THEATRE

Living Theatre is performing an immersive reading at Hatfield House on 17 and 21 December and wrap up warm for OVO’s smash hit performance which is returning this year until 23 December, where you’ll meet the characters as Dickins ‘himself’ leads you around the open air Roman Theatre of Verulamium. And Dyad Productions’ one-man adaptation will be at The Quarry Theatre in Bedford on 19 December.

A Christmas Carol charles dickins performance ovo theatre

In other theatre news, you can catch Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at The Place Bedford from until 24 December, and Peter Pan will be at the Queen Mother Theatre in Hitchin from until 16 December.

And Love it or hate it, panto season is in full swing, find out what’s on at a theatre near you, here!

And if traditional theatre isn’t what you’re after, try James Phelan, The Greatest Magician for size, where he’ll wow audiences with his five-star show directed by the late Paul Daniels. He’s even correctly predicted the Lottery numbers, so it could be well worth the ticket price! Catch him at The Quarry Theatre from 15 – 18 December.

MUSIC & DANCE

By special request of Lord and Lady Salisbury no less you’re cordially invited to carols in the stable yard at Hatfield House on 15 December, with readings and accompaniment by the 30-piece Welwyn Garden City Brass Band – plus it’s FREE!

Pop in to St Albans Cathedral for a bite-sized concert, Carols on the Hour, every hour between 11am – 4pm on 16 December. Perfect for a shopping break or if you’ve got wriggly kids who won’t sit through a full-length concert.

Alos on 16 December Hitchin Chamber Orchestra will be performing the music of Grieg, Sibelius, Brahms, Bartok and Tchaikovsky in A Festival of Dance at St Mary’s Church, Hitchin.

COMEDY

Rhod Gilbert is back (following a battle with cancer) with some new material at The Old Town Hall in Hemel from 13 – 15 December. There’s a Castle Comedy Christmas Special on 14 Dec at The Quarry Theatre in Bedford with Jeff Innocent (Comedian of the year 2021) and TV and podcast star, Jessica Fostekew. While it’s the kids’ turn on 21 December with Comedy Club 4 Kids Christmas Cracker – expect chessy cracker jokes and Santa stand-up!

ART & EXHIBITIONS

International artist Rana Begum (and St Albans Girls’ School and University of Herts alumni) is returning to her home town this month with a solo exibition at the St Albans Museum + Gallery from 8 December – 14 April 2024. Ordered Form will focus on her geometric sculptures, paintings and screenprints – inspired by the urban landscape and Islamic art and architecture – as well as relief works and an panel painting installation created especially for the exhibition.

Rana Begum artist — Rana Begum. © Begum Studio. Photography by Philip White

See the Wallingford Screen as it might have looked in Medieval times (with a little help from modern technology) at St Albans Cathedral’s Saints in Colour exhibition until 28 Jan 2024.

Ballito Bombshells celebrates the history of the famous Ballito hosiery factory in the Fleetville area of St Albans from the 1920s-60s, including its transformation into an artillery factory during WWII. See it at St Albans Museum + Gallery until 4 February.

Ballito nylons retro advert St Albans Museum + Gallery Ballito bombshells — Image: St Albans Museum + Gallery

Together is a new (and free!) exhibition of portraits from the University of Herts Arts collection, until 13 January. It spans portraiture from the 18th century to the modern day and the various ways that the art form explores identity and diversity.

Two black women wearing yellow on yellow background Chloe Hodson, ‘Colour Blind’, 2020 — Portrait: Chloe Hodson, ‘Colour Blind’, 2020

This exhibition of pieces from the Garden City Collection at Broadway Gallery, Letchworth: Lives and Landscapes, depicts the changing landscape of the town. It’s on from until 6 January.

Sylvia Molloy, Broadway. Garden City Collection

SCREENINGS

Billie Piper stars in the National Theatre Live screeing of Yerma on 14 December at Leighton Buzzard Library Theatre, and you can bring on the festive feels with It’s a Wonderful Life at the same venue on 19 Dec, followed by Simon Cowell’s one-man performance of A Christmas Carol on 21 Dec.

It's a Wonderful Life black and White movie still

WORKSHOPS & TALKS

Whatever you fancy trying your hand at, Ashridge House has you covered with a programme of workshops from needle felting and block printing to macrame and candle making, from 4 – 13 December.

Or try a wax melt making workshop on 16 December at Hatfield House, using beeswax sourced from the estate and a variety of essential oils (£17.50 per person).

Get on board with the Make Do and Mend mantra and re-discover the lost art of darning at St Albans Museum + Gallery on 14 and 18 December. For total beginners, £5 per person.

Local candle biz Fire Nest is running a festive candle workshop at the Forest Centre, Marston Moretaine on 16 December, where you’ll get to create three soy hand poured Christmas tree candles, blending your own fragrances and dyes. (£35 per person).

CHRISTMAS EVENTS & EXPERIENCES

Fancy a challenge? Put your skills to the test at Mill Green Watermill’s Christmas Carol Escape Room from 1 Dec – 3 Jan. Meet the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future and explore the 18th century working watermill, whilst completing challenges and puzzles in your teams in this immersive experience. Teams of 3-5 cost £27 per person, while teams of 6-8 cost £25 per person.

Head to The Secret Farm in (whisper it) Moggerhanger for the first ever Secret Christmas Market on 16 – 17 December for unique gifts, photo ops around the farm, a snow cannon and straw maze for the kids as well as (at extra cost on the day) Elf Workshop Experiences and a Christmas pudding bucking bronco. Tickets £3.

Little girl in red dress by Christmas tree

Also on Sat 16 December is the Hitchin Big Weekend, complete with giant snow globe, Santa’s workshop, craft activities, a living nativity and more.

Want more festive shopping? Check out my round-up of local Christmas markets and fairs here.

And, not for the faint hearted… if you fancy a refreshing dip, Ware Lido is opening for the first time ever over the Christmas break, with Festive Swims. The Christmas Day and New Year’s Day sessions sold out in hours but you can still book for 29, 30 and 31 December. It’s heated but wetsuits are advised!

Santa sitting on a sun lounger by a swimming pool

FAMILY & KIDS

Bedford Winter Wonderland is bringing Christmas to Bedford Park until 3 Jan, with ice skating, big wheel, Christmas tree maze, Santa’s Grotto and Alpine bar. Plus, if you book ice skating, entry into the rest of the event is free. Entry is just £2pp (under 3s go free).

And you can get your skates on at Letchworth Outdoor Pool too, for Skate Letchworth as a state-of-the-art ice rink has popped up on the terrace over the festive season until 7 Jan.

There’s loads going on over the festive period at Herrings Green Activity Farm, from owl encounters to Christmas tea with the alpacas, lunch with Father Christmas and a Nativity barn.

For the very first time Wrest Park in Silsoe is putting on a spectacular light trail from 1 December – 1 January with immersive light installations designed to blend with the estate’s natural surroundings in an explosion of colour, sparkle and festive cheer. There’ll also be festive food, warming cocktails and plenty of Insta-worthy moments.

Find more festive light trails in Herts, Beds and beyond in my round-up, here.

There’s a polar bear trail at Tring’s Natural History Museum from 2 December – 3 January – just £1 a ticket if you’re after an easy holiday activity. And you can say hi to Santa’s reindeer, before they shoot off on their rounds on 23 December in The Wynd, Letchworth.

There’s a magical, musical show at The Old Town Hall, aimed at ages 5+ from 5 – 24 December. The Ballad of Rudy follows a music loving reindeer and his jazz penguin pal, a beat-boxing Arctic Fox, and polar bear who sings the blues.

If you’ve got the festive fuel, head to the big smoke’s winter hot spot at ExCeL London from 8 Dec – 7 Jan. Kingdom of Winter has a cool alpine-style Christmas market AND ice skating, a themed circus, fairground rides, an immersive ice expedition trail, and a delicious range of festive food and drink. It’s all under one heated roof, so you won’t need to defrost on the way home.

Want more chances to catch Santa before he whizzes off in his sleigh?! Find my round-up of where to spot him in Herts & Beds, here.

From 9 – 24 December there’s a new adaptation of the JM Barrie classic by Full House Theatre at the Hat Factory Arts Centre, Peter Pan and Me. The youngest Darling, Michael – now all grown up – tells his story of his childhood memories of pirates and mermaids on a faraway island, and wonders if it was all a dream.

Peter pan and me photo shaun armstrong full house theatre — Little Darling Photo: ©Shaun Armstrong / mubsta.com

There’s also a silly sing-along version of Treasure Island coming to Trestle Theatre on 16 December, with pirate antics, sea shanties and a visit from Billy Bones.

Catch Hitchin’s Big Weekend on 16 Dec where the Market Place will play host to a giant snow globe, Santa’s grotto, living Nativity, and kids’ craft activities. There’s also a live Nativity trail in St Albans on the same date, where you can meet the characters from the story to get stamps on your trail card, culminating in a live performance at the Cathedral.

Aslan and the White Witch come head-to-head in the snowy tale of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe at Abbey Theatre from 16 – 28 December (ages 7+).

Historic Ashridge House, near Berkhamsted, is hosting a rather special Magical Family Adventure for Christmas this year, from 19 – 24 December. Enter the enchanting world of Clara and The Nutcracker Prince, as costumed actors guide you through the decorated rooms of the stunning house in an immersive experience.

Need to keep the kids entertained for the day over the hols? Sign them up for a holiday workshop at Woburn Safari (for ages 8 – 17) where they can get hands on with feeding and caring for the animals. Various dates from 21 Dec – 2 Jan.

Look out for the friendly Gingerbread men dotted around St Albans until 23 December on this fun, festive family photo trail – try saying that with a mouthful of gingerbread!

The Doorstep Elves will be making an appearance at the British Schools Museum from 23 – 24 December, for an immersive theatre production involving a bag of lost letters, a giant bear and a lesson in kindness.

Fantastical Christmas revels with Queen Elizabeth I Hatfield House

Time travel back to the realm of the Tudor Court with this immersive festive experience, Fantastical Christmas Revels hosted by Queen Elizabeth at Hatfield House, until 31 December. You’ll be guided around the West Garden, Knot Garden and into the Victorian Kitchen, where you’ll find bespoke historical installations, from a carriage fit for a queen to live yuletide plays in action, with authentic music and an imposing Queen Elizabeth I. It’s all outdoors so wrap up for the weather!

And finally, Hogwarts in the Snow is on now until 14 Jan, where the familiar Potter sets get a wintery makeover.

Oops, too late for these…

Get into the festive spirit (literally!) with Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, in all its guises. There’s a traditional version – apparently one of the most true to the original you’ll find – at The Place Bedford from 28 Nov – 2 Dec. Meanwhile, at Wakelin & Son in Hitchin you can catch Vintage Verse’s one-man show on 8 December. The Whitwell Players will be performing Scrooge The Panto from 8 – 9 December in Whitwell. The March sisters are coming to The Sharnbrook Mill Theatre from 28 Nov – 2 Dec, for Little Women.

For a chance to see St Albans Cathedral dressed for Christmas head to one of their festive carol concerts – in aid of local charities, St Francis’ Hospice on 3 Dec and Willow (performed by the Hertfordshire Chorus) on 5 Dec.

On 3 Dec, Crown Ballet will be performing the magical Swan Lake at The Corn Exchange, Bedford. And you can take a musical ‘romp through 600 years of Christmas’ with A Brief History of Christmas by comedy musicians, GreenMatthews, who’ll play a variety of weird and wonderful instruments songs and carols on 6 December at The Old Town Hall, Hemel.

There’s the free Mayor’s Christmas Carol Concert at Hertford Castle on 8 December with tea, coffee and mince pies on offer, plus collections for the mayor’s chosen local charities. And the Herts Big Band will be in full swing at the Maltings Theatre on 9 December, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary with loads of festive favourites from the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington.

Bridget Christie is talking hot flushes, osteoarthritis, menopause and middle age in a way that we can all relate to and have a good laugh at. She’ll be asking Who am I? at Watford Palace Theatre on 9 Dec.

Family classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, will be on at the Hat Factory Arts Centre on 2 December. Just £3.50 per ticket or £12 for four. While The Muppets Christmas Carol is screening at The Place Bedford on 10 December, with hot chocolate and mince pies!

Are you brave enough for a chilly Christmas paddle? Canoe Trail is running canoe, kayak and SUP sessions on 9 December followed by hot drinks and mince pies.

Explore Royston’s intriguing cave by candlelight on 9 – 10 December with a tour of the fascinating wall carvings in the mystical flickering light as they’d have been seen originally.

Get your trainers on for the Mental Elf Festive Fun Run at Shuttleworth House on 10 December in aid of Mind BLMK – supporting mental health care in Beds, Luton and Milton Keynes. There’ll be a non-competitive 5k course, which you’re encouraged to do in festive fancy dress, plus a Santa’s Grotto for the kids.

There’s a special family friendly Christingle service at St Albans Cathedral on 10 December at 2.30pm in support of the Children’s Society.

No chance to catch the real thing? The Royal Opera House’s The Nutcracker is being screened live to South Mill Arts and Watford Palace Theatre on 12 December, and Leighton Buzzard Library Theatre on 13 Dec.

Confidence guru, Lisa Hardy is hosting FREE learning lunchtime talk at Marston Moretaine’s Forest Centre on 4 December. It’ll cover ways to reach your full potential (in work or life) and let go of what others think. Sounds like an interesting one.

You can make your own succulent bauble with Plantiful Terrariums at Fussey & Baer in Hitchin on 7 Dec (£45 per person).

Travel back to the time of Henry VIII for this Christmas Tudor Banquet fit for a King and Queen at Hatfield House on 1 December. Held at the Old Palace with live Tudor music, entertainment from The Black Knight, the wine and mead will be flowing before the DJ hits the decks with some modern tunes. (£80 per person).

Head to Jordan’s Mill near Biggleswade for a Chirstmas Craft and Food Fayre from 2 – 3 December and stock up on those foodie stocking fillers from local and artisan producers.

Warden Abbey Vineyard – Bedfordshire’s community run vineyard – is hosting its annual festive wine sale on 3 December, so you can get your local wine in, ready for when the rabble descend. There’ll also be local food and craft stalls. There’s also a wine fair at Hitchin cricket club on the same date, hosted by local wine shop and Muddy Award winning bar, The Wee Vinoteca.

group toasting glasses of red wine at Christmas

op along to the Christmas Shopping Fair at the Hertfordshire County Showground in St Albans with stalls from around 120+ exhibitors, on 2-3 December. There’s also a smaller scale (around 30 stalls) fair at Hitchin Town Hall on 10 December in aid of local charity, Garden House Hospice.

Pop along to the Christmas Shopping Fair at the Hertfordshire County Showground in St Albans with stalls from around 120+ exhibitors, on 2-3 December. There’s also a smaller scale (around 30 stalls) fair at Hitchin Town Hall on 10 December in aid of local charity, Garden House Hospice.

The one and only Matt Lucas has turned his hand to writing kids’ books and will be signing copies of his new festive read, The Boy Who Slept Through Christmas, at the Chorleywood bookshop on 1 December.

Is it even Christmas if you don’t watch The Snowman? See it screened in the stunning St Albans Cathedral on 2 December with accompaniment from a live orchestra. There’ll also be a chance to meet The Snowman himself as well as the musicians. There are two performances at 3.15pm and 6.30pm. Tickets from £22. And you can catch another screening with live music from the Hitchin Band at Broadway Cinema and Theatre in Letchworth on 3 December (10 and 11.30am, tickets £5 for children, £10 for adults). Third time lucky? See it screened at The Quarry Theatre with the Hitchin Band on 9 December.

The Snoman on screen with live orchestra in a cathedral

Head to the stunning Turvey House in Beds as it’s transformed into Santa’s Cottage from 9 – 10 December. Follow the Elf Trail and meet Mrs Claus on the way to see Father Christmas in his grotto. Each child will receive a gift and a ‘Nice’ certificate before heading back to the festive courtyard to enjoy some festive face painting, try out the ‘pick your own candy cane’ glade, take a ‘sleigh’ (tractor) ride and write some letters to Santa. Plus there’ll be hot food, sweet treats and drinks available. Tickets £25.

little girl in Christmas clothing by tree

75+ things to do for a dazzling December

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