Christmas At The Botanics  2023 to celebrate beauty of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh - video Dailymotion

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A MAGICAL new Christmas At The Botanics illuminated trail will celebrate the natural beauty of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, says creator boss Zoe Bottrell. In an exclusive interview with Graham Walker the Managing Director of Culture Creative revealed how the re-imagined trail is set to sparkle as the biggest and the best yet when it returns for a seventh year, selected nights from November 16 to December 30. New and spectacular botanical-themed installations, by artists local to Edinburgh and from around the world, are set to transform the Garden into a spectacular mile-long after-dark winter wonderland. BUY TICKETS: New off-peak day tickets, popular early evening and weekend times are selling fast so book now  at https://bit.ly/CATBtickets2023

Transcript

00:00 (dramatic music)

00:02 So 2023 sees our return to Christmas at the Botanics

00:23 at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh.

00:25 It's our seventh year at the Botanics

00:28 and it's always such a pleasure to be there.

00:30 It's such a beautiful garden

00:32 in the middle of that part of the city.

00:34 Once again, we have lots of international artists.

00:37 We have Tilt coming from France,

00:40 bringing some beautiful installations of Pampus grass,

00:43 which change color and very lightly move in the wind.

00:47 But also the wind will take the lighter-wish seeds

00:50 that are coming from Amsterdam

00:52 as they float above your head,

00:53 albeit they're two meters tall and two meters wide,

00:56 but they will magically just seem to appear

00:59 and you won't see how they're going to do that.

01:02 Also flying through the gardens will be the dragonflies,

01:06 which are over the pond.

01:07 So all of these things are really there

01:10 to pull out all of the beautiful botanical parts

01:13 of this garden and understand how all of that work

01:16 that they do in the Botanics

01:19 is really coming out in these installations.

01:22 But then we've got some fun.

01:24 So we've got a button show

01:25 that's going through the copse of trees at the end

01:29 and Santa will wave you goodbye,

01:31 but only after you've been past Inverleith House

01:33 with a brand new projection

01:35 that will cover the frontage of that projection mapped

01:38 and having all of the fun aspects of Christmas

01:41 that you'll have to see if you can spot

01:43 as they go through the different parts of the projection.

01:46 Also included will be aspects of a crocus garden.

01:50 There will be a hundred illuminated crocuses

01:52 that will change color subtly as you walk through them.

01:55 Almost like this overgrown field as they stand

01:58 two to three meters tall beside you.

02:01 Not forgetting, of course, the family favorites

02:03 of our fire garden in a brand new location this year,

02:06 but also everybody can also get their selfie taken

02:09 in amongst the Christmas Cathedral.

02:11 So lots of family favorites,

02:13 lots of things for people to enjoy with the fun of Christmas

02:16 but also ensuring we inject that beauty of the Botanics

02:20 back into the Botanics.

02:22 So all of these great installations could be seen

02:24 and from tickets that start from five o'clock in the evening

02:27 right the way through eight o'clock.

02:28 And some of those have off peak ticket prices

02:32 whilst others are how busy periods will have a peak price.

02:35 You can choose when you wish to come.

02:37 What's so fantastic about working in these landscapes

02:40 is that everything we do, all the tickets that we sell

02:43 go towards assisting the great work that Botanics do

02:46 and the great developments that the Botanics are doing

02:50 to allow the garden to flourish into the future.

02:52 Yeah, Culture Creative have been designing

02:55 and creating illuminated trails now for 17 years,

02:58 believe it or not.

02:59 And I guess they've become so much more popular

03:02 over that period of time.

03:04 And a lot of places are doing it.

03:06 And I think where we started

03:08 was about a celebration of landscape.

03:10 It was about you going to these places

03:12 that you may have been to lots of times before.

03:14 They may even be on your doorstep,

03:16 but it was for us to be able to present that

03:18 in a whole new light,

03:20 to be able to bring international artists,

03:22 which we now do from across the world into these locations

03:27 and really help tell their stories,

03:29 help to find those little nuggets of information

03:33 that maybe we don't know about.

03:35 But in the same breath,

03:36 we're also trying to make sure that we are entertaining you.

03:40 It's Christmas.

03:41 It's the ability for you and your friends and your family

03:43 to be able to come out,

03:45 have a wander around a beautiful landscape

03:48 as it would be by day,

03:50 and hopefully we're just going to make it equal,

03:52 if not more beautiful by night,

03:54 bringing flowers back to life,

03:56 bringing landscapes to life,

03:57 giving you music to jiggle along to,

04:00 to help that mulled wine

04:02 and that hot chocolate go a little bit further.

04:05 So yeah, I think it's about how we have really begun

04:08 to design those landscapes with the artist installations.

04:13 And if, for instance, in some places,

04:16 like in Edinburgh this year,

04:18 we're trying to help that venue tell their story

04:21 of their seeds and the work that they do,

04:24 but trying to do that in a really beautiful

04:26 and botanic and illuminated way.

04:29 So really it's a case of,

04:30 you can come along to one of our trails

04:32 and absolutely it's about having a walk

04:34 and it's about having some fun at Christmas.

04:36 But hopefully there's a few other little tricks

04:39 up our sleeve which will maintain your interest.

04:42 Well, you should certainly book your tickets

04:45 as soon as you possibly can.

04:46 The trails become extremely popular,

04:48 especially over the weekend periods.

04:51 So absolutely you should hit the website

04:53 and buy your tickets in advance.

04:55 We sell tickets in 15 minute slots.

04:57 So you can really decide, you know,

04:59 when in an evening you want to come.

05:01 The family's very much at the earlier

05:03 and you know, that slightly quieter time

05:06 when we've got more of an adult audience

05:07 later on in the evening.

05:09 There will always be hot food and drink available

05:11 at all of the venues.

05:13 And to be perfectly honest,

05:15 what to wear, warm, dry, put your wellies on.

05:19 We would very, very rarely cancel because of weather.

05:23 And as we all know, the great British weather

05:25 is one thing we're never ever going to be able to rely on.

05:29 (upbeat music)

05:33 (dramatic music)

05:36 (dramatic music)

05:39 (dramatic music)

05:42 (dramatic music)

05:44 (dramatic music)

05:47 (dramatic music)

05:50 (dramatic music)

Christmas At The Botanics 2023 to celebrate beauty of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

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