Petersham will see the night-by-night opening of a free ‘advent calendar’ walking trail
from December 1st to 24th this year.
Each night a new decorated window will be ‘opened’ and lit up for residents to walk past and view, gradually building up to a 24-window advent calendar trail by Christmas Eve. The trail is intended to be a family activity to encourage children to get out for their daily exercise and experience a little bit of the excitement of Christmas as they do so.
Children friendly environment
A small team led by local resident Emily Powell-Blyth are planning this advent calendar walking trail specifically with little legs in mind, making sure that the entire route will not be too much for children to manage as they walk between decorated windows. The trail will finish on Christmas Eve with an illuminated crib set up in the porch of St Peter’s Church.
Safety
It is vital that families taking part observe social distancing guidelines as they follow the trail, keeping
at least 2 metres between themselves and other family groups. Windows on the trail will be lit between 5pm and 10pm each night to allow plenty of time to complete the trail whilst safely distanced.
Download the app
Anyone interested in joining the trail will need to download the What3words app to navigate their way around the route. Clues will be given, via the app, about the location of the next window on the trail. Participants can choose to find the new window each night or wait until Christmas Eve to follow the trail in full. Details on how to take part will be advertised on posters throughout the village.
Emily Powell-Blyth said:
“This idea began as an antidote to the grimness of 2020 and lockdown. I want local children to be able to have some of the fun of a community Christmas even while we are having to distance from each other. For them Christmas should have some magic and excitement, especially this year.”
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