Brief: To create the ‘Enchanted Light Trail’ – an immersive and Covid-safe light trail experience, set around the grounds of Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park for families and visitors to enjoy safely over the Christmas period.
Where: Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park – a family attraction centred around animals, rare breeds and farming in Guiting Power, in the heart of The Cotswolds.
When: 3rd-30th December 2020
What We Did: We developed our light trail service in Spring 2020, and pitched the idea to Cotswold Farm Park shortly afterwards. We then worked directly with the team there to develop a site specific installation plan. We opted to develop a joint venture model, meaning that both parties brought together their expertise and skills, to create a winter light trail experience completely unique to the venue.
We worked with Cotswold Farm Park to come up with a theme for the event, and to create custom installations and props to fit into this, including the handmade life-size metal frame farm animals (deer, stag and running ducks) and the miniature wooden village.
We also worked with venue’s existing landscape to create features for the trail, such as installing moving 3D projections into their Humpty Dump hills, and creating a trail section in their woodland, using the trees to hang various forms of art and illuminations (disco balls, bird cages and rainbow fairy lights). We also hired specialist equipment from our event partners GLS to create these features. Our team of Crew then installed all aspects of the event, and dressed the venue to create a magical winter aesthetic and to wow visitors as arrived at all areas of the attraction.
Throughout the live stage of the show we provided event managers at the venue, whose job it was to deal with all of the technical requirements of the event, including power up, and close down, and to ensure that all Covid obligations were met. We also provided car park stewards for Cotswold Farm Park through our Crew by Tarren service.
Challenges: Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 we had to create a fluid event format, meaning that many of the elements we had initially planned to include in the trial were either adapted or removed to ensure that the event environment was safe for everybody involved.
Part way through the initial ticket sales launch the UK entered the second phase national lockdown, and the event launched amongst the backdrop of the Tier systems. With a flexible event plan we were able to keep the event running throughout December, with only the last three nights of the event cancelled due to a change in the Gloucestershire Tier status.
Feedback: “We were delighted to begin discussing ideas with Tarren Production, who not only could provide a wealth of production experience but also worked with us to come up with a mutually beneficial joint venture financial model for the event. The effort and professionalism from all of the team members was exceptional and by working together we achieved a great customer experience and exceeded our financial expectations, delivering a profit for both parties. We look forward to developing our Christmas lights experience with Tarren Production and also will be discussing other opportunities for working with them as soon as we are able to trade again” – Kate Lord, Farm Park Manager