Lake District Castle invites kids to spread festive cheer all over its walls

For the first time, children across the region are being invited to help to turn the Lake District’s Muncaster Castle into a giant illuminated Christmas card, as part of its spectacular annual light show.

This year, the award-winning attraction is challenging youngsters aged 5 to 11 to show off their creative flair and design a Christmas card, which will be transformed into a dazzling display on the Castle walls.

10 lucky winners and their families will get the chance to see their work take centre stage from the 15th to 30th  December in ‘Darkest Muncaster’, which sees the Castle’s famous gardens transformed by a glittering parade of colourful lights, music, sound and other special effects.  The night time extravaganza attracts visitors from around the country and overseas.

Peter Frost Pennington, whose family own the Castle, says:

“This year we want to give Darkest Muncaster a more festive feel by inviting kids to team up with our special effects team and help decorate the Castle with their Christmas designs. 

“The illuminated Castle is a real treat for the senses and the perfect way to lift the winter gloom.”

Christmas card designs should be simple, bold and colourful to achieve maximum impact when projected on to the Castle walls and feature common festive images such as Father Christmas, a snowman or a Christmas tree.

Day or night, Muncaster is a special attraction for the all of the family. It's really three attractions in one with the Castle, the World Owl Centre and the extensive gardens with spectacular views
There's also Muncaster Interactive and the MeadowVole Maze for children to explore.
The gardens and World Owl Centre are open every day (except Christmas Day) between 11am and 4pm and the Castle opens its doors to the public on Sundays until the end of December between 3pm and 5pm. (All attractions are closed in January).
Darkest Muncaster is open from 4pm until 9pm every Saturday and Sunday in December and then daily from Boxing Day until the 30th December. Last entry is at 8pm. The café serves hot food including mulled wine and mince pies until 8pm and the gift shop will be open for buying Christmas presents each Darkest Muncaster evening.
Entry to Muncaster (including Darkest Muncaster) until the end of December costs £5 for adults, £2.50 for children and family tickets cost £13.50 (for 2 adults and 2 children). Entry to the Castle on Sundays is extra.  Children under five are free.
Darkest Muncaster can also be seen on a number of evenings during November, February and March, including Valentine’s Day.
The 10 winners will also receive a free family ticket giving entry to Muncaster for one year.

The closing date for entries is Friday 30th November.  The winners will be notified by post, email or telephone by Friday 7th December.

Entries can either be emailed in a jpeg format (2 mega bytes maximum) to info@muncaster.co.uk or posted on a sheet of plain A4 size paper to:

Castle Christmas Card Competition
Muncaster Castle
Ravenglass
Cumbria
CA18 1RQ

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