As November and December nights draw in, Christmas Markets spring up all over the UK. There is nothing better to lift winter spirits than flickering candlelight, the smell of evergreens, the aroma of holiday goodies and the glow of market booths and stalls filled to bursting with tempting, exotic goods. Here's where to find some of the best.
Open well after dark, Bath's Christmas Market makes the most of the city's World Heritage Site, next to Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths. For 11 days, original crafts and goods are sold from wooden Christmas chalets. Baths Christmas lights, the aroma of mulled wine and pine needles, all make for storybook atmosphere. And there's a lively program of street entertainment too.
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Birmingham stages the biggest and longest German Christmas Market outside of Germany. It spreads across most of the city's important squares and continues for more than a month. The fact that Birmingham's large Indian population has public Diwali celebrations - with fireworks, music and food in the streets - about a week before, turns Birmingham into a very festive place indeed for most of the winter.
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Lincoln started the tradition of German Christmas Markets in the UK 25 years ago, giving it the distinction of being the first. What started with 14 stalls has now grown to 350, filling this bijoux cathedral city to bursting. A very good place to get in the holiday spirit.
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There are five different Christmas Markets in Manchester, from mid November to mid December - about a month in all. In keeping with the German origins of these markets, there's a beer tent, a wolhnachtspyrymide - a giant, 6 meter high, pyramid-shaped Nativity Scene, and an Alpine house with a multi-lingual, talking reindeer. So bring the kids!
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Just two years old in 2007, already Winchester Cathedral's Christmas Market, has caught on. There are more than 100 exhibitors sharing the 80 chalet stalls and selling all kinds of festive goodies. An ice skating rink adds to the evening buzz. The atmosphere, within the Inner Cathedral Close of a cathedral that dates from before 650 is magic.
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York has Northern Europe's largest Gothic Cathedral and a treasure trove of Medieval architecture, so it's no wonder that the folks here get so carried away at Christmas. There are at least seven different markets, plus an early music concert, carol concerts in York Minster and an angel festival with ice sculptures. Within the walls of this little city, the holiday spirit takes over from late November until early January.
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