Weekend Wandering: Festive Chippenham

A horse rider dressed as Santa plus his horse disguised as Rudolph

My walks have seen me in the centre of Chippenham a lot more lately because it's taken on quite a festive air. Whilst Christmas is set to be a much quieter affair this year, it's time to celebrate what's actually happening to cheer us up out there. It also means there's a chance of surprises - like the well-known local rider who often brings his horse down the traffic-free high street. Sunday's get up meant he was stopped quite a bit on his travels!

Joy of Christmas artwork collage

There's a charming Joy of Christmas window display which consists of artwork from 24 talented residents - both children and adults - together with their thoughts on what makes them joyful at this time of year. The canny town council have placed these in the windows of civic buildings and also at some of our independent shops. As a result the trail covers quite an extensive area and I found some not-known-to-me before shops which I plan to return to. I was also pleased to my friend W's work is one selected for display and in a prominent spot to boot - at the Town Hall. Now all I have to do is vote for my favourite...

Christmas pudding postbox topper

The Knatty Knitters have been at it again! This year's display consists of postbox toppers dotted around the town. The station's Christmas pudding is our favourite and there's a jolly snowman outside the main post office, plus an exhausted Santa propped against a chimney on the high street - one of my WI friends thought he might have been on the sherry! There's at least one more to find and the word on the streets is more knitting is set to appear over the next couple of weeks...

Gingerbread house knitted postbox topper

...and then on my way home yesterday, I found there is indeed more. I'm pretty sure this wasn't there a couple of days before. Then I looked at the redundant telephone box nearby and found it had its own Christmas tree!

Telephone box with its own Christmas tree and tinsel

I hope your weekend wandering brings you similar delights 😍

Santa and #ChippenhamDino heading off into the distance

Update: Another weekend wander and another surprise - a wave from Santa and #ChippenhamDino! 

Comments

  1. Belinda Robinson12 December 2020 at 12:37

    I love those postbox toppers! What a great idea and the Christmas tree in the phone box is fun. I hope some of our local knitters pick up on this idea. Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP28 December 2020 at 10:42

      Aren't they great Belinda?! I've found 14 in total and everyone in Chippenham loves them. Welcome to Veg Plotting, it's good to hear from someone who's nearby! :)

      Delete
  2. Rob12 December 2020 at 17:07

    I like the phone and letter boxes, I think it's a great idea to brighten the place up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP28 December 2020 at 10:43

      The Knatty Knitters group are fab. It's the 4th year they've decorated the town for Christmas and they've done Remembrance poppies in the past too :)

      Delete

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