Are you thinking about booking the Illuminate light trail at Hestercombe House in Somerset? Here is my review.

Hestercombe Light Trail Illuminate Review

Illuminate at Hestercombe consists of several light installations around the grounds of the house and outside of the house itself.

There is a limited number of tickets sold for each time slot, which means even if your time slot ends up selling out (as ours was) there is still plenty of space for everyone to enjoy the lights.

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Luckily for us, the rain held and the weather wasn’t too cold other than a slight bit of wind. There is a slight uphill incline at the start of the trail but we didn’t find it too tricky, even with a pram.

The various Illuminations start straight away and as you head up to the highest point it’s lovely to look down and see all the various lights that are still to come.

Many of the trees a lit up as well as the larger installations such as the Christmas Tree Field and an avenue of colour-changing lights that you can walk underneath.

Our favourite parts of the Illuminate trail were the lit-up waterfall and the field of Christmas trees, which had a slightly different feel to the rest of the walk due to the different music used.

The light trail ends at Hestercomb House itself, which was lit up with a spectacular moving light show to the Christmas classic, Carol of the Bells.

The lights on offer change each year, and new for this year were some fountains in the lake that moved in time to music. While this was nice, it was probably one of the more underwhelming areas of the walk.

There is the opportunity to buy hot drinks before you start walking around the light trail and the cafe with lots of seating at the end if you need to warm up. However, we gave this a miss as we were heading home to order some pizzas.

Overall, we enjoyed the Illuminate light trail at Hestercombe House. I think it’s long enough to keep children interested without them getting bored or fed up with walking.

One final thing to mention is that I did have a slight issue locating my tickets in my email on the day.

A quick look on the Hestercombe website showed that I probably hadn’t been sent a confirmation email after booking due to their booking system sometimes not sending to Hotmail, Live and Microsoft-based email addresses.

I know I probably should have realised this at the time of booking but ticket confirmation can sometimes take a little while to come through so I just didn’t give it another thought until the day we were meant to go.

I sent an email first thing but when I hadn’t had a response by mid-afternoon I gave Hestercombe a quick ring and they were able to give me my booking reference over the phone.

Would We Do The Light Trail At Hestercombe Again?

Yes, we are already thinking that we would like to visit again next year in the run-up to Christmas.

It was an enjoyable and relaxed festive night out suitable for the whole family. Our seven-month-old was fascinated by the lights and it’ll be interesting to see what he makes of them when he’s a little bit older.

How Much Are Tickets For Hestercombe Light Trail?

These are the 2023 prices which could increase for 2024.

Adult £15.00
Adult member £12.00 (November only)
Children £7.50 (under 2 are free)

How Long Does The Light Trail At Hestercombe Take?

We took our time and completed the light trail in around 50 minutes. Of course, you can take longer if would like to.

There are benches along the way where you can sit and rest a little and enjoy looking at the lights.

The light trail is one way and there are staff members at some of the installations making sure everyone is heading around in the right direction.

Book Hestercombe Light Trail Tickets Early To Avoid Disappointment

One thing I will say is to book tickets as soon as they are released. We’ve wanted to do this trail for a couple of years but didn’t think about it until the last minute, by then tickets for the dates we wanted were sold out.

I would recommend booking tickets when they are released in September, especially if you’d like to visit very close to the Christmas period.

Is Hestcombe Light Trail Suitable For Buggies?

We took a pram for our seven-month-old which my husband pushed and there were a few areas we found a bit tricky (and he is pretty strong!). I also think it may have been more difficult if the weather had been worse and the ground had been muddier.

Hestercombe recommends contacting them directly if you have any concerns regarding access and whether or not the trail is suitable for wheelchairs.

How Does Illuminate At Hestercombe Compare To Other Light Trails?

I have only visited one other light trail, which was at Stourhead in Wiltshire, several years ago.

The light trail at Stourhead was much longer, with many more light installations.

However, it was also considerably more expensive than Hestercombe and patrons are required to pay an additional fee for parking if they are not National Trust members. It was also much busier and more crowded when we attended.

For families with young children, my view is that a shorter and much more affordable light trail at Hesterocmbe would be more suitable.