Luminate Revew Introduction

150 years ago, a group of Victorians in Walsall came up with the idea of an illuminated Arboretum. They placed candles in coloured jars to create an ideal evening parkland stroll. In 1951, Walsall transformed this Victorian candlelight walk into the largest inland light exhibition in the nation (as part of the Festival of Briton celebrations)

By the mid 1990's, the annual Walsall Illuminations had 40 miles of cabling, 25000 light bulbs, and lit 35 acres of lakes, trees, and gardens. They even had a very crude, (by today's standards) laser light show across a lake. Sadly, declining visitor numbers and squeezed council budgets lead to the illuminations being cancelled in 2008.

But this illuminating story does not end there…

With the advent of cost-effective all weather LED lighting technology, the Victorian concept of an illuminated walk continues (although not in Walsall, the council has no plans to reinstate the illuminations). From the epic Blenheim Place through to Silverstone Racetrack, it appears that every large stately home, and outdoor tourist attraction in the country, now have their own seasonal illuminated walking trails.

Near to Hedgehog towers, we are lucky enough to be close to the National Trust’s Shugborough Estate. A sprawling 900 acre estate with its own parks and grand hall. It is here that Team Hedgehog have been visiting a light trail over the last two years.

That National Trust have teamed up with Luminate – a family run company specialising in sensory light experiences. From mid Autum through to New Year, Luminate take over the Shugborough estate and turn the gardens into a one mile long light trail. Read on to find out about our experience.

Booking.

Being a private event, The National Trust hand over to Luminate to complete our booking. Once on Luminates website boking was easy, Luminate offer timed entry slots to manage visitor numbers, and we found that pre-booking car parking is essential. Once booked confirmation and tickets arrived quickly via email.

A note about tickets:

Ticket Prices vary depending on the day of your visit. The 2024 prices were set at:

Adult (Monday -Thursday) £15.00
Adult (Fridays & Sunday) £21.25
Adult (Saturday) £24.25
Child (Monday -Thursday) £10.00
Child (Fridays & Sunday) £14.50
Child (Saturday) £17.25

The only disappointing thing for this year’s visit is that no one checked that we had a parking ticket, meaning we could have potentially saved ourselves £5.

You can also pre-book marshmallows for toasting, if like us you are partial to melting your marshmallows over some hot coals.

Our Experience

Shugborough is nestled deep in Cannock Chase Forest. The only hint of what was to come is from a couple of search lights dancing in the sky ahead of us. Entrance is via an unlit main road. One tiny yellow AA sign by the entrance road was the only sign into the estate, this can be easily missed (from experience), one expertly manoeuvred U-turn later and we found ourselves driving down the long winding entrance road into the estate.

As we arrived at the car park, we were greeted by some enthusiastic car park attendants who seemed to have a passion for light sabre style wand waving! Once parked, we discovered that the light trail began near to Shugborough’s ticket office.

Tickets checked; we started our walk. Immediately ahead of us was a path covered in a rainbow of light, the trees it up in bright oranges, blues, purples, pinks and greens. Some bright ground lanterns added to the ambience.

The route took us through the old farm buildings and as we turned into the stable yard, a large bright star took centre stage with the moon shining brightly above. Continuing on, we walked past the Tower of the Winds, highlighted by bright orange light, then onto strings of colour changing lights, a sensory experience to spend a few minutes walking through. Soon we discovered a light tunnel, this year covered in colour changing lights.
Carrying on our walk we saw some more brightly lit trees and searchlights criss crossed our path forward.

We walked past an installation of rainbow coloured poles to a crossroads. In front of us the words ‘Luminate’ shone out of the darkness.

To our left, the food stands, a large Christmas tree, marshmallows stand and coal pits. To our right, the path continued, and a group of large colourful stars lead us towards Shugborough Hall itself. The Hall was fully illuminated in an animation of bright colours, stars and snowflakes. It’s here we saw we could control those searchlights that we spotted from the car earlier - such fun.

Not long after this, we encountered a fairy garden. This year Luminate had captured some fairies and pixies in cages – I hope they let them out again soon so they can continue their forest activities!

After trying to work out exactly how the creatures had been captured we walked on to a find the ‘Make a Wish’ station. A place for people to write a wish and tie it onto a frame. After team Hedgehog stopped to make some wishes, we continued the trail which took us to the rear of the hall. The neat trees and hedges bathed in orange light, with the ground covered in lights that resembled candles.

We then found ourselves at the food area we spotted earlier, framed by a giant Christmas tree. We purchased our marshmallow sticks and spent some time having fun burning /toasting them over the hot coals. Time was getting on and our group were among the last to leave, just as we walked away the Luminate staff doused the coals causing a raft of steamy smoke to rise up into the air. A great contrast against Luminate’s lights.

Our circular walk was complete, and we returned to the path back to the rainbow stick lights we passed earlier. This time, we noticed they are interactive - a couple of handheld wands controlled the lights, what a surprise. Much fun was had pretending we had light sabres in hand.

On the return walk we came across an illuminated swing seat. The last interactive element of the trail, then back to the rainbow path and to the car park.

Luminate Key features…

Over the last two years of visits we noticed that Luminate seem to design their light trail around some key features. The Luminate Sign, Light Tunnel, Fairy Trail, Make-a-wish station, and of course the food stalls all appear to be consistent across both of our visits.

Luminate state on their website

‘’We strive to keep our events feeling fresh and exciting every year and we will always be committed to never accepting anything less than the very best, for every element of our magical trails’’

To do this they introduce new theming and interactive elements and move the location and order of the lights. We definitely agree it felt fresh, yet familiar. This year though, it seemed the interactive elements at Shugborough seemed less than our 2023 visit. I guess they move elements between sites each year.

Also we noticed that the food stall retailers had decided to close before all the last people had walked around, disappointing one of our party, who was craving a pork bap!

We found the staff to be friendly and enthusiastic about the trail.

It was good to see that Luminate had also arranged some doggo friendly events, new for 2024, something that we hope they continue for the 2025 season

Luminate Overall Comments

It was a fun evening exploring all the surprises Luminate had to offer. The mind boggles at how they come up with the designs. Luminate comes across as well organised, with plenty of staff - from car park attendants, cleaning staff and path marshals. There are even hot chocolate and mulled wine huts dotted around the trail. The only negative is the pricing, with ticket pricing being dependent on the day you visit, meaning forward planning is essential, otherwise it could be an expensive evening for a family. The hot choccie huts and food stalls are on the higher end of event pricing. Hot chocs cost £5. We paid £2.50 for a stick of just 2 large Marshmallows and £7.50 for a crepe.

The Silver Hedgehog Rating: 4.3 'Recommended'

Value For Money
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Visit Experience
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Attraction Facilities
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It was good to see Shugborough in a different light!

Words: Garry Llewellyn
Editor: JJ
Images : Garry Llewellyn
(Lichfield Photographic.com)
Credit to Tim Ellis FLikr for the old Walsall Illuminations pics

Review Extras

Luminate

Lichfield Photographic

The National Trust

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