Winter wonderland

Journalist Isabelle Fraser, writing in The Daily Telegraph, described "rubbish British Christmas festival" as being a "tradition", and there are regular news stories about these events.

[3][4] In the Little Ice Age, when the European climate was much cooler, frost fairs on frozen rivers provided outdoor skating and other entertainment, but these died out by the 19th century as winters became milder.

[5] Winter wonderlands are a relatively recent invention – the UK does not have a tradition of Christmas markets as seen in Germany, and the weather in December is now usually too mild for snow or ice.

[12] Heavy stalls and rides as well as footfall from numerous guests damage the ground, especially in typical wet wintry conditions, and it can take months for public parks to recover from the impact of hosting a winter wonderland.

These events have become notorious for high prices, poor quality and animal welfare violations, and news reports on the most disastrous examples have become a tradition during the Christmas silly season.