Lighting up Waddesdon Manor

There’s a trend in the UK for tourist attractions to ‘light up’ in the winter months, just like Longleat did when I visited last winter.  I’d heard about a light up at Waddesdon Manor, a National Trust property, on the news and had to visit.

The main light art event is called SOS (. . . – – – . . .) by Bruce Munro.  The installation comprised of tents which light up to music and Morse code.  In addition, the manor house was lit up with regular light shows by Woodroffe Bassett and had two illuminated wine-bottle candlesticks by Joanna Vasconcelos.

Waddesdon Manor had a Christmas fair with lots of stalls selling gifts and food.  Hot coffee, melted marshmallows, and poutine helped to keep me going on a chilly and blustery visit.  I even came away with a couple of gifts for Christmas. 

Although SOS wasn’t quite as impressive as I thought it would be, combined with the Christmas fair and the manor house being lit up it was a very enjoyable few hours and definitely worth a visit.

As well as just ten photos below, there’s two videos on the Just 10 Photos Youtube channel showing the the SOS installation and the light display on the manor house.

An Eerie Evening

Last night (or should that be this morning?) I, along with some friends, did a ghost hunt.  When it comes to ghosts I’m quite open minded but firmly sat on the fence – I’d like to believe there is something after life, but my scientific mind won’t let me believe anything without proof.  And I think the only proof that would mean anything would be for something to happen to me.

The ghost hunt was run by Eerie Evenings at The Manor House in West Bromwich, from 9pm through to 2am the next morning.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, so rather than risk taking my ‘proper’ camera I took my small Samsung Galaxy Camera (and a big jumper, two torches, and some gloves – it was a chilly night).  It’s not the best in dark conditions, but a lot cheaper to fix if I dropped it in the dark!

The evening started with an introduction from the Eerie Evenings team to the twenty seven people there – and they explained they were all open minded, there’d be no tricks, and everyone should take away from the evening whatever they wanted to believe.  We then had a tour of the house, had a session with a medium, and then split up into small groups to start the vigils.  On the vigils we tried Ouija boards and table tipping, used EMF monitors and laser thermometers, and talked in order to make ‘contact’.

The Ouija boards and table tipping had limited success for us, but in all three areas we went we had EMF readings and even banging in response to questions we asked.  There were areas of the building where I felt very apprehensive and uneasy, but for the most part felt very at ease.  

The only point where I had any kind of personal experience was after the group was asking a young girl ghost called Lucy to touch me.  They’d given up and gone for a tea break, and as I was making my way out of the room I felt something touch my on my arm.  I’d say it was about the same force as when a fly or wasp flues into you.  Not quite conclusive proof, but unexplained all the same.

Other people claimed to have seen a ghost – a bearded man staring out of a window – but there were no photos. 

At the end of the evening we did a ‘human pendulum’.  Something I’ll leave you to experience for yourself if you ever do a ghost hunt.  I’m just surprised I didn’t dream about Shaun of the Dead afterwards!

I’ll definitely do another ghost hunt some time, and will take the proper camera to get some better images of the event and maybe some video too.