmassy, with music and carols in the hall
We knew that the children had loved it when on the way back to the car, without prompting, Evie said ” That was great!” and Isaac cried and didn’t want to go home!
It was a lovely start to the Christmas season and the grown up had a good time too.
eviesgran 
Great review, I used to take my son to lotherton hall when he was younger, alas he’s 14 and not interest, but I’ve spread the word about this after reading your post to my friends with younger children and grandchildren 😀