Stowmarket Christmas Tree Festival at Stowmarket

Stowmarket Christmas Tree Festival, now in its fourteenth year, is attracting over 35,000 visitors which makes it one of the region’s major winter attractions. There will be spectacular Christmas trees in Stowmarket Parish Church, Abbots Hall in the Museum of East Anglian Life and the town library. All three venues are in very close proximity of each other in the lively Mid Suffolk town centre.
It all started in 2005 with a modest eighty Christmas trees scattered around St Peter and St Mary’s Church and since then the Festival has grown year by year beyond all imagination with more trees being adorned with sparkle and festivity each time. The decorators from groups and organisations in the town are told to be creative and to think big and the result is absolutely wonderful which last year attracted over twenty thousand visitors to see the Christmas trees. People travel from all over the country and abroad with some making sure that their annual visit to see friends and relations in Suffolk fits in with Stowmarket Christmas Tree Festival. The Visitor’s Book also shows grateful comments from tourists who come back year on year: ‘Visited with family who have been before – more amazing and beautiful than I anticipated – Creative, clever and well worth the travel to experience’.
Previously, visitors have seen everything from amusing edible inn signs created from icing sugar to amazing origami stars to loom band shepherds and marshmallow sheep hanging on the trees. They have to be seen to be believed. It seems as if all the town’s groups, organisations, schools and charities, in fact anyone who is anybody in the town applied during the summer to decorate a tree. As well as traditional Christmas trees visitors have also found an optical illusion tree, one made from six hundred buttons and another from Lego bricks.
The Stewards who are ready to welcome you love to see faces light up as visitors walk through the big glass doors mouthing ‘WOW’. People might have heard about Stowmarket Christmas Tree Festival and seen the photographs but nothing compares to the experience of visiting and seeing the Christmas trees for yourself. In daylight they look bright and colourful, at dusk when the sun is going down they look stunning and then when it is dark it is like being in a warm and welcoming magical kingdom.
The one way route around the Church includes a stopping off point to relax and have a drink and a mince pie as you take in more of the enchanting Christmas atmosphere. A special moment for many is writing a prayer or the names of loved ones no longer with us and hanging them on a dedicated tree knowing that they are not forgotten at this Christmas season.
Trees in Abbots Hall, in the award winning Museum of East Anglian Life, and only a stones throw from the Parish Church in the centre of Stowmarket will be displaying decorated Christmas trees to a Festive Food theme as they explore more of local food stories. Step back in time wandering around their Exhibition rooms and see Christmas trees adorned with decorations reflecting years gone by with cloves in oranges, delicate glass decorations and fresh gingerbread men dressed with ribbon bow ties. See the toys that used to be hidden in a Christmas stocking not to mention the rest of the displays in the grand restored Queen Anne house.
Stowmarket library is focusing on the Twelve days of Christmas which includes some lovely creative surprises hidden throughout the building. For those inspired by the Christmas Tree Festival the library will be collecting poems and creative writings to feature in a dedicated book to be published for next year’s Christmas Tree Festival.
Stowmarket Christmas Tree Festival is a great day out for all the family whether you are one or one hundred and one. It is on the A14 in the heart of Mid Suffolk and open every day. All three locations serve refreshments so you can linger and take in the enchanting atmosphere. For more details of opening times see www.stowmarketparishchurch.co.uk Coach Parties are very welcome and food can be provided. When you are in Stowmarket why not do your shopping and take part in the Christmas Tree Trail amongst the town centre shops? There are a number of independent shops as well as the national chain store shops.