The reasons for making the event ticketed
While we’re thrilled by the response, we understand that those who’ve been unable to book tickets may be disappointed, so here are our reasons for limiting the numbers this year.
The conservation of the garden
The bottom line is the orchard suffered badly after last year’s Lantern Walk nights. When we started this event nine years ago, 330 people came through the gates, whereas last year it was more than 2,100 over the two nights.
The orchard was a sea of mud and it took over three months for it to recover. As a conservation organisation our core purpose is to look after the special places in our care, therefore we need to limit the footfall on those nights to make sure the orchard isn’t left irreparably damaged.
Keeping the magic of the event
Without limiting the numbers, the Lantern Walk was in danger of becoming one long shuffling queue for those who came along; queueing to park, queueing to get in, queueing for food and especially queueing to visit Father Christmas.
It’s a wonderful atmosphere on the nights and we want to ensure it retains its magic for those who attend and the only way to do this is to limit the numbers.
Consideration for our neighbours
Traffic was a real problem last year, especially on the Friday night when over 1300 people visited the garden. Despite the provision of a free shuttle bus from our friends at First Kernow, the narrow roads in Heamoor and Madron were clogged with cars and we don’t want this to happen again.
The roads and the garden coped well with 800 visitors on the Saturday night so we set the limit for tickets this year slightly above that at 900 people per night.
Going forward
Every year we try to improve the Lantern Walk experience from the previous year and the fact that the tickets sold out so quickly shows us it was necessary to limit them to keep that experience special.
If your child is making a lantern with a school but you’ve been unable to book tickets, please email trengwainton@nationaltrust.org.uk with the name of your child, their teacher and their school and we’ll get back to you.
