A f laming fab New Year!
THE New Year is speeding towards us – and there are some fabulous events around to help you give it the welcome it deserves. Here KATIE ROWE rounds up a few of the best.
PAINT THE TOON RED IN NEWCASTLE
NEWCASTLEGateshead’s Winter Festival culminates on December 31 with an eye-popping carnival procession. Gather at Monument, where torch-bearers will lead a dazzling procession of otherworldly creatures, puppets and street bands down Northumberland Street. Follow these weird and wonderful creatures to the Newcastle Civic Centre, where the parade will end with a bang courtesy of an early-evening firework display. Continue the celebrations into the small hours along the city’s Quayside, where bars and restaurants will be abuzz with parties, and the iconic River Tyne will be illuminated in explosions of colour for the Midnight Firework Display.
PULL ON YOUR GLAD RAGS IN ST IVES
LAYER up with thermals and feather boas as you welcome in 2017 at one of the most unique New Year’s Eve events in the country. The locals of St Ives are famous for throwing on their best fancy-dress garments every New Year’s Eve. Why not join them at one of many parties taking place in the town’s bars and restaurants? Follow a sea of embellished revellers down to the harbour half an hour or so before the clock strikes 12 to soak up the excitement as the countdown begins for an explosive fireworks display, before heading for a nightcap or two in one of many charming pubs overlooking the water.
CELEBRATE WITH A COCKT-ALE IN EXETER
HEAD down to Exeter’s pretty waterfront for a free, family-friendly event that promises storytelling, face-painting and live music from 6pm to 10pm, followed by party music until midnight. For adults, there’s the Cockt-Ale festival in a heated marquee, or put on your pearls and cravats for a glitzy Great Gatsby-themed soiree at the Terrace. This chandelier-laden rooftop bar is pulling out all the stops with a live band, burlesque acts and DJs until 4am.
WELCOME IN 2017 AT A CUMBRIAN DISTILLERY
WHAT better way to see in the New Year than with an evening at a distillery perched near the dramatic setting of Bassenthwaite Lake? The evening includes a guided tour of the Lakes Distillery, where you’ll go behind the scenes and learn the fascinating processes of whiskyand gin-making before sampling the finished products. This is followed by a lavish four-course meal at the awardwinning Bistro at the distillery, where you can choose from a menu of fine British produce, including aged Cumbrian fell-bred beef fillet from just outside Kendal and the distillery’s Lakes Gin Ice Cream.