Beauty and the Beast is one of my all time favourite fairy tales so I was more than exited for our family trip to the Bournemouth Pavilion this Christmas.

Beauty and the Beast has everything you’d expect from panto with buckets full of comedy, audience participation, stunning costumes and set plus an outstanding cast.

The show begins in a beautiful village in France called Camembert and Fairy Bon Bon (Emma Barton from EastEnders) is a hilarious TikTok fairy who loves to bust a move and get the audience involved.

Belle (Ellie Green) is popular in the village but she’s attracted the unwanted attention of the egotistical Hugh (Travis Ross) and he'll try everything he can to win her over.  Meanwhile, Belle’s father Clement (Brookside and Jonathon Creek star Marcus Knibbs) is poor and decides to sell his prized Rose painting at the market far away so he can provide food for himself and his daughter.  On his way to market he finds himself taking warmth in a castle where he meets funny double act Polly Le Plonk (Jamie Steen) and Louie Le Plonk (Noel Brodie).

The enchanted castle is owned by the grumpy Beast (Mark Scott) who was transformed by an evil sorceress and he decides to imprison Belle’s father for trespassing.  When Belle finds him she asks the Beast for a trade and stays at the castle while her father is set free.  Polly Le Plonk is keen to see his master happy and with the help of Louie Le Plonk they plan ways for them to spend time together and it doesn’t take too long for Belle’s kindness to wear off on the Beast and they both realise they love each other.  

Supporting the main characters are professional actors who become village folk and dancers and this makes for an all round entertaining performance.  Beauty and the Beast will have you crying with laughter and you won't want it to end.  Go see it, you won't regret it! 

Beauty and the Beast will be on until 2 January 2023 with matinees and evening performances every day except 25 December 2022.  For more information and tickets, please visit Bournemouth Pavilion.

The Christmas Lights at Kingston Lacy are truly spectacular and we had the most wonderful night walking the trail and experiencing the magic.

The trail is much bigger than I imagined and the lights begin on the path around to the front of the house where Father Christmas was waiting to cheerily greet everyone.

Carrying on the path we saw huge lit up Christmas trees, colour changing ice spikes and projections on the ground before coming out to the other side of the house.  This was a magical sight to see with hundreds of glowing orbs on the lawn and a huge sparkling tunnel of light which you can walk through.

When we came out the other side we walked past flickering flames and then walked through the most beautiful avenue of small lights on the ground and big colourful illuminations in the trees.

When we reached a couple of fire pits we stood by to warm up and then realised that it was here you could buy enormous square marshmallows to toast over the fire. You had the choice of salted caramel, chocolate or vanilla and each cost £1.60.  Between us we tried all the flavours but personally I think my vanilla one was the best.  Because of the size of it and having to get close to the flame I’d recommend the adults do this and because they are quite big you may need to toast them more than once after nibbling.

Now that we had warmed up a bit we carried on the trail and walked through a cool laser area, past huge red sparkly hearts and gold mushrooms.  From there we walked past the 12 Days of Christmas which was made of wicker and then out onto the path which leads you back to the house.

By this point, watching the glowing orbs and listening to the festive choreographed soundtrack I’ll admit I felt quite emotional.  It was a sight I’d never seen or experienced in my life and one I’ll never forget.

The trail took us about 90 minutes to walk round but we were walking slow and spent some time toasting the marshmallows and warming up.  I’d definitely recommend wearing warm clothing and even thermals if you have them.

Because I knew the kids would get hungry I baked sausage rolls at home and took those and some snacks in my rucksack.  By the time we got back to the beginning though everyone was peckish again so we had a delicious garlic sour dough pizza bread and chips from one truck and the kids had freshly cooked chocolate crepes from another truck.  Hot drinks are also on offer and there is also a coffee truck on the trail selling hot drinks and pastries.

Because the children had been so good they were allowed to go on one ride (£2.50 each) and then we were all ready to go home and get warm again.

The Christmas Lights will be on from 4.30pm – 10pm up until Christmas Eve.  If you are a member of the National Trust then ticket prices are slightly lower for you if you book in advance.

For more information, availability and to book, please visit Kingston Lacy.