REVIEW: PORT LYMPNE ILLUMINATED

AG
Dec 3, 2025
4 min read

We Go on a Kaleidoscopic Journey with Santa and Fairies at the Launch of this Christmas Light Behemoth

Snow flurries, fairy discos, talking trees, a stunning illuminated trail and Santa himself - the brand new Port Lympne Illuminated has arrived in an explosion of Christmas magic.

We head to the launch, where over 75 species of 900 animals at the remarkable, 600 acre park have been joined by Father Christmas for a kaleidoscopic journey through illuminated portals, into a magical world, guided by holofan fairies and dazzling 3D projections.

In keeping with the setting, extraordinary hyperrealistic tigers prowl and roar through bushes, and giant illuminated giraffes twinkle above us.

Our children’s highlights on the trail include the magical fairy disco in the Orangery, popping colourful, smoke-filled bubbles while the otherworldly DJ Pixie Lights plays party hits, and colourful fairies dance around their heads.

They excitedly run through a flurry of falling snow, illuminated by Dickensian street lamps towards the beautifully lit, Grade II listed Mansion, where we discover the grand finale - a stunning light and water show with dancing fountains set to Christmas music, overlooking the illuminated, enchanted gardens and the Kentish Savannah beyond.

Along the way, we warm ourselves with seasonal treats, mulled wine and hot chocolates, as we explore light tunnels, pose in horse-drawn Cinderella carriages, chat to a talking tree and watch a field of illuminated flowers come to life, pulsing and changing colour to the throngs of Christmas music.

Santa's Grotto

Inside the beautiful mansion, we discover a twinkling indoor forest of icy Christmas trees and the cosy smell of coal fires, as Nutmeg the elf amazes our children by greeting them with their correct names.

She leads us into an impossibly cosy room adorned with exquisite, hand-painted wildlife murals and brimming with Christmas trees, beautiful decorations, and a roaring fire, while the illuminations outside give the impression of Northern Lights blazing through the floor to ceiling windows.

We’re led down a red staircase, past Christmas trees flanked by presents and into The Library, where Father Christmas himself is waiting before the fireplace.

The attention to detail in his cosy, wood-panelled grotto is magical - the book shelves heave with teddies, dolls and gingerbread houses, his desk is complete with Naughty or Nice books, North Pole Times newspaper, a globe and map for planning his big Christmas Eve journey, and letters from children.

We have met Santa in his many shapes and forms, and this FC is the real deal - the twinkling eyes, perfect (bonafide) snowy beard and jolly, quick-witted chat.

He talks at length with the children, who are thrilled to have this audience with the Big Guy himself, before posing for pictures and giving them each a lion cuddly toy.

This brand new grotto is exclusively available to guests visiting Port Lympne Illuminated or staying overnight for their new Nightlights Package, and it is pure Christmas magic.

Nightlights Stay

It doesn’t get more festive than driving back past twinkling lights in our golf buggy to our cosy, Shepherd’s Hut in Hog Deer Creek.

Santa’s surprisingly bold reindeer nosily emerge from bushes as we arrive, and the following morning, we get the full Nativity experience, when camels and horses flank our Shepherd’s Hut as the sun dramatically rises over the salmon skies, above the rolling Kentish Savannah.

Inside, the children are thrilled to discover a bag of marshmallows and sticks to toast on our fire pit outside or inside on our cosy log burner.

There’s a marshmallow soft bunk bed inside - a double on the bottom and two individual mattresses on the top, with their own ladders on each side, which are a source of great excitement and much squealing and clambering before heads are acquainted with pillows.

The TARDIS-like hut even has a little lounge with TV, plus all of the luxury touch points you’d expect from Port Lympne Hotel and Reserve - Nespresso Machine, Molton Brown toiletries in the ensuite shower room, fluffy slippers and fancy glassware.

These huts are in the heart of the Asian Experience, where we can watch the animals around the watering hole from the comfort of our beds.

The accommodation comes with the complimentary use of our own golf buggy - which our children gleefully ride on the back of when we have the park to ourselves at nightfall and the following morning.

No school run will ever be as exciting as pulling on uniforms while gawping at camels through the window, and then waving at gorillas, rhinos and wolves on the golf buggy to breakfast.

And as the Christmas gift that keeps on giving, the stays include two days at Port Lympne, a Truck Safari and free entry to Howletts Wild Animal Park.

Dinner and Breakfast

Feeding time for my family of hungry animals takes place at Port Lympne Hotel and Reserve’s beautifully restored Garden Room, which is twinkling with Christmas trees and perfectly chopped, festive cushions.

Originally the stable yard of Sir Philip Sassoon's country estate, The Garden Room sits beside Port Lympne's grand, Grade II listed mansion, which was built for Sassoon and has welcomed everybody from Winston Churchill to Charlie Chaplin.

True to its name, The Garden Room's black or exposed brick walls are festooned with leafy foliage and Art Nouveau mirrors, while its glass roof is studded with oversized chandeliers.

All of the food is sustainably sourced from local, artisanal suppliers, with produce picked from the Port Lympne gardens.

The children demolish burgers, sausages and chips, while we enjoy beetroot and butternut squash salad and barbecue chicken wings, followed by deliciously creamy (and enormous) salmon, prawn, haddock and cod fish pies with winter greens, followed by steaming apple crumbles crowned with ice cream.

The following morning, the children are served fat, golden croissants with strawberry jam, and their plates heave with fresh fruit, Greek yoghurt, berry compote and muesli.

My partner and I have the Full English, with perfectly crisped, smoked back rashers, excellent, locally sourced sausages, a giant, field mushroom, roasted tomato, perfectly orange free range eggs, with beans in a separate dish, as is the law of breakfast.

And with bellies full of fire, tinsel (and sausage) we return to the real world, from the King of the Christmas illuminations jungle.

Port Lympne Illuminated, Aldington Rd, Lympne, Hythe CT21 4LR.

Tickets from £18/adult, £10/child. Santa’s Grotto £22/child. Nightlife break in Hog Deer Creek Shepherd’s Hut, £359/night, including a golf buggy, two days at Port Lympne, Truck Safari and free entry to sister park Howletts Wild Animal Park