A Christmas lights trail for your village
Every house lit up. One string of lights. The whole village walking it.
Households put their display on the trail, walkers follow the best route from wherever they start, read a story one chapter per house, and vote for their favourites. The envelope opens on Christmas Eve.
Walk one
Find your village trail
2trails live this Christmas
- Starts from wherever you are, threaded past every house on the quiet lanes
- A chapter of the story unlocks at each house, with a letter to collect
- Save your favourites when you are standing there, then rank your top three
Free for walkers · Works on any phone, nothing to install
Run one
Set up a trail for your village
10minutes to set up, then the village does the rest
- Type a postcode and we draw the village from OpenStreetMap
- Households register themselves, you approve them with one tap
- The story is written for you, one chapter per house, ready to edit
Free for households · Stars sealed until the envelope opens
How it works
How does a lights trail work?
No printed map, no list of addresses on Facebook. One link for the whole village, and the app does the threading.
Households register their lights
A postcode, what is on show, and a name for the display. Stuck for a name? The elves will suggest a magical one. The organiser approves it and it is threaded onto the string.
Walkers follow the string of lights
Pick where you are starting from and the trail plans the best route past every house, keeping off the main road where it can and warning you where it cannot.
Vote, then open the envelope
At each house a chapter of the story unlocks and you can save it as a favourite. Rank your top three, or pick one, and the stars stay sealed until the vote closes.
Why a trail beats a list of addresses
A list gets people to three houses and back in the car. A string of lights gets them round the whole village on foot, in the right order, with a reason to reach the end.
- Houses further out get walked past, not skipped
- Children collect a letter at every chapter and spell the magic word
- Walkers can only vote for houses they stood outside, so the vote is fair
- Progress is saved, so a long trail can be finished over two nights
A chapter at each house
One link for the whole village
santatrail.com/your-village
Put it on the noticeboard, the shop door and the school bag drop. Walkers open it on their phone, households register on the same link, and the organiser runs it all from one page.
Features
Everything a village needs to light itself up, in one place.
Best route from your startThreaded past every house from the hall, the pub or your own front door
Main road warningsStretches beside the main road are shown in red with a sign on the map
A story, one chapter per houseWritten with AI for your village, edited by you, unlocked on arrival
Letters and a magic wordChildren collect a letter at each chapter and show the word at the hall
Votes from the doorstepFavourites are saved on the spot, and only favourites can get a vote
Sealed until the revealNobody sees the counts until the vote closes, not even the organiser
Magical house namesThe elves suggest five names from what is on show
Saved progressFinish a long trail over two nights, or carry on from another phone
Drawn from OpenStreetMapEvery lane and footpath in the village, pulled in from one postcode
Approve houses with a tapNew registrations wait for the organiser, then go live on the string
Works on any phoneA link, not an app. Nothing to install, nothing to update
Free for householdsRegister in two minutes, no account to make
Try it now
Walk the Ponsanooth trail from your desk
The demo trail has sixteen houses, a written story and demo mode on, so you can walk the map without leaving the sofa.