Saturday 11 February 2017

Light Night

Hello Lovelies,
for 10 years now the city of Nottingham has had a Light Night. We have never been before but this year we finally managed to get there. Well, the "we" on this occasion was hubby, eldest and I. the other two boys were not keen to go.

There are events all around the city but we decided to start at the Castle.
Nottingham castle is set in lovely gardens, and many coloured lights had been used to illuminate the plants. The effect was very striking.


HERE is the scene in daylight, just to give you an idea of the setting, as it's hard to see from my pictures.

I loved this wicker Robin Hood statue.


The background lights were constantly changing colour. It was very effective.

So much colour...in February. 

As a lady stood next to me observed..."it's amazing what you can do with a few coloured lights".


From the gardens we climbed up to the castle it's self.


Sadly the original castle that stood on this huge rock overlooking the town of "Snottingham"....yes really :0)....is long gone.

The building that is now here is a museum and on light night there's free admission.


You can't deny it's built in the perfect defensive position, high on a rock with views for miles from it's battlements.


It's slightly dizzying looking down at the streets below.


 Gosh it was chilly up there, the temperature hovered around zero Celsius and the odd snowflake fluttered down.

It's a shame the cloud obscured the full moon.

Here's the entrance to the castle, complete with coloured lights. We did pop inside for a visit...it was warm inside.


Back outside the bandstand attracted our attention.


I loved this dreamy installation with it's suspended umbrellas and changing colours.




As we left the castle we saw the signs for another open attraction. The Brewhouse yard museum is much more my sort of museum than the castle really. It's years since I have been but I recall great room sets that brought an era to life.


Down the hill we went, past a really old pub.


The oldest in England.


There were plenty of people down here. In fact there was a long queue to get into the museum, so we decided to give it a miss on this occasion.


I loved the lights illuminating parts of castle rock.


And the heat from this fire was so welcome.


There was one more place we wanted to see so we climbed up the hill again.

 Every sort of light up thing imaginable was for sale by the castle. I felt glad my boys are past pestering me for this sort of stuff.



It's not far at all from the castle to the Old Market square, which is sporting a huge wheel at the moment. It's only here till March so it was nice to see it as part of the light night attractions.


This side of the wheel was prettier. So many lights.


constantly changing colour.


I did not feel tempted to go for a ride. I think my fairground ride days are over...except for the carousel.


I loved  the look of the wheel though.


And how it brightened up a winters evening.


And I always love to see old buildings with character.



After a while we could stand the cold no longer.


So we headed home for hot chocolate and home made fruit loaf.


We loved our first Light Night visit...I certainly hope it's not the last.
Jacquie x

15 comments:

  1. Those photos are absolutely beautiful. How I would love to experience something like that along with you. The history where you live is just amazing to me. I love history. Thanks for taking us along with you.
    Blessings, Betsy

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  2. Light nights are so much fun. I have visited many light festivals in Europe over the last few years, and my hometown Utrecht also has one (Trajectum Lumen). Yours looks like so much fun as well.

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  3. Wow, quite sensational. And I LOVE the view from the castle, what an amazing spot. Glad you had a good evening, but I can imagine how cold it was. Have a good weekend Jacquie. CJ xx

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  4. You certainly took us on a wonderful tour, what a great evening out.

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  5. Looks like you had a super time Jacquie, despite the cold. Thanks for taking us too. CN xx

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  6. Oh how fabulous! Thanks Jacquie for taking us along! x

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  7. Well, Nottingham never indulged in such extravagance when I lived there...I had no idea. You have taken some really stunning shots, there, Jacquie - my night shots are shockingly bad. I bet 'The Trip' was doing good business that night - and I see the Old Flying Horse is still there..!

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  8. I have never heard of this before and I have relatives who live there. Why haven't they mentioned it. I must look into it. Thanks for the smashing pictures.

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  9. Oh WOW,thanks for sharing this it's really something.I'd never heard of it either.Brrrr cold cold tho en it lol.You reminded me I must put my fruit to soak for my Tea Bread,thanks.Yours looks so scrummy as " Mary " would say.Thanks again for a FAB post.Hugs xx

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  10. Wonderful photos, thank you. Imagine, a wheel in Market Square.
    My memories are of the Big Wheel going up for Goose Fair each autumn.
    Stay warm. I'd send you some of our Brisbane 37C heatwave if I could šŸ˜Š

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  11. I didn't realise you lived in Nottingham. I was living and working there before I moved to Oz (down at Castle Marina when it was newly built). Nice to see photos of the place. We have something similar here in Melbourne called White Night which is on next weekend, it's always a fun night although very, very busy!

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  12. Wonderful pictures! All the coloured lights are so dramatic against the dark night sky. The wheel looks beautiful and must have been quite a sight when it was going round.

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  13. Beautiful lights! Too bad you couldn't get into the Pub museum. Would have been grand to see pics of the inside of the oldest pub around! Don't blame you for not waiting in that line tho.

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  14. Beautiful event, it looks so pretty and colorful! That fruit loaf looks pretty nice!

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  15. What a lovely way to spens a winter evening. I particularly like the bandstand of umbrellas! xx

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