The most Christmassy days out in the UK – Reviewed!

Days out around Christmas are all about feeling festive – the food, the decorations, and the general Christmas cheer!

We gave 5 bloggers attraction tickets to test out the “Christmas Factor” of different attractions around the UK; rating the food, the festive decor, how much fun they are for kids and their overall Christmassy atmosphere!

1. Shakespeare’s Birthplace – Stratford-On-Avon

Step inside the birthplace of Shakespeare, as well as the homes and other important places that were significant in the life of The Bard.

Erica from Nine to Three Thirty visited Shakespeare’s Birthplace:

“Stratford-Upon-Avon is a magical place all year around, but this Christmas Shakespeare’s Birthplace is lighting up for Christmas!  The whole building is a big light display with a changing light display four times each evening, alongside live actors bringing the illuminations to light.

In between displays you can wander around the light installations in the garden.

Each of the four themed light shows lasts about 5 or 10 minutes, which is a nice length for small children. However, as the show obviously needs to be after dark, younger children might get tired by the end of the show at 6pm.

This is a great way to break up Christmas shopping in the town and the light show really brings the building to life.

Shakespeare’s Birthplace work hard to bring history to life and make it fun, with guides in the rooms and even an actor reciting parts of the plays. We came away with a real sense of life in the house during Shakespeare’s time.”

2. Eyeskate at the London Eye – London

The London Eye’s very own open-air ice rink, surrounded by twinkling lights and with the huge London Eye wheel giving a fabulously festive backdrop.

Nicole from Sleek-Chic visited Eyeskate:

“EyeSkate is situated in the most perfect position in the heart of South Bank. It’s surrounded by the Christmas market selling lots of festive treats and presents and lies just opposite the breathtaking London Eye.

EyeSkate is the perfect way to get yourself into the festive spirit – a 45-minute session on the ice is accompanied by Christmas songs, and with the stunning views it will leave anyone with a lot of festive cheer! It is even more spectacular at night time, with the ice rink lit up by the lights of the London Eye. It really does make for a perfect Christmas day out along the South Bank.”

3. The Royal Yacht Britannia – Edinburgh

Once The Queen’s floating residence, The Royal Yacht Britannia is rated “UK’s No.1 Attraction” on TripAdvisor and “Scotland’s Best Visitor Attraction” by VisitScotland.

Cat from Catmorley.com visited The Royal Yacht Britannia:

“A luxurious and informative way to spend a winter’s day, The Royal Yacht Britannia may not be a typical festive attraction but would be a great place to take a friend for afternoon tea and a tour as an early Christmas present.

Audio guides in hand, we made our way from deck to deck, seeing where the Royal family would spend their time on-board, learning about the yacht’s inner workings and pretending to drink pints with the sailors in their mess!

The highlight of the tour was an indulgent afternoon tea in the gorgeous glass tea room with delicious cakes made fresh that morning in the galley.

A trip aboard is sure to satisfy both your inner princess and inner sailor!”

4. Warwick Castle – Warwick

Christmas sees Warwick Castle decked out in festive decorations with a magnificent 25ft Christmas tree. Kids can even meet and hear stories from Santa Claus himself!

Iona from Red Peffer visited Warwick Castle:

“We love visiting Warwick Castle at any time of year anyway, and found the extra seasonal touches added a bit of fun to the place. The children were entranced by Santa’s room inside the Great Hall and they loved the huge Christmas tree too. The Elves and Santa were brilliant with the children especially and were the best we’ve come across in this regard.

Personally I’d have liked to see a little more festive decoration in other rooms and maybe a trail to follow, like looking for the reindeer dotted around inside for example. If there was anything like this around, we missed it.

I think the range of food available is good, although I do feel the prices are quite steep for what you get. Having said that, we all enjoyed our hot dogs which were perfect for a winter day!

The children had a great time, it really is a place made for a family day out. We also enjoyed it being slightly quieter than it is during peak times in the year – for us it means a more enjoyable visit and time to savour the atmosphere.”

5. LEGOLAND Discovery Centre – Manchester

Set in Manchester’s Trafford Centre, this indoor centre has rides, a 4D cinema and over 2 million LEGO bricks all under one roof!

Jen from My Mummy’s Pennies visited the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre:

“LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Manchester is always a fun day out for the family and on the run up to Christmas it has some great festive additions too! As we entered we were handed a Bricktacular LEGO hunt card and both the children loved counting the LEGO Reindeer and Snowman that were hiding in Miniland!

The Forest Pursuit ride has been given a festive makeover and my eldest had a fun drive amongst the Christmas trees, glittering lights and LEGO presents. Our favourite Christmassy activity had to be making our own LEGO Gingerbread house in the Master Model Builder workshop!

Overall, we had a great family day out at LEGOLAND Discovery Centre, enjoying the Bricktacular activities as well as the usual fun attractions of the 4D cinema, the Kingdom Quest and Merlin’s Apprentice rides and of course playing with lots and lots of LEGO!”

Have you been for any Christmassy days out recently? Let us know what your ratings would be!

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