Explore a botanical world filled with seasonal cheer at Kew Gardens this winter
Wednesday 17 November 2021 – Sunday 9 January 2022
4pm – 10pm (advance booking only)
- New installations feature innovative video design and scenescapes inspired by Kew collections
- Highlights include 12 Days of Christmas tree installation, much-loved Cathedral of Light, and LED light spheres illuminating night sky 200 metres over-head
- Visitors can keep warm with seasonal street food, mulled wine and hot chocolate, or enjoy a Christmas dinner at The Botanical restaurant
- Appropriate safety measures will be in place to ensure enjoyable seasonal experience for all
- Trail is supported by Montezuma’s Chocolate
This November, Christmas at Kew, a much-loved highlight of London’s festive calendar, returns for its ninth year. This year’s trail features a host of firm seasonal favourites alongside pioneering new light installations, illuminating Kew Gardens’ UNESCO World Heritage landscape with vibrant bursts of colour and over a million twinkling lights. A celebration of nature by night, and the wonder of biodiversity, this is an enchanting seasonal experience like no other, for visitors of all ages.
New installations for 2021
This winter, Christmas at Kew incorporates spectacular new shows which will light the iconic Temperate and Palm Houses, as well as a first-time collaboration with Novak, the innovative video design studio. Using a selection ofspectacular trees from Kew’s arboretum as their canvas, Novak will create a brand-new piece for Christmas 2021, using a stunning combination of video design, projection mapping and light to bring Kew’s archived botanical illustrations to life, alongside a host of heart-warming festive imagery.
Sound and light artists Ithaca will return to Christmas at Kew for 2021, creating Aurora; a new and ambitious installation for Holly Walk. Using hundreds of small LED light spheres, this new artwork will illuminate the night sky for over 200 metres overhead, replicating the enchanting visual phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis within Kew’s world-renowned botanic gardens.
Festive favourites
Immersing themselves in Christmas at Kew through the welcome wreath archway, visitors will encounter a botanical world filled with seasonal cheer and mood-boosting bursts of colour. Featuring thousands of fairy lights, the much-loved Cathedral of Light returns for 2021, affording guests the perfect opportunity to capture this quintessential Christmas moment on camera.
Botanical treasures from Kew’s living collections will be accentuated along the route, allowing guests to explore new perspectives on nature, and reinforcing the essential part that plants have to play in all of our lives. Singing neon trees, branches illuminated with stars and seasonal projections illuminating Kew’s array of heritage trees all promise to enchant visitors this winter.
The 12 Days of Christmas will be brought to life with a vibrant, jewel-like rainbow tree illumination running along Syon Vista, and a spectacular Meadow of Light will burst into vivid life as visitors explore the magical seasonal surroundings of Kew at Christmas. The ever-popular Fire Garden also returns for 2021, alongside On the Wings of Freedom, a technicolour LED installation inspired by the unique transformative ability of butterflies. The final stop of the trail, the panoramic Palm House finale will welcome guests with a series of stunning projections across the historic glasshouse and adjacent lake, set to a memorable soundtrack of much-loved Christmas classics.
To add an extra flourish to the Christmas at Kew experience, visitors can book a delicious traditional Christmas dinnerat The Botanical restaurant, or simply pick up a treat from a selection of independent street food vendors along the route. Visitors can make for a very merry Christmas and indulge in a spiced cider, waffles, mulled wine, or hot chocolate to keep warm.
Sandra Botterell, Director of Marketing and Commercial Enterprise at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, said: “It’s wonderful to be able to welcome visitors back to Christmas at Kew for 2021. As well as some much-loved festive favourites, this year’s trail also encompasses some enchanting new installations, taking inspiration from Kew’s wonderful living and archive collections. With over a million lights illuminating Kew’s spectacular botanic gardens, Christmas at Kew really is a seasonal spectacular unlike any other.”
Debbie Epstein, Marketing Director for Montezuma’s Chocolate said: “We’re delighted to be supporting Christmas at Kew for a second year and what better way to experience a world filled with seasonal cheer than with chocolate? It’s such a natural partnership for Montezuma’s as we’re all about the extraordinary, with our imaginative flavour combinations, and chocolate made to amaze. This year visitors will be able to enjoy the spectacular displays with a heart-warming Montezuma’s hot chocolate and cookies, as well as choose from an extended range of our best-selling bars and buttons.”
What we are doing to keep visitors safe
The safety and wellbeing of our visitors is of the upmost importance to us and we are continually monitoring and responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. We are adhering to government advice in our planning to ensure visitors and staff remain safe while enjoying at Christmas at Kew.
ENDS
Christmas at Kew admission:
Tickets on sale now: www.kew.org/christmas
Entrances at Victoria Gate, Lion Gate and Brentford Gate.
Advance booking only.
Advance prices:
Adult from £21.50
Family from £65
Child 4 – 16 from £14
Under 4s free.
Concessions available.
Transaction fee applies.
Dates
Christmas at Kew runs from Wednesday 17 November 2021 to Sunday 9 January 2022 and is open on the following dates:
Wednesday 17 November – Sunday 21 November 2021
Wednesday 24 November – Sunday 28 November 2021
Wednesday 1 December – Sunday 5 December 2021
Wednesday 8 December – Friday 24 December 2021
Sunday 26 December 2021 – Sunday 9 January 2022
Christmas at Kew is open 4-10pm with timed entry slots. Last entry 8pm.
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