Results matching “Christmas”

I hope that everyone is having a great day today and that everyone's holidays and New Year celebrations are full of friends, family, and happiness. I wish "Season's Greetings" to all of my visitors, and I hope that you all have the best 2013. I hope 2013 is better than 2012 was for you. Now, enjoy a virtual cupcake. *smile*

All the best,

Jenn

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland in London is filled with food stalls, a Christmas market, ice skating, and rides/games. It is a little too busy, in my opinion, and the prices are outrageous. It's still good to visit, however; I would not have gone this year if it were not for visitors. In fact, I feel that Hyde Park Winter Wonderland gets busier each year. The photos below are from the attraction last year.

This year, it seems that Hyde Park Winter Wonderland has gotten twice as big and twice as busy. There are more rides, games, and the Christmas market is throughout the park (instead of at just the Hyde Park Corner end). There's more games as well, and this year features ice sculptures and a larger wheel. I felt that Hyde Park Winter Wonderland was too busy to enjoy this year. Also, the ice sculptures and others are booked out in advance, and turning up in the morning is not enough. I am hoping that they get it right next year and make the area larger. 

I was working in London last Christmas, and Leadenhall Market was one of the areas I visited regularly during my lunch break. (Often, I would pass through the market on my way to another location, and I had seen a couple of famous people signing books at the Waterstones book store here.) I always admired the decorations in the market, and I took a few photographs of the market and its decorations during my lunch break. I miss seeing Leadenhall Market and have not been back this Christmas.

A wreath is located at the southern entrance of Leadenhall Market 

- snowman

- Christmas cake

- reindeer

- birds

- bell

- bauble

- stocking

- snowflake

- candles

The Lego advent calendar was gathering some love and attention from a small crowd when I went to visit the other weekend in Covent Garden, but I was able to get a few photographs of it and some detail on the items behind the opened windows.

Lego is one of my favourites; I loved playing with this when I was a child. It's creative, and the company creatively come up with new ideas and games. I am happy to write a post about it. Let me know if you have seen the Lego advent calendar and what you think of it. 

Selfridges' window display has been interesting this year. The displays at Selfridges feature robotic moving parts, such as hands and cogs to form a Willy Wonka-esque window display. The main window on the corner displays a train set with brightly-coloured sweets on the floor to add colour. Robotic items feature the products.

Once again, the window frames were decorated with pine branches.

The other large department stores on Oxford Street were similarly decorated with snowflakes and brightly-coloured lights: John Lewis, Debenhams, and House of Fraser.

This year, Regent Street features Christmas lights with the "Twelve Days of Christmas" theme. 

The Seven Dials area of London has the same Christmas lights as last year, featuring multi-coloured tubes of light. These are located throughout the Seven Dials area, bordering Covent Garden.

One of the most creative Christmas decorations this year were at Carnaby Street. The Christmas lights reflect its rock 'n' roll roots theme as this was a trendy shopping area in the 1960s and 1970s. The Christmas decorations feature vinyl records and the iconic Rolling Stones lips with a Christmas message.

Covent Garden in London is also bustling with Christmas decorations. This year, the decorations are giant red baubles and a massive red and blue Christmas tree. (As of the first of December, a giant advent calendar made of Lego bricks was on display, and the windows are opened daily to reveal a Christmas-related Lego object.)

Mayfair is also bustling with Christmas decorations, and many of the shop fronts are framed with pine and festive branches.

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing the Christmas lights and window displays in London this year.

The Chocolate Festival vendors sold baked goods as well as chocolate. I loved the Christmas chocolate selections, and I tried a few different samples of chocolates. I also bought a chocolate brownie from Paul A. Young, and this tasted amazing.

A few weekends ago, I visited the annual Christmas market in Winchester. The Christmas market isn't as large as Bath's, but there are still many shops to see, and it also has an ice skating rink. All of the stalls are located in the cathedral grounds. The day I visited was rainy, but this did not stop the crowds. The market was still busy, despite the poor weather.

In addition to roasted chestnuts and mulled wine, visitors to the market could try their balance on roller skates and buy crafts, local food items, jewellery, toys, clothing, and much more. They could also listen to singers singing carols and the visit the cathedral.

After visiting the Christmas market, I walked around Winchester to look at the Christmas lights and went into a few shops. I posted some photographs of Winchester below.  

Marmite, the spreadable vegetable-based product with Australian origins, is lighting up Oxford Street in London this year with its "You either love it or hate it" campaign. Many large 'Marmite Gold' branded Christmas light banners can be seen up and down London's famous street amongst other various Christmas themed banners. 

A part of the campaign involves using social media and the public. (Rob Messeter and Mike Crowe of DDB helped create the idea by wanting to allow characters to 'love or hate' the product and to have their moment of fame. (1).) 

Photographs can be uploaded via the Marmite Facebook application in the 'Love' or 'Hate' category. These photographs are then uploaded onto various banners dotted up and down Oxford Street. The Christmas light banners include the words "Merry Christmas from Marmite" with the company's brand phrase 'you either love it or hate it' with a picture of a member of the public shown inside the lights (with a Christmas hat). The banner alternates with one informing how to get your picture displayed, and this points to Facebook.

1. Gosling, Emily. Design Week. Designing Oxford Street's Christmas Lights. http://www.designweek.co.uk/whats-on/designing-oxford-streets-christmas-lights/3035554.article [9 November 2012].

I headed up to Yorkshire this summer as part of a weekend break during my anniversary weekend. Actually, because this year is a leap year, the day itself fell on the Monday, but the bloke and I decided to celebrate at the weekend.

The last time I visited Welburn and Bulmer in Yorkshire was close to ten years ago. The villages are still beautiful with golden stone cottages and nice gardens, and they are still very quiet. Apparently the ancestors lived in Welburn, but they were buried in Bulmer, which is the next village just down the road. Both villages are near Castle Howard. The last time I was at Welburn, I was certain it had another shop or post office; however, a small bakery/restaurant had opened up where I'd always remembered there being a small shop. This appears to be the only shop in the village now. I had a hot chocolate and toastie here. Across the road is an old schoolhouse with a single clock, and this had not changed.

After the quick meal, we headed over to Bulmer. This village is smaller and quieter. I took a quick walk up to the little church and noticed more changes. The last time I had visited, the graves were open with high grass around, and they were not well-tended. This time, they had put fence around the graves and kept sheep inside. This looks picturesque with the sheep amongst the graves, but the sheep are no doubt wearing away the grave stones as they eat the grass near it and lay against the stones. I noticed that several stones seemed to be wearing away at the bottom. 

After visiting the graves, we drove to Bridlington seaside resort before continuing on the journey to Hull. Although much of Hull is modern, the city has a lot of history and was also once popular in Victorian times. Unfortunately, the city suffered during the second World War, but the docks and gardens are good to visit, and there's many places to shop. 

On Sunday morning, we stopped off at Beverley, which is a picturesque town north of Hull. Apparently, it was one of the ten most populated towns in England and was made rich and popular due to the wool trade. Beverley has many beautiful historic buildings and cottages, and the phone boxes are painted white (as they are in Hull). This is the only part of the UK where the phone boxes are a different colour to the standard red.

Beverley has a nice market square, church, and a cathedral. The town seems to be built in a linear fashion instead of surrounding a central point. I parked near one of the city gates and walked through two or three squares before arriving at Beverley Minster. The town was quiet as it was Sunday morning.

Walking further down the main streets, the beautiful Beverley Minster came into view. Walking early on Sunday morning was nice; the streets were quiet except for the melodic ringing of the church bells.