Illuminated trail turns North Devon garden into magical wonderland
Watch "A Winter's Trail"
A popular garden in North Devon has installed thousands of lights and multi-coloured displays to add a little magic for visitors over winter.
Three climbers spent days up a giant oak tree at RHS Rosemoor near Torrington attaching around 370 strings of lights. It was a lot of work but the effect was stunning - and can be seen from all around the garden.
Horticulturalist Susie Hauxwell says, "We had a guy on the ground who was passing up lights to us and trying to keep up with the amount of lights. All the strings are eight metres long and you actually get through them really quickly because you're wrapping them around the branch.
"We all asked the question of 'When do we need to take these out? I don't know if we're going to be around for this.' We've got an arb apprentice so we might get him to take them down!"
The whole of Rosemoor is twinkling with light for their annual Garden Glow - some of the displays are even colour-changing for added effect.
As the last autumn leaves fall off the trees, the decorations add sparkle for what is usually quite a stark and bleak time of year.
This is what Rosemoor looks like in daylight:
The attraction had to close during the first lockdown in the spring but, with pre-booking, social distancing and a one-way system in place, it has been able to remain open this time, to help people stay fit in body and mind.
Visitor events manager Sally Smith says, "For their mental health it's really important for them to get out into green outdoor spaces.
"It's really nice that this time round they can still come here and ask for some advice from the garden team that are on site and get inspiration from our planting here to them be able to take back into their own gardens and improve their own space for their mental health and wellbeing."
The Garden Glow trail is open on selected evenings until the new year and tickets have to be booked in advance. Find out more here.
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