Illuminate Blackburn this Christmas

Ad

As I mentioned earlier in the week we headed across to Blackburn last night for their Christmas lights switch on and the first day of their The Snowman and the Snowdog brick models trail.

Arriving in Blackburn

The journey up to Blackburn was particularly beautiful with the snow over the hills but it was bitterly bitterly cold. We made sure we were wrapped up snug and warm. We parked in the Mall multi-storey car park and headed into the mall to get warm.

The Brick Trail

The Snowman and The Snowdog trail consists of 16 models dotted around the centre of Blackburn and is part of the Illuminate Blackburn events. We downloaded the Experience Blackburn app which gives a map of where all the models can be found but there is also a paper map available too.

The app allows you to scan a QR code at each model which reveals a hidden word. When you’ve scanned all the QR codes you can enter in a competition to win £100 vouchers. The paper map also has a trail quiz to complete along the way. The questions include how much do some of the models weigh, how long did they take to build and how many builders built the models. The answers to these can all be found on the boards displayed next to each model. When all the answers have been found you can enter into a second competition too.

Some of the models are inside shops (for instance the ones in M&S and Next) and others are in the windows. They’re all taken from the wonderful Snowman and Snowdog story and are absolutely brilliant. We really liked the Anatomy of a Snowman one and the Snowdog model too.

The trail will take you on a good tour of the centre of Blackburn and what I really like is that Blackburn is a thriving centre with plenty of spots to do your Christmas shopping. We really like the Indoor Market and we stopped by a Miniee’s Creations, a Pop Up at the Indoor Market and bought some delicious Churros.

The brick trail is available until 5 January (but bear in mind that some locations are closed on Sunday’s and all venues are closed Christmas and New Year’s Day). You can easily spend a good few hours in Blackburn doing the trail and taking part in some of the other activities mentioned below.

Other Events over Christmas and New Year

There’s so much going on in Blackburn over the coming weeks. There’s the Santaland Express until Christmas Eve in the Mall as well as events in the Central library.

As mentioned above, the market hall is hosting a range of pop-up stalls which are well worth a look . The Cathedral in Blackburn is also hosting a Christmas Spectacular on 11th December featuring choirs and a range of other Christmas services (and whilst at the Cathedral its worth checking out the Knife Angel).

There’s also a range of ‘get crafty’ sessions at the Museum and Art Gallery that are aimed at toddlers to age 12.

Finally, there’s the Blackburn Festival of Light on 18th December. This looks absolutely fantastic and started at 4:45pm. This is a light parade which features light art sculptures, community created lanterns, performers and musician. There’s also workshops taking place. There’s plenty more information here about this event.

You can read more about the Illuminate Blackburn events here. We really enjoyed using the Snowman and Snowdog brick trail as the reason for a trip to Blackburn to have a look around and enjoy the day out. The evening entertainment was fantastic and we enjoyed the Christmas singalong too!