I finally made it! Visiting the Stowmarket Christmas Tree Festival has been on my list for a number of years now and I am pleased to say I can now tick it off! Was it worth a visit? Yes!

Stowmarket Christmas Tree Festival

The festival is on for about a month and I think that is the reason I haven’t visited before – you think you have lots of time to visit then all of a sudden Christmas is here, you get busy and you find you have run out of time!

With my plan this Christmas to support local high streets, I planned in extra time to visit the Stowmarket Christmas Tree Festival which is conveniently situated in the town centre. There are 3 locations to see the trees; St Peter & St Marys Church, Stowmarket Library & the Museum of East Anglian Life and they are all within walking distance of each other.

The festival is now in its 14th year and attracts lot of visitors (reported to be around 35,000) Having visited I can see why. As I  reached St Peter & St Marys Church and entered the door I was greeted by two lovely volunteers who gave me a programme and mentioned some of the highlights to look out for.

The Church felt really cosy and the trees were lovely. I visited during the day but I should imagine late afternoon as it gets dark it will look even more amazing with the trees lit up.

According to the programme I had been given, in the church there were 113 trees all decorated by local groups, people, organisations and businesses.

I particularly liked the remembering tree and the prayer tree where you could write a card with your own personal message to hang onto the branches of each tree.

Its not all about trees though, I got super excited when I came across this knitted nativity scene! How cool it must be to knit a camel or a sheep!!

There were so many wonderful trees to look at in the church that I ran out of time to visit the other 2 sites in the town. So its back on my list to return again – hopefully before it finishes in early January.

The Stowmarket Christmas Tree festival is well worth a visit and with a good selection of shops in Stowmarket, including some great independent shops, its a great way of feeling Christmassy!

 

I visited the Stowmarket Christmas tree Festival in November 2018.

For more information about the festival visit the church website and check on their upcoming events