First the shops start getting in Christmas decorations then, next thing you know it, the newest John Lewis advertisement is gracing your television screens.
Scotland is definitely getting into the festive spirit as one of the country’s most popular botanical gardens was transformed overnight into a winter wonderland of more than one million twinkling lights.
Until December 29, after dark, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh will be brought to life by a sparkling array lights, candles, projections, lamps and lasers.
The illuminations are part of the attraction’s third annual Christmas At The Botanics event, which is expected to draw tens of thousands of people over the next 30 nights. It will be closed on November 25 and 26 and December 2, 3, 9 and10 and Christmas Day.
The event is a key part of the city’s Christmas festivities, which also includes the famous market in Princes Street Gardens.
A one-mile trail weaves through the gardens, using the natural landscape and historic buildings as a backdrop for spellbinding visual effects inspired by the magic of the season.
Organisers promise the biggest and brightest event yet, thanks to more than one million pea lights, 4,480 candles, 550 multicoloured spheres, 270 yards of garlands and 60 Moroccan lamps dispersed throughout the trail.
New installations include “Voyage”, a display of 300 floating origami boats on the Pond, and the Laser Garden, which comes to life with dancing laser beams and theatrical fog.
The 65-yard long Cathedral Of Light that wowed more than 77,000 visitors last winter returns along with the Fire Garden, which creates a sensory experience with fire and light.
Visitors can navigate their way through a forest of larger-than-life icicles and neon spiral trees, and take part in the new Light Hearted installation, a playful interactive sculpture that lights up when two people hold hands.
The Festive Finale at Inverleith House centres on colourful projections that play in time to classic Christmas tunes.
Kari Coghill, communications director for the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, said profits from the trail would go to help finance the Garden’s important conservation work around the world.
She said: “At a time when we are all thinking about Christmas trees, holly wreaths and so many other delights from the plant kingdom, there is a wonderful synergy with the light trail and the work we do.
“We are at the heart of efforts to look after plants such as these and currently support a huge conifer conservation project in more than 50 countries across the globe.
“Buying a ticket helps to support this and our other plant science and conservation work.”
Last year, visitors attended Christmas At The Botanics in record numbers from as far as Germany, Japan and Australia.
Jonathan Marks, chief development director at Raymond Gubbay, a division of Sony Music that promotes the event, said: “As the event enters its third year, it has become a staple light show in the winter calendar for Edinburgh. what better way to kick off the festive season and encourage a bit of Christmas spirit than with a dazzling light show set against the natural landscape of the Botanics?
“The new installations for this year will keep adults and children mesmerised for the entire duration of the trail and encourage them to spread a little Christmas cheer among family and friends.”
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