Lady’s Hampstead Christmas Festival Guide

Today I want to share my guide to the Hampstead Christmas Festival in London with you. This local Christmas fair is a great place to get into the seasonal spirit in one of north London’s prettiest neighborhoods.

Hampstead Christmas Festival

I’m always surprised at how early the Christmas season starts in London. But now that Thanksgiving is over, my resistance to all things Christmas is gone.

With the days getting impossibly short and the winter chill setting in, I need something to get me through the gray gloom. And I found just such a thing: the Hampstead Christmas Festival in London.

Christmas Festivals in London

Christmas festivals are an annual event in many London neighborhoods. They celebrate the beginning of the season and feature a celebrity or two turning on the Christmas lights on the high street.

Last year I attended the Marylebone Christmas festival, and this week the newspapers had photos of Kate Moss enjoying the one in Primrose Hill.

Hampstead Christmas Fair

The Hampstead Christmas fair, which ran all afternoon, was a similarly festive celebration of the season. The high street was lined with booths selling mulled wine, cupcakes, stuffed animals, scarves, and all kinds of other goods.

Interspersed among them were carnival rides, carousels, and games. There was even a petting zoo with real reindeer.

Having been at the Aldwych tube station tour all afternoon, I arrived at the Hampstead Christmas Festival late. Comic celebrity Michael McIntyre had already turned on the lights, which took the form of cheerful Christmas trees on street lamps and glowing stars in trees.

But late as I was, there was still some winter fun to be had. I walked down the street, drooling over fresh baked goods and giant pans of paella, admiring the works of art on display, listening to live music on Flask Walk, and watching a trained owl scarf down three baby chicks, each in one gulp.

I stopped by the petting zoo to say hello to the donkey, the goats, and the reindeer (no, I’m not too old to get excited about barnyard animals).

I ran into local friends and former coworkers, and dodged rowdy crowds spilling out of the pubs on Hampstead High Street.

Hampstead Christmas Festival in London

By the time I left the Hampstead Christmas Festival in London, most of the vendors were packing up as well. Darkness had enveloped the streets and the cold night air was encouraging people to head home.

But the Christmas lights stayed on, giving us all some seasonal cheer and a reason to keep our spirits bright. Pending a power outage, they just might get me through the London winter.

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