Longleat Festival of Lights: Stately home decorated with over 20,000 Chinese lanterns

Longleat, the stately home in Wiltshire and the seat of the Marquesses of Bath, has been transformed into an illuminated winter wonderland with more than 20,000 Chinese lanterns, bringing a touch of the Far East into the West Country. Among the lightworks created by a team of artists from Zigong in China's Sichuan province are a 100-metre-long dragon, a 50-metre-long floating dragon boat, a 20-metre-tall pagoda and a palace made of 80,000 porcelain cups, bowls and plates, as well as a giant blue and white tea set created from 220,000 liquid-filled glass phials.

The decorations used more than 18 kilometres of silk, 20 kilometres of LED lighting and 76 tons of steel. Longleat's Festival Of Light is open Fridays to Sundays from 13 November to 6 December and then daily from 11 December to 3 January 3, excluding Christmas Day.