Pitlochry’s Enchanted Forest
This week’s language school blog takes you to one of the best-loved events of the Scottish cultural calendar.
Today we’re giving you a glimpse of The Enchanted Forest, which is an outdoor sound, installation and light show which takes place every year in Faskally Wood near Pitlochry.
If you are joining us on an English immersion holiday in September, this experience is a must!
“There are stunning, huge, choreographed shows to see and hear – as well as the tiny details of the forest picked out by lights.”
Ruth, 2019
The Enchanted Forest | It’s an Immersive Experience
Visitors arrive by a chartered bus that leaves from the centre of Pitlochry, driving its passengers out of time as we know it, and into a forest filled with lights, sounds and sculptures.
Passengers descend from the bus into a different world. Like any ‘immersive’ experience, perceptions of your environment quickly sharpen and you can experience the forest in a completely new way.
As visitors follow the path around the dark forest, there are stunning, huge, choreographed shows on all sides to to see and hear – as well as the tiny details of the forest picked out by lights.
Giving You the Cosmos | English for Artists and Designers
It’s a mystery how the artists and engineers create the illusions of the light show.
An astronaut hovering over the loch, a moon spinning in space, a giant eye staring blankly back at all the spectators.
“The event brought the night sky down into the forest, and helped us look anew at both tiny leaves and the whole world, universe and cosmos.”
Ruth, 2019
A Celebration of our Natural World (and others)
The word magical gets overused, but this was an enchanting, magic-filled evening.
Above all, the event is a celebration of a forest, with our typical experience of a woodland walk both turned on its head and abstracted (as our usual senses get dimmed and new ones heightened).
The event brought the night sky down into the forest, and helped us look anew at both tiny leaves and the whole world, universe and cosmos.
If you are wondering, this festival happens at the time of year when there are no nesting or migrating birds, and visitors stick to the pathways.
A Fire Festival | The Best Conversations Happen at Firesides
As to be expected, the Scottish weather stuck to its own patterns of behaviour so if you are planning a visit – wrap up warmly.
Fortunately, there were small fire pits scattered around and of course, the ubiquitous van selling hot drinks. This one arming small people with marshmallows on sticks at a no small price.
The inclusion of fire is just genius. Of course its warming, but it’s also a very primal emotion seeing it burning bright against a dark, cold night.
If you like to visit festivals in Scotland, you’ll know that the communal fires are where great chats and sharing happens – very much the ethos of our English language school, which is why we quite often take our language learning guests to a local shoreside and have a small fire, watching the sunset.
The End of the Show
I really loved the bus ride back into town.
It felt like there was new camaraderie between everyone – even strangers, having shared an experience together.
The bus was nice and warm. Even though it felt a bit like climbing into a spaceship, normal perception replaced the heightened forest sense of the last few hours.
The End of the Show
I hope that this blog has given you a taste of what it is like to visit The Enchanted Forest with us when you are an English learner at Blue Noun Language School.
We are all about giving you rich and immersive experiences which become part of your story.
It’s how you become a confident, happy English user!
Discover more about The Enchanted Forest here.
Want to read about another superb audio/visual Scottish Cultural Event? Read our blog:
Learn English in the UK | From Scotland With Love
And of course, if you would like to know more about our English language holidays – start here.