Christmas Lights in Stanmore and Santa's Pants in Tiverton, Devon

This year, 2015, Stanmore's winter decorations include white lights on the standard lamps and Christmas tree with blue lights.

The lamp posts by the traffic lights near Stanmore station have the best lights, a curve rising to two five point stars. Towards the next intersection near Sainsbury's the white lights are vertical. As you are driving into Stanmore from the station, the Christmas Tree is on the right by the parking area by the next set of traffic lights, lit in blue, by some real, permanent trees, on the right of the picture below.

Photos by Angela Lansbury.
These pictures were taken from a moving car.
Scroll down the list of my posts on the right to find better photos by Angela Lansbury of the lights in Watford and photos of the lights in central London taken by Trevor Sharot in a previous post.

The lights in Stanmore are in the immortal words of Ben Jonson, worth seeing  but not worth going to see. Very pleasant if you live in or shop in Stanmore. If you are in the area, better lights to see are in Watford's Intu shopping mall. For tourists the main attractions are the lights in central London.

Biggest success / failure story of lights this season is the lights in Tiverton, Devon, simi circular arches which are said to look like Sant's Pants.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p039491h?intc_type=fourcardmix&intc_location=avs&intc_campaign=fourcardmix&intc_linkname=signup_xmaslights_contentcard28

For Christmas lights in the USA, Far East and worldwide see Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_lights


Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. 

Watford's train, trees, lights, fireworks! and offers

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Lights turn on 4 pm today (every year the first or second Thursday in November - and tonight fireworks overhead can be seen through the glass roof. There's face painting for children. Santa and all tonight from 7 pm and Santa's grotto until Xmas eve.  The shopping mall in Watford was looking very festive with trees galore around the mall and in shop windows. Marks upstairs entrance had an offer of free chocolates biscuits and wine if you spent £70. Downstairs their ad board offered the £10 lunch deal including a bottle of wine.

Xmas Castle baubles.

to hang on trees? Are they edible. They look good enough to eat. 

Speaking of eating - The Cake and Prosecco bar had small cakes and large party centrepieces featuring snow, a cake as a snowman or a cake decorated with lots of small snowmen Santas trees and more. White iced cakes lend themselves to snow scenes. White is a great contrast to enhance green trees.

Here is the snowman cake.

I love the way Intu has decorated the pillars. Some are decorated at the top with snowflakes or a starburst of lights, others with spirals of greenery.

 

Seats look like parcels. Is that a seat? Dare I sit on it!

If the children can't wait for xmas you can treat them to a ride on the train which tootled around the mall, now decorated with festive parcels.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Shopping Mall With a Kiddie Train - Watford

Watford's Intu shopping mall has a kiddie train. You board at the lower end of the mall nearest the Watford High street overground station (on the Euston to Watford line). The train costs about £2 per person for a ride with a discount family ticket for about £5.

As you see, Intu is a very spacious, light, airy shopping mall.