It’s the most wonderful time of the year again with only a few weeks to go until Christmas, London is decked out in all it's Christmassy glory. Lights strung along the streets, carol singing and Christmas markets everywhere, but there's nowhere more festive than Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park with its ice skating, rides and above all- festive cheer, it is the one Christmas event not to miss! I'm not usually a big fan of winter but there is just something magical about winter in London. The Hubby and I were lucky enough to visit Winter Wonderland back on our OE in 2009, so we wildly excited about getting to experience Winter Wonderland all over again. This year, Winter Wonderland was truly bigger and better than ever before! I was also lucky to have my girlfriend over from New Zealand, Anneke who is currently visiting London. So Jake and I took her along to show her what all the fuss was about!
Heading to Winter Wonderland gave me the perfect excuse to wear my new red Hunter's. Of course I had to buy a pair of these quintessentially London red wellies. I don’t think I’ve ever owned a pristine pair of wellies in my life and it's safe to say these may never see the mud. I got these half price online here they went perfectly with my navy tartan cape with it's faux fur trim.
As soon as we arrived we headed to The Bavarian Village to indulge and mulled wine, live music, bratwurst and lots more delicious food, drinks and chocolate! Beautifully lit, it makes a perfect entrance to Winter Wonderland!
Next stop was to the Magical Ice Kingdom which was a new attraction that wasn't at Winter Wonderland last time we visited. I was actually pretty excited, but really unsure what to expect as I’d never done anything like this before. It was an amazing walk-though experience through a fantastical world of real ice and snow there are some truly amazing pieces of art. Make sure you wrap up as it is -8 degrees inside, but not to worry as they give you hand warmers as soon as your out anyway to keep your fingers toasty warm!
Hubby headed straight to the carnival games... he has quite a knack for it!
Of course after all that it was essential to pop into Bar Ice, an intimate ice bar where a hand crafted bar, tables, walls and sculptures glisten with ice, even the glasses you drink from are made of ice It was the perfect environment for a cocktail or two!
We couldn't leave Winter Wonderland without trying out one of the rides we opted for the big Ferris wheel. The views were lovely and it gave us a bird's eye view of the whole of Hyde Park. We timed our visit perfectly just when a sun was setting. It was almost magical watching day to turn in the night and all of the Christmas lights go on!
Afterwards we headed to the Ice Rink which is the biggest in London and is located around the pretty Victorian Bandstand, where they play live music throughout the day and night. They had some great street food vans here and also pop-up-pubs with mulled wines perfect watching the ice skaters whizzing past (and falling over!)
Wonderland was magical and a must do if your in London it's open until the 3rd of January which means it would be the ultimate location for New Years too!
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