enchanted by a bunch of trees

Ok, so last night after weeks and weeks of moaning from the other half, I took my girlfriend up to Pitlochry to visit this years outdoor exhibition of the Enchanted Forest. The event takes place at Faskally Wood and offers visitors a unique opportunity to experience the outdoors at night with a spectacular music and light show. This year's show was on the "Force of Nature", which included earth, air, fire and water, all using the forests natural backdrop.

At first I was not impressed by the sound of this, as I didn't think it appealed to me, but after constant moaning I eventually caved in so booked them for the 20:15 showing on Sunday night. Because of living in Dundee and not wanting to drive all that way for a show that only last 45 minutes we decided to make an evening out of it and leave a bit early so we had time to have a drink and a meal (me on the cokes for obvious reasons).

When we arrived I was shocked that Pitlochry already had it's Christmas lights up and after speaking to a local even more shocked that they had been up for a few weeks now. This was because of the October festival that recently took place, and there were still a few events going on apart from the forest. Currently on just now is a Ghost trail around Pitlochry, band playing up and down the whole street, along with a rather annoying women dressed as a mouse playing a flute, she just wouldn't stop following us and would not take the hint I wanted her to leave me alone.

Eventually we arrived at the Auld Smithy Inn, having been here for tea on a long weekend away in Pitlochry last year, we knew the sort of food and service we were getting. After the meal we headed for the bus to take us to the forest and when we got there I didn't know what to think. There wasn't as many lights as I thought there was going to be, at some parts the lights just clashed together too much. the music did create a feel in some sections and the lights did look good at parts, especially when they made the leaves look like they were covered in frost. The part that impressed me the most was the air section where it was full of white, silver and blue lights and the music interacted with these very well.

The area I was least impressed with was the fire, it was the same lights over and over again with little burst of flame from time to time. The water section did improve with a little fountain display that at time really did seem magical mixed with the music and lights. Once we had travelled around the whole event we bought a hot chocolate and headed back to the bus.

On the whole I did enjoy myself but would not go back next year.