12 Oct 2016
Tags: Christmas Markets, Christmas, Winter, city break, Countryside, Cheshire
12 ways to spend the 12 days of Christmas.. in Chester and Cheshire
A British Christmas Market
Chester's Christmas Market is perhaps the most locally focused in the UK with over 75% of stallholders from the region and local producers taking precedent over anyone else. Expect artisan crafts and speciality foods with a regional feel in traditional timber huts, set in the city's beautiful Town Hall square opposite Chester Cathedral. Quintessentially British – this market serves mulled wine not Glühwein! From 18th November to 18th December. www.christmasinchester.com
Architecture right out of a Christmas card
There's only one more thing more beautiful than Chester in the winter twilight and that's Chester after snow, where the city could come straight from a Dickens scene. Ancient Roman ruins pop up all over the city and beautiful architecture runs all the way through the ages from Medieval shopping rows to Georgian townhouses and grande dame Victorian hotels.
Dreamy Shopping
However you like to shop, Chester has it covered. From the boutiques of the iconic half-timbered rows, where you'll happily browse for hours amidst pedestrianised streets and lamplight to the ramped-up intense Christmas shopping experience that is Cheshire Oaks, where all the biggest designer brands sit on an easily accessible shopping outlet village with all the refreshments you could need to keep you going – and home to Europe's largest walk in Christmas tree. A combination of both seems to work well for most! www.mcarthurglen.com
Magical Animal Lanterns
The Lanterns at Chester Zoo is a magical night time journey through the zoo with a wonderful light trail, through a constellation of stars, to see your favourite zoo animal lanterns and puppets. Throughout December, this experience sells out every year. Tickets are £9-12.50 for children and £10-15 for adults. http://www.chesterzoo.org/attractions-and-exhibits/christmas/the-lanterns
Eccentric parades
In true British fashion, Chester goes all out for parades. There's your expected Christmas light switch on extravaganza and also the beautiful Lantern Parade on December 1st.
The Winter Watch and Saturnalia parades are unique to the city and a reflection of its heritage and history.
Winter Watch (December 8th) celebrates the winter solstice with riotous 'ghost bands' of skeletons, Christmas cooks, angels and devils. This parade dates back from the 1400's when the community would celebrate the time when leaders would hand over the keys for the city watch.
Saturnalia parade (December 15th) is a Roman mid-winter celebration. A torch-lit procession of soldiers marches through the city commemorating the temple of Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture and the harvest.
Hotels that embrace mistletoe and wine
Chester's hotels are full of character and they celebrate Christmas like no others. From The Chester Grosvenor's luxurious five-star traditional Christmas experience in their 150-year-old landmark hotel to the historic Queen Hotel housed in beautiful Victorian mansions.
Or try boutique hotels 80 Watergate Street and The Boathouse who look out on the picturesque wintry scene on the banks of the Dee. Oddfellows Hotel takes Christmas partying one step further with a retro ski bar in their garden, where 1980 neons and cheese fondue take centre stage.
Stately Homes that do Christmas with a floral flourish
Arley Hall decorate every room with hundreds of fresh flowers and foliage from Arley Gardens. Local floristry colleges and florists have a room each which they decorate in a traditional fashion.
Tatton Park, the wonderful estate with neo-classical mansion, 50 acres of landscaped mansions and 100 acres of deer park will this year celebrate a Gloriumptious Christmas with Roald Dahl's storytelling weaving its way through the wonderfully decorated mansion.
Gardens to get you in the spirit of things
Dunham Massey has a renowned garden for all seasons. The winter garden features cathedral-like beeches and oak trees that shelter snowdrops, irises and cyclamens. A truly hearty wintry walk for all the family. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dunham-massey
Step back in time
Although a Dickensian Christmas may sound wonderful, show your children the reality of those times at Quarry Bank in Wilmslow where you can experience how an industrial community lived. There is an extraordinary working mill which will showcase the noise and clatter that people work in and the Apprentice House where the children who worked in the mill lived.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/quarry-bank
Proper Wintry Pubs
There is nothing like a good old-fashioned British pub at Christmas time. Home of seasonal cheer there is plenty to choose from in Cheshire's amazing countryside. From The Pheasant Inn Burwardsley, www.thepheasantinn.co.uk, where roaring fires and stuffed birds surround you, to The Swan with Two Nicks in Little Bollington where they promise more character than a Shakespeare cast. www.swanwithtwonicks.co.uk
Christmas Tree Festival
If the smell of pine and elm give you the Christmas tingles, then the Christmas Tree Festival at Chester Cathedral is for you. From the end of November, Chester Cathedral Cloisters will be filled with more than 40 majestic Christmas trees. Lose yourself in these astonishing indoor tree-lined winter walkways. www.chestercathedral.com
Walking off the Turkey at twixmas
Cheshire's walks offer accessibility to true unchanged British countryside. For those with real walking legs, try the Sandstone trail – where 34 miles of superb, unbroken and often elevated walks offer a glimpse at Cheshire's still mainly green countryside. Or take a hike up to White Nancy; the iconic Grade II listed folly that dominates the Cheshire Plain. Or let imaginations run wild with a walk through the legend filled woods of Alderley Edge to Stormy Point, the setting for Alan Garner's novel The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.
