My day out: Mousehole Christmas Lights

Mousehole Christmas Lights is a real Cornish attraction and been going over 50 years. It is run solely by unpaid volunteers. The annual running costs are around £16,000 which is primarily met by donations from the public and fundraising events through the year, so being Cornish and working for the company that I do, I wanted to make sure this event carried on for years to come for visitors as well as locals in Cornwall. So I went to investigate and of course make a donation.

I didn’t expect anything before I went apart from lots of lights and everything else was a blank canvas. I loved the atmosphere, the buzz of the village and community spirit. I was surprised to see a school/club visiting the lights and singing in front of the lights which really made such a great atmosphere even better.

The weather wasn’t great. Driving from Bodmin, the weather can change so much and Mousehole was very wet and windy. When we got cold we drove around the local villages looking at lots of houses with their own Christmas lights.

Everyone will enjoy this day out. The carpark is right on the harbour so still ok if you can’t walk far. It is obviously a must see in the evenings due to it being lights, so wrap up warm. There is an official turn on night that apparently gets very busy, but we went to look them a few days after that. 

I can’t wait to visit again, and carry on donating to make sure the lights keep going for everyone to see. I would also like to look at Newlyn lights (the village next door) next time. 

My top tips for visiting Mousehole Christmas Lights:

  • Visit the hour long live performance of a show – in 2018 it was The Mousehole Cat.
  • Park in Penzance and get the bus over if you are fit and able to not park right on the harbour as the parking is limited and    the lanes are narrow in the village itself.
  • Visit Angarrack and Newlyn lights on the same evening to really make a Christmas outing.

About the author: Emma is a holiday home advisor and visited Mousehole in December 2018.