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Christmas ends for fake castle with 40,000 lights

BBC Castle fabrication lit up with bright lights. There are several trees in front of it which each have a different colour of Christmas lights in them. They are yellow, blue, pink and orange. A garland that runs around the edge of the castle has green lights.BBC
It took John Burge more than a month to build the castle, starting in October

A huge Christmas light display, which took months to build, will take a fortnight to disassemble.

The castle outside John Burge's house in Worle, north Somerset, is just one of the displays he has built annually for more than a decade.

Recently the displays have raised up to £3,500 a year for Children's Hospice South West.

Mr Burge told BBC Radio Bristol: "There are more than 14,000 bulbs on the Christmas tree (inside the castle) alone, and it's all done by hand."

Castle fabrication lit up with bright lights, seen from the front, through the front archway with its portcullis. There are several trees in front of it which each have a different colour of Christmas lights in them. They are yellow, blue, pink and orange. A garland that runs around the edge of the castle has green lights.
The castle will take at least two weeks to dismantle

He said: "It's taken from October to 15 December to get them up and switched on, so that's how much work has gone into it.

"Anyone here would say they've seen me day and night working on it most days of the week, but they look fantastic and we've had good feedback on it.

"We're switching them off on Sunday, and then gradually taking them down over a period of weeks - at least two."

Grey fabricated castle structure on the driveway of a house, with towers on each corner and an arch-shaped gate at the front. Topiary runs around the frames of the doors and the division between the ground floor and second floor of the castle.
Mr Burge worked on the castle and lighting "night and day"

Work to build the castle has included not only the structure and the lights, but also a fog machine, a music system and a gnome.

"There's probably around 40,000 bulbs in total," said Mr Burge.

"There's a portcullis, a fog machine inside to make it a bit more mystical and magical and all the lights have been painted with stained glass paints.

"We've got music playing and a little gnome wishing people a merry Christmas and there's still a few more days of the lights, so people can come round and look at them."

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