Annual Christmas exhibition The Gingerbread City has returned to London — except this year, we've FIVE tiny and tasty cities to ogle.
Every year, teams of architects, engineers and designers work together to create buildings, bridges, and other sculptures out of gingerbread, just in time for the festive season. They're decorated with sweets, icing and other edible toppings too — we've spotted everything from flying saucers to coconut shells used this year. But don't turn up hungry, as no nibbling on the exhibits is allowed. Smells amazing in there, though.
This year, the exhibition consists of five mini-cities, one representing each of the world’s climate zones — Polar, Temperate, Continental, Desert and Tropical — and each depicting what a sustainable future could look like, through the usual components of a city.
Expect to see houses, train stations, markets, museums, wetlands, farms, parks and gardens made from gingerbread, along with moving trains, a working cable car and a scaled-down functioning carousel. Other highlights include:
- Santa’s Wagon Wheel Workshop: in which Santa’s workshop is now surrounded by desert rather than ice, reindeers are replaced by camels and Santa is in Speedos;
- Willy Wonka Wetland: a new eco-system for London, protecting against floods, droughts and pollution;
- A Liquorice Train Station: featuring solar panels, wind turbines and rain water harvesting in the temperate zone
- A Liquorice Library: because, why not?
It's not all about looks though. Given that the exhibition is open for a month, those biscuity buildings have got to have some structural integrity to last the distance.
The Gingerbread City 2022 is at 6-7 Motcomb Street, Belgravia, SW1X 8JU, 3 December 2022-2 January 2023. Tickets are from £10, and must be booked in advance. You can also book gingerbread house workshops separately.
