Northern Lights at Heaton Park

Northern Lights is a mile-long festive light trail through Heaton Park, with new installations, soundscapes and a marshmallow stop along the way. You walk it after dark, at your own pace, through the biggest park on the north side of the city. The trail is fully accessible, which matters on a route this long and on paths that can be uneven once the crowds have been through.

It runs from 19 November to 4 January. Check tickets for a timed entry, and wrap up beyond what the photos suggest. Heaton Park in December is a proper outdoor cold, and the best stretches are the ones where you are happy to stand still for a minute and look. The illuminations trade on nostalgia and scale: colour in the trees, sound as you move between sections, and the park’s own landmarks turned into part of the route. Go on a clear night if you can choose. The lights read better when the sky is dark rather than orange with low cloud. Allow a good hour, more if you stop for the marshmallows.