It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Bournemouth, with lights, entertainment and a traditional German Christmas market to get us all in the festive spirit. I headed down on Friday evening to check it out. Here’s what I made of it:
The market centres on the square and offers a festive environment to browse novel items and perhaps pick up a few gifts. This is rather a small Christmas market, so the range of stalls is nothing like you’d see at the larger markets, but it’s quite quaint, and each stall offers something very different from all the others. Items for sale include scarves, jewellery, ornaments and chocolate gifts. There is also a range of food available, most notably the German Bratwurst stall, which offers a selection of BBQ-fired sausages in bread rolls, with curry ketchup: something I’d not tried before but quite enjoyed!
Market-goers can enjoy a festive drink in the alpine bar, where music is played and festive cheer served up in the form of mulled wine (or whatever other tipple you might choose!). The bar does get very busy in the evenings and you may find yourself in a long queue to get a drink. If you fancy speedier service, you could head into the gardens where you’ll find the ice rink and its accompanying Skate Bar. Skate Bar offers a slightly more relaxed environment, super friendly staff and tasty food, as well as all our favourite drinks.
Another reason to head into the gardens is to experience the Gardens of Light exhibition. Giant snowflakes are scattered on the walkways and light sculptures are dotted throughout the gardens, making for quite an enchanting walk.
Back to the square and you’ll find the live stage, which hosts entertainment between around 11am and 10pm every day except Mondays. I managed to catch Samba Panashe, a Samba drumming band, while I was there. Their music was great fun; my friend and I felt like we wanted to join the band! You can see the full line up for the Christmas Stage here.
All in all, Bournemouth’s Christmas Market and Gardens of Light offer a really lovely festive experience, one not to be missed while you’re in the area!
By Lauren Bishop
