Hever Castle

 We went to Hever Castle in October, not been there for year..As it was so lovely we  decided to pay a few quid more for a years membership. One of the" perks" is privileged advance booking notifications. They were advertising  special weekend  events in December  called" Twilight Christmas" which looked fabulous. Lots of lights and carousel rides a few things like a coconut shy and hall of mirror and  access to the castle plus Father Christmas  in his grotto. What I didn't know was that it was  already booked up when we joined. Grrr!. Another event they were putting on during the day was something called "Once Upon A Castle", the history of pantomime and that  was just part of the general castle opening.What we didn't realise is  that it is the same event. The twilight session is put on for those unable to go during the day and they limit numbers because it's dark.I think there are a few extra food stalls and things for children, but basically it's the same. It was a bit gloomy on Friday but we decided to go along and see what the panto thing was all about.
It was absolutely fabulous.
The first thing we saw was this

Rapunzel,Rapunzel,throw down your long hair.

 

Inside the castle nearly  every room had something in it to do with pantomime.

 They also had a tree in every room,all decorated in a different way.

 T

The story of Poor Cock Robin.

 Not too sure about these two. I think its supposed to be Hansel and Gretel,  not sure about the fairy though.

 "Who's been  eating my porridge?"

 Aladdin and Ali Baba. Very similar stories

 Aladdin and Princess Jasmine

                                            Ali Baba

 " Mirror mirror on the wall"

           Guess who these little beds belong to??

       

  🍎😝

  

 Sleeping Beauty

This is the Great Hall. They usually have models of Henry V111 and his wives, but it was transformed into the story of Cinderella.

The magical coach. It looked lovely and children could sit in it.

Cinders and the pransom hince.

 Can you see the slipper?

Beautifully done.

Guess who?

 Poor Tinkerbell.

Tick tock,tick tock. Captain Hook on the lookout for lost boys.

 Beauty and the Beast

When we had finished inside the castle we went on the Christmas Trail. It wasn't quite dark enough when we started but  as we wandered round darkness began to fall. My camera struggled a bit with the extreme contrast but they photos aren't  too bad.

 Looking back towards the Castle

 Poor Jack.

 I think when children walked past a giant appeared. He didn't bother for us. We just heard him.

 The goose that laid the golden egg.

 

 Looking towards the castle from the main path

 The castle with the carousel just visible.

 To get to the lake you have to walk through what I think is called the Italian Garden. There is a long wall with gardens in front that have been designed to look like separate rooms. Each"room" had been lit in a different colour

The lake.

 Oh no! Where is poor granny?

 The Italian Garden from the other side.

 So this is what it looked like when it was dark.

 Holograms were projected onto the castle. Didn't come out very well unfortunately

So glad we made the effort to go. Don't know if it's the same every year but it really was a good afternoon out.