Highcliffe Castle Christmas: Tree Festival 28 Nov, From £10

Highcliffe Castle’s Christmas Tree Festival runs from Saturday 28 November to Wednesday 23 December 2026, its third year. Advance off-peak tickets are £10 for an adult and £3.50 for a child, and under 5s go free. A week earlier, on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November, the castle holds its Creatives at the Castle Christmas market, entry £4 for adults and free for children.

Both are on the castle’s own events page, and the festival’s full times and prices are on its Eventbrite booking page. The castle is on Rothesay Drive, Highcliffe, BH23 4LE, at the eastern end of the BCP area.

Christmas Tree Festival: dates and times

Trees decorated by local businesses, charities and individuals fill the castle, and children follow an elf trail around them. A ticket also covers entry to the castle and a new exhibition by the Hengist Group of Artists. On peak days the castle bar opens, with live music and festive food.

The castle is open 10am to 4pm daily during the festival, according to the booking page, with evening opening to 8pm on:

• Saturday 28 November
• Saturday 5 December
• Saturday 12 December
• Friday 18 December
• Saturday 19 December
• Monday 21, Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 December

Last admission is an hour before closing, so 3pm on a normal day and 7pm on an evening opening.

Tree Festival ticket prices

Tickets bought on the day are charged at the peak price, and advance tickets are subject to availability. The booking page does not list which days count as peak.

Castle members get daytime entry with their membership but pay £2.50 each for the 4pm to 8pm sessions. Historic Houses members are covered for daytime only and pay full price for an evening slot. Refunds are offered up to seven days before your visit.

The castle is collecting for local food banks: bring an item such as tinned food, biscuits or toiletries for its “A gift at Christmas” tree and you get a 10% off voucher for the shop that day.

Creatives at the Castle: the Christmas market

Highcliffe Castle’s Christmas market returns with more than 40 local traders and makers selling in the State Rooms, with the visitor route dressed for Christmas and mulled wine and mince pies from the castle bar. The castle gives the times as:

• Saturday 21 November, 10am to 5pm
• Sunday 22 November, 10am to 4pm

Tickets are £4 for adults, free for children and £1 for castle members, and include castle admission and the winter exhibition.

Parking and getting there

The castle has its own pay and display car park, which it warns “can be very busy at peak times”, so allow time to park before your entry slot. Card is the only payment taken at the bar and in the gift shop. There is level access throughout and a lift to every floor.

Check roadworks and travel before you set off, and our parking in Bournemouth page if you are combining the trip with the town centre.

More Christmas days out nearby

Christchurch switches on its own Christmas lights on Saturday 28 November, the festival’s opening day, from 2.30pm on the High Street, with the lights on at 5.45pm. Our Christmas lights page has the details, and the Russell-Cotes at Christmas and Kingston Lacy at Christmas pages cover the other big houses.

What is still to come

• Which days are peak for Tree Festival tickets.
• The live music programme for the festival’s peak days.

Sources

• Highcliffe Castle, events for Creatives at the Castle (21 and 22 November, times, 40-plus traders, £4 adult, free child, £1 member) and the Christmas Tree Festival’s dates, elf trail, exhibition and peak-day bar.
• Eventbrite, Highcliffe Castle Christmas Tree Festival 2026, the castle’s booking page, for the opening times, the evening openings, last admission, all ticket prices, the member and Historic Houses rules, the food bank collection, the refund policy, parking, accessibility and the BH23 4LE address.
• Christchurch Town Council, Christchurch Christmas Lights Event for the 28 November switch-on.