'Christmas lights at Belton House are expensive - but worth it for one big reason'

When your kids are young, it's easy to bring the magic of Christmas alive. A visit to Santa at a garden centre, your local Christmas lights switch on, heck I've even taken them down the twinkly lights aisle at The Range before to get in the festive mood.

Now my eldest is almost a teenager, everything is met with an eye roll and a moan unless it involves something on a screen. It seems all the joy of the festive season is 'boring' or 'pointless'. I was met with a similar response when I told him we'd be going to see the Christmas lights trail at Belton House, near Grantham in Lincolnshire.

Unperturbed, I pressed on and bundled us all out of the house into the baltic weather. And I discovered that even the nearly teenagers can sometimes enjoy things they say they are going to hate. More on that later.

I like a smooth arrival at events like this and I couldn't fault it. Belton House has recently had its entire car park refurbished and instead of the usual bumpy mud pit, we parked up in the new, brightly lit (and flat) parking area.

Walking down to the start of the trail, you go past the front of Belton House itself. Deer were grazing right outside the front which presented an ideal first photo opportunity, but I couldn't help but think the animals had been tempted down by some conveniently scattered food. I've never seen them that close before.

Heading through the courtyard of the house and past some food stalls, we started on the trail. I've been before and every year the organisers go one better. The stunning lit up 'BELTON' was one of the first sights we came across and was another obvious one for a photo. If you're on Instagram you're going to have a whale of a time at this event.

I won't spoil the rest of the trail for you if you're going, but just add that there are some wonderfully 'cosy' areas, with a grassy area full of tiny little lights and music that's like a woodland soundbath, and there are more light tunnels than ever before which is the ideal time for your family snap.

The music stepped up a notch too this year and I noticed the trail was run in conjunction with Sony. I love a Christmas song so I had a dance to Mariah and sang along to 'Step into Christmas'.

I have to give a major hat tip to the organisers for the paths. It's boring I know but the paths are very flat and smooth, there is no chance of you tripping up in the dark. I spotted a fair few wheelchair users and people with prams along the way and there was plenty of space for everyone.

Now we come to the price. There's a trend nowadays to pick one big Christmas family event to do, and if this is your thing then you'll be making a good choice. Seeing a panto in a city can be £100+ nowadays for a family, Santa asks for lots of pounds to see him and receive a present and this light trail doesn't come cheap either.

A family ticket at peak time will set you back £81 (so that could be 6pm on a Saturday evening). There is also a £2.50 service fee and if you're not a National Trust member, parking is an additional £8. That's £91.50. If you go during an off peak time, for example 6.45pm on Sunday, the tickets are far cheaper at £47 for a family.

Why do I say it's worth it? Well if you, like me, have children or family members of different ages and you're trying to keep them all happy, this could be the Christmas event for you. The eldest child admitted at the end it was "good" and I caught him looking carefully at many of the displays to see how they worked and what was going on. Meanwhile the youngest was happy bouncing around and dancing in the shadows and lights.

And as parents always say, if they're happy, I am happy.