Warwick Castle – Christmas at the Castle
*We were provided with this experience for the purpose of this post however all opinions are my own.
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Last week we were invited to the launch of Christmas at the Castle at Warwick Castle and could not wait to visit. Warwick Castle is a fantastic attraction, and utterly beautiful at any time of the year but seeing it in all its festive glory was going to be a whole new experience!
Where is Christmas at the Castle?
Christmas at the Castle is at Warwick Castle, in Warwick in the West Midlands. It’s easily accessible from all over the country and, if travelling from further away like us, they have plenty of accomodation on site to make your visit into a longer break away. Find out more here.
Getting to Christmas at the Castle
We drove to Warwick Castle for the Christmas at the Castle event and there is plenty of on site parking at an additional charge, or complimentary if you’re staying overnight. You can also get to Warwick Castle by train, with Warwick Station being just a mile from Warwick Castle.
We arrived at Warwick Castle, checked into the Warwick Castle Hotel and then walked to the Warwick Castle entrance, about a fifteen minute walk, slightly longer at night when it is quite dark. Seeing the castle for the first time, with the entrance all lit up was just lovely and a great start to a fantastic evening.
Unlike many festive attractions, at Warwick Castle you book each activity separately so just do the parts that you’re interested in. This year there’s Stories with Santa which includes entrance to the castle, the Warwick Castle Light Trail and Ice Skating. All visitors go through the main entrance and have access to the Food & Drink Village as well as the activities they have booked to visit.
Stories with Santa at Warwick Castle
Our first stop was Stories with Santa and so we headed to the main castle entrance where we had an opportunity to explore the castle state rooms ahead of seeing the big man himself! With a Stories with Santa ticket you also have entrance to the castle and grounds between 10am and 4pm which makes it a full day, great value experience rather than just seeing Father Christmas.
The state rooms are beautifully decorated for Christmas and it was lovely to see them full of garlands, Christmas trees and festive lights. There’s so much history at Warwick Castle and although our visit this time was purely about Christmas, it’s so lovely to read all the information as you walk around. You can find out more on one of our previous visits to Warwick Castle.
Before long it was time for our Stories with Santa session – and I really had no idea what to expect. I guess I thought it would just be Santa reading us a story. But it was so much more than that!
We were led into a beautiful room where two elves were waiting for us. All the children sat on the floor and the adults stood around the edges whilst the elves introduced themselves. Then the children were asked to help the Elves label and sort presents. This was a really sweet activity that a lot of children got involved with but there was no pressure if anyone didn’t want to take part.
Then, we met Mrs Claus and had to all help get Santa out of the chimney! Both Santa and Mrs Claus were fantastic characters, full of happy, festive energy. They introduced themselves, had a bit of a singalong session and then had a lovely story time which even the adults loved listening to.
At the end there was a chance to take a photo with Santa and then the children were given a gift – a cuddly pony – and the adults were given a mince pie. The whole experience lasted about half an hour and was lovely. It’s a great choice for families who don’t want a personal Santa visit or children who don’t want to talk to Santa and say what they want this year. Or, it would just be great for anyone who simply wants a little extra festive magic this year along with a lovely day out at Warwick Castle. We really enjoyed it.
The Warwick Castle Light Trail
Our next stop was the Warwick Castle Light Trail. This starts with a big lit up tunnel – and a chance to meet the Snow Queen on a horse, the same horse we had just been hearing about in Santa’s story, which was lovely.
The trail continued around the Warwick Castle grounds, with an interactive Christmas tree in the centre of the fountain with buttons to change the colour of the baubles, and projections moving across the front of the conservatory.
We enjoyed wandering along the trail, and loved that the twelve main installations had links to the 12 Days of Christmas. There were so many lights, with music accompanying many of them, and lots of photo opportunities along the way too.
We found a talking tree, so many light tunnels and, one of our favourite parts, Tower Bridge and Big Ben having their own light displays all timed to a medley of great songs. Fairly near the end of the trail, it was a real highlight and somewhere we could have spent ages standing and enjoying.
The light trail took about 45 minutes to walk through but would take longer if you stopped for food or drinks during it or simply took your time. It was a really nice length when accompanied by the other attractions. The only thing we would tweak is that you could see future light installations from the one you were enjoying so rather than being individual light displays they did all merge together at times but it was still really enjoyable.
Ice Skating at Warwick Castle
The last part of our evening was ice skating which we were really looking forward to. There are various skating sessions through the day, and we saw performances on the ice in between the skate sessions which were just beautiful.
The rink is a great size and the Christmas tree in the centre was gorgeous, plus it was all lit up really nicely with twinkly lights. When we arrived the staff swapped our shoes for skates but we were surprised that there weren’t any lockers to leave bags and belongings in as you can’t take them on the ice with you.
However, the staff were lovely and friendly and skate aids are available for those who need them. We only spent about twenty minutes on the ice though as we found it really uneven and hard to skate on – and we’re all proficient skaters. When the lights tripped we decided to cut our skate short and it was quite disappointing really but, we think this was just unfortunate teething problems and us having the last skating session of the day.
Food and Drink at Warwick Castle
The Food and Drink Village at Warwick Castle is lovely, with so many options from hot drinks and a bar to curry, jacket potatoes and pork rolls. There’s also a smaller food and drink area part way round the light trail where we stopped at for hot drinks and doughnuts where there was also a choir performing which was a nice way to break up the trail.
There’s something for everyone and, as you’d expect, it is typical prices for a tourist attraction at Christmas. We spent £70.80 on four soft drinks, four hot drinks, two pork rolls, a jacket potato, a crumble and five doughnuts. So the additional cost of refreshments is something to bear in mind when you’re planning your trip.
Santa Sleepovers at Warwick Castle
If you’re planning on extending your visit by staying over at Warwick Castle then there are a lot of options for you. There’s the Warwick Castle Hotel, Woodland Lodges, Caesar’s Tower Suites and even Medieval Glamping which all come with breakfast and parking included.
But, to add an extra level of festive excitement, you can also book a Santa Sleepover. This includes your choice of accomodation but also two-day castle entry, festive evening entertainment, stories with Santa, an elf wake-up call and discounted Light Trail or Ice Skating tickets. Find out more about short break options at Warwick Castle here.
We had a really lovely time at Warwick Castle and it was so nice to experience festive magic at such a beautiful, historic place. There’s something for everyone at Warwick Castle and it was definitely a great way to kick off the Christmas season and get in the festive spirit.
You can find out more about Christmas at the Castle over on the Warwick Castle website and for reference the address is: Warwick Castle, Warwick CV34 6AU
We’ve also shared a little Reel of our visit over on Instagram here:
