Christmas at Kew Gardens promises a sparkling trail of light and video displays to add a festive explosion of colour to its fabulous grounds and buildings.

Starting tomorrow – Wednesday – the Gardens will offer a spectacular collection of scenescapes inspired by Kew's world famous plant collections.

These artistic displays will include a 12 Days of Christmas tree installation, a Christmas Cathedral, and LED light spheres illuminating the night sky some 200 metres over-head.

A stroll down the Christmas trail will lead to a host of seasonal favourites including freshly-prepared street food, mulled wine and hot chocolate provided by Montezuma's Chocolate.

The new installations for 2021 will light Kew's iconic Temperate and Palm Houses, and will include a first-time collaboration with video design studio Novak.

Using a selection of spectacular trees from Kew's arboretum as their canvas, Novak will create a brand-new piece for Christmas 2021, through a combination of video design, projection mapping and light to bring botanical illustrations from Kew's archive to life, alongside a host of heart-warming festive imagery.

Creative house Mandylights will also be providing a 15m wide dome of light named Sphere.

Sphere will be covered in over 2,000 individually controlled LED pixels, sits on a reflective water pool, allowing visitors to fully immerse themselves in this unique mirrored illusion as they cross the lake.

Returning sound and light artists Ithica have created a powerful scene for the Gardens' Holy Walk shining 200m into the night sky in an effort to replicate the magnificent Aurora Borealis.

The Gardens' will also feature 'phantasma' from visual artist Amelia Kosminsky, a tranquil oasis of vibrant colours.

As well as the various delights found along the trail visitors can even book a delicious traditional Christmas dinner at The Botanical Brasserie restaurant.

Sandra Botterell, Director of Marketing and Commercial Enterprise at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, said: "It's wonderful to be able to welcome visitors back to Christmas at Kew for 2021. As well as some much-loved festive favourites, this year's trail also encompasses some enchanting new installations, taking inspiration from Kew's wonderful living and archive collections.

"With over a million lights illuminating Kew's spectacular botanic gardens, Christmas at Kew really is a seasonal spectacular unlike any other."

Debbie Epstein, Marketing Director for Montezuma's Chocolate said: "We're so excited to be supporting Christmas at Kew for a second year and we're sure this year it will be bigger and better than ever.

"We'll be adding a touch of magic to the trail with our mouth-watering chocolate bars and buttons, and new this year, we'll be serving our signature hot chocolate.

"We'll have our beautiful Christmas Bauble Tree again, which captured the imagination of the children last year, and a Wishing Tree to acknowledge the trials and tribulations everyone has experienced during the pandemic."

Tickets are now on sale here