Celebrate Christmas with the community in Ceredigion

Enjoy Christmas in Ceredigion with a host of family and community events and a feast of local produce and creative gifts. Order your Christmas tree, turkey, goose or vegan treats from local suppliers and find unique handmade gifts at Christmas fairs and markets across the county.  

Prepare for your Ceredigion Christmas from mid November as local businesses and communities dress for Christmas with Christmas lights, wreaths and colourful displays brightening up town and country alike.  You'll find Christmas Fairs being held in village halls across Ceredigion with stalls stacked with goodies handmade locally by craftmakers and cooks.

Cardigan Festival of lights 

As the town that changed it's name to 'Jumper' for charity in 2016, Cardigan celebrates Christmas in style, and is a great place for Christmas shopping too.
Cardigan Giant Lantern Parade is one of Ceredigion's popular winter highlights when the community comes together to create and celebrate. The parade, led by the town's mayor and a band, takes place on the first Friday in December.  The parade starts at Pendre and proceeds along the High Street to towards Cardigan Castle and the riverside, where low noise fireworks and a fire juggling display take place.  
A Christmas Craft Fair is held at Cardigan Castle with  a wealth of stalls with local makers and crafters and a feast of festive food and drink. We hear that Cardigan Castle is on Santa’s destination list for the day!
The extra illuminations in Cardigan are part of the Gŵyl y Golau / Festival of Light, and the route is best enjoyed on foot. It takes in giant lanterns from past parades, sculptures in courtyards and lighting displays. Many shops have made their own lanterns to decorate their windows and become part of the Trail making this a fun, after dark experience for visitors and residents alike. 

Aberystwyth Christmas festival

Each of Ceredigion's main towns celebrates the switching on of Christmas lights in its own way. Of course there will be plenty of mulled wine and mince pies available, as well as hot food and heart warming music.   
Aberystwyth's popular Christmas Treasure Hunt is held during the run up to Christmas. Christmas characters are to be found in shops all around town - can you find them?  It's a great way to explore the town and discover its range of independent shops.  
Aberystwyth's lantern parade leads everyone along Great Darkgate Street from the Clock Tower to the town's Christmas lights and tree lighting ceremony at Owain Glyndwr Square.  As the Christmas Tree is lit there is an open-air carol service, and then there's an opportunity to browse the array of market stalls at the Christmas market in Baker Street.  

Christmas at the Vale of Rheidol Museum

The Vale of Rheidol Museum host  a magical Christmas world. Although there’s no train ride this year due to essential track work, the museum will be transformed into a fully immersive, theatrical adventure through the North Pole  - without leaving Aberystwyth!

The Christmas experience takes place entirely under cover inside the warm and welcoming Vale of Rheidol museum.  With historic steam locomotives as the backdrop, families will journey through four enchanting zones meeting colourful characters, enjoying hands-on activities, and collecting passport stamps along the way, before a grand finale meeting with Santa Claus himself. 
Highlights include becoming trainee elves at the Passport Office, creating in the Toymaker’s Workshop, writing wishes in the Elf Mailroom, and decorating cookies in Mrs Claus’s Kitchen – before meeting Santa himself in his glittering grotto. Every child will receive a special gift to take home.
Christmas at the Silver Mountain Experience

Book a time to see the busy elves' workshop and Santa's grotto at the Silver Mountain Experience attraction in Llywernog where there's lot to entertain children and adults alike.  You can follow Rudolph and Patches' Treasure Trail, visit the Gingerbread house, decorate Christmas cookies and explore the underground home of The Grinch.  Santa himself will be calling in  to supervise the elves and meet children in the grotto. As well as an opportunity to meet Santa in his grotto, each child to receive a present.

As well as The Elves’ Workshop and Santa’s Grotto, there will be a range of exciting festive activities included within the ticket price.  Festive treats are served in front of a roaring fire in the onsite Miner’s Rest Cafe and the gift shop will be open with a selection stocking great fillers and special gifts.

Arrive early to make the most of your time at the Silver Mountain Experience and its other attractions. 

Santa at the Teifi Valley Railway 

We know that it's by sleigh that Santa usually travels around the world, but you can catch the train on the Teifi Valley Railway to see him in one of his local grottos - he visits every weekend until Christmas. 

Santa will be visiting towns, shops and several other locations in Ceredigion before Christmas to meet the children of Ceredigion.

Classic Christmas performances and panto merriment

Christmas wouldn't be complete without a trip to the theatre. 

Theatr Mwldan in Cardigan hosts theatre, concerts and an annual panto by Cardigan Theatre. The panto is held  over 3 weekends during December, including Christmas Eve. 

Aberystwyth Arts Centre presents theatre productions throughout the year, from home grown community theatre performances to professional touring companies. The Wardens, who have brought hilarity and fun to the theatre for 30 years bring the season to a close with their annual original post-Christmas pantomime in January. 

Theatr Mwldan and Aberystwyth Arts Centre also bring live broadcasts to their cinemas of Christmas performances from prestigious venues such as the Albert Hall and opera and ballet from Covent Garden and the New York Met. 

Theatr Felinfach weaves classic pantomime capers with local stories and contemporary issues, performed in Welsh by the local community. 

Christmas Music 

Opera, pop,  jazz, rock 'n' roll, as well as Christmas carols form an eclectic Ceredigion Christmas music programme.

Aberystwyth Arts Centre hosts  a series of concerts in December . starting with Aberystwyth's award winning symphony orchestra, Philomusica's annual Christmas concert.     

Each year the annual Welsh language Christmas cabaret by local group Cabarela is a riot of music and comedy and the pre-Christmas entertainment is rounded off with the annual charity singalong led by popular Aberystwyth mixed choir Sgarmes. 

 

Christmas trees crafts and treats from Ceredigion

Love that special fresh smell of a real Christmas tree? 

You can source a beautiful tree grown locally in the Cambrian Mountains  or the slopes of the Teifi valley.  There's a choice of size and type to decorate - fir, spruce or pine

There are craft fairs held in arts and village halls across Ceredigion from Mid November through to last week before Christmas.  

Llanerchaeron is the beautiful setting for the weekend long Christmas Fair held on the first weekend in December. Stalls are packed with handmade gifts, food and decorations. 

Cardigan Castle is the magical setting for its ever popular Christmas Fair, with over 40 stalls within the Georgian villa and the garden pavilion.  Visit Santa's Grotto or enjoy a warming cup of mulled wine. 

There's late night shopping at the National Library of Wales during their Christmas Fair and at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, throughout December there are over 50 stalls displaying crafts, food and gifts. The Centre is open daily, and into the evening on weekdays. 

Aberystwyth Farmers market has a special Christmas market on two weekends in the run up to Christmas - the place to get the best locally produced Christmas food and drink. There's also the Old Town Market, held in the street between the Clock Tower and Aberystwyth Castle, and to kick thinks off there's a Christmas Market in the town's baker Street before the evening switch on of the Christmas lights. 

Ceredigion is justly proud of the local produce available in shops and also online.

Aberystwyth's Farmers' Market and St Dogmael's Farmers Market are recognised as one of the best in the UK, with stalls offering delicious treats  - traditional and influenced by the heritage of other lands. Ceredigion's towns have family butchers and bakeries of the highest quality, and our sweet treats and drinks are distributed to the best outlets across the country.

As well as the regular food drink and crafts available at the  Aberystwyth Old Town Market,  there's a wonderful Chrismassy mood at Aberystwyth's Christmas Market in Baker Street with musical entertainment and all kinds of treats mulled wine, followed by the lighting of the Christmas trees and traditional carols.

It's not only on our high streets that you'll find excellent local produce for sale, but in local farm shop delis like Bargoed Farm shop in Llwyncelyn, Watson and Pratt at Lampeter and Aberaeron,  Coffi a Bara and New Medical Hall at Tregaron and Cletwr community shop at Tre'r Ddol. 

 

 

Natural and sustainable materials are used to create Christmas decorations in workshops by Siop Botanica at National Trust at Llanerchaeron, the Flower Meadow at Llandysul, Siop Botanica at Dwt Florals at Aberystwyth Arts

Santa splashes - cold water sea swims

Ceredigion has several cold water swimming groups, and the villages of Llangrannog and Aberporth  have annual ' Santa swims'  on Christmas morning, Boxing Day or New Year's Day. Llangrannog is usually the first into the water, on Christmas Day, followed by Aberporth on Boxing Day.  

An annual New Year's Day swim takes place at New Quay - but not too early  - the charity fundraising event starts at 11am. There are also similar events at Poppit Sands and on the Parrog at Newport , only a short trip into north Pembrokeshire.

Christmas Carols and Plygain tradition

Visitors are welcome to join in Christmas services across the county. One of the most picturesque locations in the country to experience a candle-lit service on Christmas Eve is the Church of the Holy Cross church at Mwnt. Christmas Eve is when the Unitarian community of the Teifi valley also hold their Carol service by candleight at the historic Hen Gapel, Llwynrhydowen. 

Another impossibly romantic setting for a candle-lit service is Strata Florida Abbey. The evening starts at Mary's Church, ending with mince pies and mulled wine at the Strata Florida Trust building Y Beudy. 

There are Christmas carol services St Mary's church in Cardigan, St Padarn's in Llanbadarn Fawr and at the beginning of December St Michael's Church in Aberystwyth holds a Stable Trail, complete with donkey rides, followed each Sunday up until Christmas by carol services. 

Plygain is a traditional Welsh Christmas service and the carols are very different from the usual English Christmas carol tradition. There will be no programme set out before hand and no one leads the service as soloists, groups and even choirs take turns to sing traditional carols without accompaniment. This unique Welsh language tradition can be experienced at St John the Baptist church in Penrhyncoch, near Aberystwyth.