Christmas Tree Festival Special Preview After Dark

Chester Cathedral is opening its doors for a special evening preview of the Christmas Tree Festival on Tuesday 24 November. It's an after-dark first look at the festival before it opens to the general public, and the night has a few extras that aren't part of the usual run: Rock Choir Chester will be singing, there's mulled wine on the go, and the Cathedral Shop stays open. If you're usually too busy during the day to make it in, this is a good way to get a head start on the season.

The festival itself is the big one on the Cathedral's calendar. It's a family-friendly walk through a forest of more than 80 locally sourced trees, each decorated around its own theme, so you'll spend a fair bit of time just wandering from one to the next. The preview on the 24th is the first chance to see them; after that, the main festival runs from 28 November through to 4 January, so if you can't make the evening preview, you've still got plenty of dates to choose from.

And it's not just the trees. The Cathedral fills out the rest of the season with a few other things to do: there's a Santa's grotto, a Santa's brunch for children aged 1 to 10, and Afternoon Tea with Santa. Beyond the Cathedral walls, the city puts on the Winter Watch and Saturnalia parades—the latter is a Chester tradition that goes back to the 1400s.

For the preview on the 24th, the Cathedral is at St Werburgh St, Chester, CH1 2DY. Pricing is to be confirmed, but the festival is free on Sundays if you're looking for a low-cost way to see it.