Wonderful Winter

Ice skating and festive outdoor events across the UK.

Visiting a Christmas festival, ice skating or enjoying a winter walk are just some of the ways to get into the mood for the festive season in England.

Opportunities for ice skating in spectacular settings are manifold in South East England this winter including:

The east lawn of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington is home to an ice rink from 9th November to 21st January. Telephone 0870 060 1780 or visit www.nhmskating.com.

Royal Windsor's riverside park just moments from Windsor Castle, Berkshire will be transformed into an 800square metre rink from 2nd December to 7th January. Adults £9.50, telephone 0870 169 6892 or visit www.royalwindsoricerink.com.

Kew Gardens' ice rink in front of the Temperate House between 25th November and 7th January, adults £10, www.kewgardensicerink.com, is part of the Royal Botanic Gardens Christmas celebrations in West London which also include late night openings between 15th and 16th December when visitors can enjoy mulled wine and carol singing. Visit www.kew.org.

The area around William Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon is to host a number of Christmas events. The towns of Warwick, Kenilworth and Royal Leamington Spa in the Heart of England will all be switching on Christmas lights as a backdrop to late night shopping in the run up to Christmas day. Other highlights include a medieval-style Christmas at Warwick Castle with the UK's first 60 metre long ice slide between 2nd December and 7th January, while Sir Winston Churchill's birthplace Blenheim Palace will transform its courtyards into a winter wonderland between 11th November and 10th December. For further information telephone 0870 160 7930, or visit www.shakespeare-country.co.uk.

The American Museum in Britain plans to celebrate Christmas in the style of early American colonists. Situated near Bath, the museum's festivities between 25th November and 17th December, except Mondays, will display frosty winter florals and snow-covered trees. There are 12 rooms, each depicting an era of American history from 1690 to 1860, and each hiding the mischievous Jack Frot. Cebrations climax on Dec. 16 with 1,000 candles lighting up the museum and the surrounding grounds. Families will be invited to explore the decorated rooms, listen to live music, snack on traditional treats and visit Ol' Saint Nick. The evening ends with a firework display heralding the festive season. Situated at Claverton Manor overlooking the Avon valley, it is the only dedicated museum of Americana outside the United States celebrating the development of American decorative arts. Open daily except Mondays, admission £6.50. Telephone 01225 460503 or visit www.americanmuseum.org.

London's zany wet and wild Great Christmas Pudding Race attracts around 150 contestants each year. The race has taken place in Covent Garden every December since 1980, on the first Saturday in December. This year it's happening on 2nd December 2006 at West Piazza, Covent Garden, London. Teams from schools or companies - aged from 14 to 70 - race around a 150 metre course balancing a Christmas pudding on a flimsy paper plate. They have to navigate two slippery inflatables, balloons filled with flour, jets of foam and limbo poles. To complicate things even further, they do it all in fancy dress. Past entrants have included a team of nuns, a caterpillar, a Womble and a Smurf! The race has become part of London's Christmas events calendar and raises money for Cancer Research UK. Visit www.ukstudentlife.com/ideas/album/puddingrace or www.cancerresearchuk.org.

'Queen Victoria' and 'Charles Dickens' will be among the characters to meet on the South Coast as Portsmouth Historic Dockyard steps back in time 150 years to present a Victorian Festival of Christmas between 1st and 3rd December. A European style Christmas shopping village offering crafts, food and wine will be accompanied by street entertainers, Christmas carols and marching bands. Adults £10, telephone 023 9283 9766 or visit www.historicdockyard.co.uk.

The Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, West Midlands is inviting visitors to enjoy its Traditional Christmas Evenings between 21st and 23rd December. Entertainment will be provided by bell ringers, street organs and a brass band in the atmospheric surroundings of the open air museum's candle and gas lit village. Adults £9.95, telephone 0121 520 8054 or visit www.bclm.co.uk.

The National Trust is offering the perfect antidote to over indulgence with a nationwide programme of guided walks both before and after Christmas. To suit all ages and abilities, the walks cover landscaped gardens, open heathland and beaches. Highlights include a two hour bird walk along Studland Nature Reserve in Dorset on 13th December, £11, an Enchanted Garden Walk after sunset through the specially lit Sheffield Park Garden in Sussex on 27th to 30th December, £12, and a New Years Day hike through spectacular countryside to Hardcastle Crags in Yorkshire on 1st January, free. For details of all walks telephone 0870 458 4000 or visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/events.

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