Glow Wild lights up Wakehurst on selected evenings from 26 November to 2 January, tickets from £13, under-4s free. Plus daytime winter hours and prices.
Glow Wild, Wakehurst’s Christmas light trail, returns on selected evenings from Thursday 26 November 2026 to Saturday 2 January 2027. Tickets start at £13, under-4s go free, and every ticket must be booked in advance. This is the trail’s thirteenth year at Kew’s garden near Ardingly.
The quick answer
- Dates: selected evenings, 26 November to 2 January. Pre-booking is essential.
- Tickets from £13; under-4s free. Member, family and group discounts are available.
- Free parking on site, and Haywards Heath station is about 10 minutes away.
What it is
Kew describes this year’s theme as Nature’s Gift: visitors carry a lantern round a woodland trail of light installations and “thousands of handcrafted lanterns”, with music and live performance. The mansion gets its usual projection show, and there is a “Christmas corner” under the giant living redwood Christmas tree. Kew says the installations are new for 2026. (Kew Wakehurst, Glow Wild; Kew, 2026 at Wakehurst)
Tickets
- From £13, with under-4s free.
- Wakehurst and Kew members can bring up to six people at the member price, and there is a members’ preview night.
- Booking is through Fever, the ticketing partner linked from Kew’s page. Its support centre has the arrival times and visit rules.
The Glow Wild page lists no time slots or full price bands yet. We will add them when Kew publishes the evening calendar.
Getting there
Wakehurst’s address is Ardingly, Haywards Heath, RH17 6TN. Kew says Glow Wild is “easily accessible by public transport, with Haywards Heath station 10 minutes away”, and that “free parking is available onsite at Wakehurst for any visitors arriving by car.” Our train times page has the Haywards Heath service. Remember that there are no trains on Christmas Day and almost none on Boxing Day; see our Christmas trains and buses page.
Wakehurst by day this winter
The garden stays open through the festive season, and Kew says it is “open over Boxing Day”. In November and December it opens 10am to 4.30pm, last entry 4pm, with an early closure on Glow Wild dates. January and February are the same hours.
| 2026 price | |
|---|---|
| Adult | £18.50 |
| Young person, 17 to 25 | £9.25 |
| Children, 0 to 16 | Free |
| Kew and Wakehurst members | Free |
| National Trust members | Free (parking charge applies) |
| Universal Credit or Pension Credit | £1 |
A reduced ticket applies after 3.30pm. Prices for trails and events are separate. (Kew, 2026 at Wakehurst, notes to editors)
Before Glow Wild, the Christmas wreath making workshops run on 27 to 29 November and 3 to 6 December, using foliage from the Wakehurst landscape. In January the Winter Garden of birches, daphne and red dogwood is the main display.
Other Christmas lights and trails nearby
- Borde Hill, Haywards Heath: a family Christmas trail and Santa’s grotto from 5 December to 3 January. See our Mid Sussex Santa’s grotto page.
- Bluebell Railway SteamLights: an illuminated steam train from Sheffield Park to Horsted Keynes on dates in November and December, from £35. The railway says this year’s theme, “Somewhere over the Rainbow”, is “not traditionally festive” and Santa is not on board. (Bluebell Railway, SteamLights)
- Town switch-ons: East Grinstead, Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath.
What is still to be confirmed
- The exact Glow Wild evenings, entry times and full ticket prices.
- Wakehurst’s Christmas Day and New Year’s Day opening. Kew has confirmed Boxing Day only.
Have your say