We visited Winter Glow at Malvern's Three Counties Showground

I visited the Christmas attraction on its opening night last Friday (November 24) with my family to see what it was all about.

Full disclosure: We received complimentary press tickets for the illuminated light trail and ice skating, but paid for our food, drink and a ride on the big wheel ourselves.

Wrapped up warm for the lights trail (Image: NQ)

Entry to the site and the Christmas craft market is free, but you’ll need to buy a ticket to take part in any of the other activities - and they can quickly add up.

Tickets for the light trail start from £18 for adults and £9 for children, and for the ice skating prices start at £12.50 and £10.50. Skate aids are available for children and are charged at an additional £4 each.

We started our visit with a walk around the light trail, parts of which you may have seen if driving past the showground site after dark.

Ice skating is among the highlights at Winter Glow (Image: NQ)

It’s advertised as one of the longest such trails in the region and did take us a good 50 minutes to walk around, even without large crowds to contend with.

There are interactive elements and information boards as well as the lights displays themselves to keep children entertained.

It does get cold as you make your way around the showground - we were glad we’d wrapped up warm with our hats and gloves.

Next we had a walk around the Christmas market, which seemed to mostly be independent retailers, making a change from the stalls you always seem to find at some of the bigger Christmas markets such as Birmingham, plus a food court.

The lights trail has information board and interactive elements (Image: NQ)

After eating, we still had time before our ice skating session so took a trip on the big wheel, which is the first thing that grabs your attention when you arrive at the site.

As with everything else on the funfair you need to buy the right number of tokens from the booth before you can get on the ride. From the top, we enjoyed the views over the light trail and across to the Malvern Hills.

Our evening finished with ice skating, which was a first for my nine-year-old and five-year-old. After a few unsteady laps we were ready to head home - but there’s an ice bar and large VIP area for those who want to make a night of it.

The personalised Santa experiences weren’t available on the night we visited. Tickets for this start at £45.50 for one adult and one child, with additional children, adults or teenagers costing extra.

Parking at the showground is free and Winter Glow runs until January 6.