When it comes to Christmas, we can’t help but spoil our four-legged friends with festive doggy jumpers, boxes of new toys, and gourmet dog treats. However as soon as your pooch decides to shred the ‘dog friendly’ stuffed reindeer or Father Christmas toy, and cake their brand-new Christmas jumper in mud, you may wonder if they’d have just preferred an extended winter walk in a new and exciting place…well..we have a plan for just that.
Christmas Light Trail for the WHOLE family!
When we realised there aren’t any dog friendly light trails in any of the Three Counties this holiday season, we knew this needed to change, why should the children have all the fun, we all know dogs are family too…and it’s a pain finding a dog sitter in the height of the festive season!
Dog friendly light trail
For Christmas 2023, we’re running a number of dog friendly Christmas Light Trail dates at Winter Glow. Start a new tradition and journey to Malvern to give your much loved family member an extra special walk around the grounds of The Three Counties Showground. Wrap up warm, gather your friends, family and pups and prepare yourselves for a festive night.
Once you and your four legged friends have enjoyed your enchanting Christmas walk, we’ve selected some of the finest food vendors in town to fill our Winter Glow Festive Food Quarter with delicious options for dinner (keep an eye on our future posts to see who will be there!) as well as hot drinks. Jingle’s Winter Bar will also be open with alcoholic drinks, which will of course feature warm mulled wine. We’ve got ample seating, including an undercover area so you can stay as long as you want to, whether thats whilst enjoying food and a drink or just to to soak up the atmosphere. Seating doesn’t have to be pre-booked.
Winter Glow Dog Friendly Light Trail Dates
Dogs allowed! On the 11th, 12th and 28th of December 2023, our dog-friendly sessions will run at Three Counties Showground in Malvern. Our authentic Winter Glow Trail will wind around the stunning 90-acre showground at the foothills of the famous Malvern Hills and will take you and your well-behaved dog on a brand-new, sparkling, Christmas adventure.
Head to the Winter Glow website to book your Dog-Friendly Illuminated Light session now.
A walk around the Illuminated Light Trail is a brilliant way to celebrate the holidays together as a complete family, it’s also a great place for your dogs to make new doggy friends and feel included this Christmas. You could even get together with your local dog-walking group and venture in and around our very own Christmas village.
Why aren’t all dates dog friendly?
As we’d expected, due to the number of dog lovers in the world, and more families with younger pups who might not be used to being left in the house alone, tickets for these sessions are selling fast and some have asked why all night’s aren’t dog friendly.
Well…we know it’s hard to imagine but not everyone likes being around dogs! Dog friendly events also come with an additional level of, shall we say, house keeping.
There won’t be any loud bangs or fireworks at this event and your pups paws won’t come into any contact with Christmas Tree pine needles.
For these dog friendly events waste bins and water bowls will be dotted around the trail. All dogs must be on a short lead for the entire duration of the trail, in the food quarter and the car park.
Please note that owners must be responsible for their dogs at all times, please bring waste bags with you. All poop must be scooped. Waste bins and water bowls will be dotted around the trail.
What is the light trail?
The light trail showcases structures, installations and illuminations created especially for this event by local artists, lighting designers, special effects specialists and sound designers, there’s festive music, nostalgic smells (yes, smells!) and of course lots and lots of lights to make sure that all visitors leave with that christmassy feeling.
The Light Trail takes around 1 – 1.5hrs, so make sure that you wrap up warm (and maybe grab a hot chocolate from the Food Quarter to take around with you). This is the perfect occasion to show off your dog’s new Christmas jumper, dress them up in a little tinsel, or attach some sleigh bells to their collars, anything to get them into the Christmas spirit!
We are the first and only local Light Trail offering dog friendly sessions. For the festive season, the Three Counties Showground will boast beautiful light spectacles such as our stunning Cathedral Arch, an undercover UV area, beautiful light up flowers, a winter village, orb displays, and an impressive flame garden to warm you up. Capture the ultimate doggy selfie (keep an eye out for our dog selfie competition!) as you and your pooch take in Malvern’s beautiful surroundings and festive delights. I know that all the elves here at Winter Glow HQ absolutely adore dogs and are so excited bring along their very own four-legged festive friends along, we can’t wait to see your pooches strut their stuff this December.
What about Santa?
Our dog friendly sessions are for visiting the light trail only. Sadly, we can’t let dogs inside Santa’s grotto or toy shop (we can’t risk any accidents on Father Christmas’ throne and we’ve already mentioned the perils of stuffed toys being sat at doggy level!). Even the best behaved dogs are not allowed on the the Ice-Skating Rink (for obvious reasons!).
Accessibility
Our lit car park is free for all of our visitors and disabled car parking spaces are available. The illuminated trail itself is built on a mix of tarmac pathways and temporary tracking, some surfaces are a little uneven, but no part of the trail is on grass or mud. All tunnels and ‘walk through’ installations have been designed to be wheelchair friendly. Please ensure if you are a wheelchair user that your chair can accommodate slightly uneven surfaces. The trail is suitable for children (and dogs!) of all ages.